Weston Air Festival 2019

News on all the seaside airshows up and down the country in one forum
Post Reply
vbombers2
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri 20 Jan 2012, 10:08 am

Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by vbombers2 »

On Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd June 2019.

No flying acts officially announced yet, although a hot air balloon mass ascent is planned from the beach both evenings (weather permitting).

http://westonairfestival.com/

User avatar
Abbo46
Posts: 858
Joined: Thu 16 Aug 2018, 10:54 am
Location: Suffolk

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by Abbo46 »

Catalina, Great War Display Team & RAF Chinook self confirmed.

User avatar
SilentFlight
Posts: 616
Joined: Mon 01 Sep 2008, 2:55 am

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by SilentFlight »

Abbo46 wrote:Catalina, Great War Display Team & RAF Chinook self confirmed.



The Catalina is in Poland so wont be at Weston.

User avatar
CJS
Posts: 8846
Joined: Thu 15 Jul 2010, 3:30 pm
Location: Hogwarts

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by CJS »

Well someone's got a little confused then! If they've self confirmed but will actually be 1000s of miles away!
You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter.

User avatar
Abbo46
Posts: 858
Joined: Thu 16 Aug 2018, 10:54 am
Location: Suffolk

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by Abbo46 »

Weston no longer mentioned on their site, funny that. :grin:

Apologies, guys.

User avatar
Abbo46
Posts: 858
Joined: Thu 16 Aug 2018, 10:54 am
Location: Suffolk

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by Abbo46 »

Gazelle Squadron confirmed.

vbombers2
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri 20 Jan 2012, 10:08 am

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by vbombers2 »

Line-up has been finalised on the website. Same acts both days except Reds are Sunday only and Sea Fury is Saturday only.


SATURDAY 22ND

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT
CHINOOK
GREAT WAR TEAM
GAZELLE SQUADRON
STRIKEMASTER
TEAM RAVEN
AEROSUPERBATICS WINGWALKERS
AUTOGYRO
RAF TUTOR
T67 FIREFLY
SEA FURY
RICH GOODWIN
CORINNE DENNIS

BALLOONS ON THE BEACH EVENING ASCENT


SUNDAY 23RD

RAF RED ARROWS
BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT
CHINOOK
GREAT WAR TEAM
GAZELLE SQUADRON
STRIKEMASTER
TEAM RAVEN
AEROSUPERBATICS WINGWALKERS
AUTOGYRO
RAF TUTOR
T67 FIREFLY
RICH GOODWIN
CORINNE DENNIS

BALLOONS ON THE BEACH EVENING ASCENT

User avatar
Mr Benn
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon 10 May 2010, 8:49 am
Location: WORCESTERSHIRE

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by Mr Benn »

Anybody gone to Weston on this lovely sunny day ?

They dont seem to have a Typhoon which they have had previously, but they do have the red Arrows as usual .

User avatar
Abbo46
Posts: 858
Joined: Thu 16 Aug 2018, 10:54 am
Location: Suffolk

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by Abbo46 »

Reds are displaying tomorrow.

Lancaster has shut down at Coningsby, not attending.

westhamfan84
Posts: 405
Joined: Sun 31 Aug 2008, 9:09 am
Location: Wolverhampton
Contact:

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by westhamfan84 »

Does anybody know what frequency they are using this weekend please.
Planned Shows for 2022 - Midlands air festival, Cosford, Weston, Southport, Riat, Blackpool, Bournemouth

106500
Posts: 504
Joined: Sun 27 May 2012, 9:14 am

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by 106500 »

Mr Benn wrote:Anybody gone to Weston on this lovely sunny day ?

They dont seem to have a Typhoon which they have had previously, but they do have the red Arrows as usual .


Reasonable afternoons flying given that it’s a free show. Good turnout with the weather being favourable although photography difficult as the day went on. No Sea Fury which was a disappointment (due to a oil leak). Lancaster displayed nicely right at the end of the day. Good to see the BBMF made a real effort to get her there. On the downside the displays were very distant (as bad as I‘ve experienced there), the crowd line was pulled back considerably in comparison with previous shows at Weston - not sure why and I fear this trend will continue unabated.
Last edited by 106500 on Sun 23 Jun 2019, 10:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
captainfurious
Posts: 206
Joined: Mon 01 Sep 2008, 7:26 pm

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by captainfurious »

It was obvious from the forecasts that yesterday was the best day to attend Weston but kids demanded today for you know who. Sadly the Reds only did a few turns before being curtailed due to the weather. To be fair to them they put in a decent effort.

As for the rest of the show the weather threatened most of the day but got some good displays in. Wingwalkers are great on this stage and Strikemaster also really suits the beach show.

Seemed much tamer this year with no Typhoon and also the crowd seemed much more lacklustre.

There was an incident with one of the Gazelles. Not sure what happened but it found it difficult to gain height after a manevour. He certainly looked low, then seemingly recovered, then went lower still. They aborted their display after but it was enough to get my heart pounding for sometime after.

Definitely weaker than past years and as said above the display line seems to get further every year but good for a free show.

vbombers2
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri 20 Jan 2012, 10:08 am

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by vbombers2 »

106500 wrote:
Mr Benn wrote:Anybody gone to Weston on this lovely sunny day ?

They dont seem to have a Typhoon which they have had previously, but they do have the red Arrows as usual .


Reasonable afternoons flying given that it’s a free show. Good turnout with the weather being favourable although photography difficult as the day went on. No Sea Fury which was a disappointment (due to a oil leak). Lancaster displayed nicely right at the end of the day. Good to see the BBMF made a real effort to get her there. On the downside the displays were very distant (as bad as I‘ve experienced there), the crowd line was pulled back considerably in comparison with previous shows at Weston - not sure why and I fear this trend will continue unabated.


There is a line marked out on the beach which folk are not supposed to go past as it potentially puts them under the display line. However, in previous years a lot of people go wandering through the line ignoring all the warning signs and prompting the lifeguards to rush out in their hovercraft and bring them back again. I guess they decided it was safer to keep the aircraft out over the water due to the idiots and as a result you get more distant displays.

User avatar
SilentFlight
Posts: 616
Joined: Mon 01 Sep 2008, 2:55 am

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by SilentFlight »

I can say the lines are in the same place as they have been for the last 3 years! Nothing moved or changed. Unfortunately with the glare of mud in the sun, it’s really difficult for the crews to see the markers, so playing safe is the key. Sunday they were far more visible and the crews were operating to the lines.

106500
Posts: 504
Joined: Sun 27 May 2012, 9:14 am

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by 106500 »

vbombers2 wrote:
106500 wrote:
Mr Benn wrote:Anybody gone to Weston on this lovely sunny day ?

They dont seem to have a Typhoon which they have had previously, but they do have the red Arrows as usual .


Reasonable afternoons flying given that it’s a free show. Good turnout with the weather being favourable although photography difficult as the day went on. No Sea Fury which was a disappointment (due to a oil leak). Lancaster displayed nicely right at the end of the day. Good to see the BBMF made a real effort to get her there. On the downside the displays were very distant (as bad as I‘ve experienced there), the crowd line was pulled back considerably in comparison with previous shows at Weston - not sure why and I fear this trend will continue unabated.


There is a line marked out on the beach which folk are not supposed to go past as it potentially puts them under the display line. However, in previous years a lot of people go wandering through the line ignoring all the warning signs and prompting the lifeguards to rush out in their hovercraft and bring them back again. I guess they decided it was safer to keep the aircraft out over the water due to the idiots and as a result you get more distant displays.


Don't think I saw anyone wandering beyond the 'line' this year. About 1/2 of this consisted of metal barriers with the rest taped off so I suppose this helped keep the punters under control!

User avatar
SilentFlight
Posts: 616
Joined: Mon 01 Sep 2008, 2:55 am

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by SilentFlight »

Only 2-3 incursions dealt with very quickly by the beach team!

wdg
Posts: 154
Joined: Wed 06 Jun 2018, 5:31 pm

Re: Weston Air Festival 2019

Post by wdg »

The Saturday display was enjoyable if a little lacking in star quality. The show did suffer for lack of a fast jet display - indeed the only jet present on the Saturday was the Strikemaster. As others have previously mentioned a lot of the displays did seem to be a long way out even though the lines of buoys marking the display lines appeared to be in roughly the same place as last year. For some of the smaller aircraft, particularly the Firefly, this did detract from the displays. The lengthy gap before the BBMF also took away from the experience.

On a positive note I thought the Great War Display Team were fantastic and their pyrotechnics were really effective. I've seen the GWDT a couple of times before at other venues, but I haven't seen the same effect from the pyros as they had at Weston. Not sure if this is layout of the venue (as the pyros were set closer to the crowd than, for example, RIAT 2018) or if they've upped their game this year.

I did go back on the Sunday, but the weather was horrible - far worse than forecast. the displays did seem to be closer to the crowd than on the Saturday, and the BBMF gave a good display that I look forward to seeing in hopefully better conditions later in the season. One of the Gazelles had a scary moment, getting very close to the water before pulling up and abandoning its display shortly afterwards. Left shortly after the Red Arrows as the weather showed no sign of improvement, photography was impossible and in those conditions I had no desire to sit through another lengthy break between acts.

The helicopter static display was a little disappointing - with only three choppers on the Saturday and four on the Sunday - although I appreciate the effort of putting this on. I thought the general organisation on the ground was quite poor - there were no maps or programmes available. I tried to enquire about the timings for the balloon event in the evening but after several trips around the showground I failed to locate a single event organiser and gave up.
2022: As many displays as I can get to
http://www.flickr.com/people/161562983@N04

Post Reply