RNAS Yeovilton Air Day 2009 - Now with Vulcan Effect

[Macc]

Well, after the superb 2 days at Lakenheath we took the risk of going to Yeovilton on the Thursday to get the early arrivals, unfortunately it was a risk that did not pull off, however after getting the French support C-160 Tanker Transport (Unusual variant I believe) and a CN235 as well as a couple of the locals in the morning we also went off to the museum in afternoon so it was a day that was surprisingly enjoyable. Had some nice company when I was there with Mark (Centaurus18) and Rich (Rotor) aswell as a couple of other guys so time passed pretty quick.



Couple of the locals played around during our wait



CN235



Another local



Museum, the blue aircraft you might not recognise is the Fairey Delta.

Sea Harrier FRS.1


Pegasus (Harrier's prototype.)


The wonderful looking Fairey Delta, luckily there were stairs going up to go inside the concorde so I got get some elevated perspective shots.




Buccaneer, what a lovely aircraft!




Lush Phantom..



Sea Vampire.



F4U Corsair?


Can't remember what this was called, maybe it was the sea fire, but i'm unsure.


Sea Harrier FA.2


Thanks for looking...

[Mr Flibble]

Nice shots from the museum, your second-to-last shot is a Fairey Firefly TT4.

[ursa_major]

Your "Pegasus (Harrier's prototype)" is a Hawker P.1127 - it wasn't given a name other than that designation. Pegasus is the family of Rolls-Royce engines used in the Harrier series.

EDIT: Your Fairey Delta 2 is also a BAC221 - it started life as an FD2, but was rebuilt (different wing & possibly different u/c and other bits, IIRC) in the early 60s for more representative work on the Concorde project.

Nice shots in a poorly-lit museum, how dusty is the topside of that Bucc??

[Macc]

Mr.U-M, thanks for the info, very interesting! It is very poorly lit and I really wished i'd had a tripod, took me about 3 photos to get it sharp on ISO 400, never worked on ISO 200 and I don't like to go up to 800 or 1600.
Phil, thanks for the comment.

Macc

[itfcscott]

Nice set, I love the first shot of the Buccaneer

[KarlADrage]

Excellent prop and rotor blur, Chris, and the compositions on the museum shots are impressive too. Well done!

[Macc]

Thanks Karl and Scott.
Well, going back on the Friday, a slow day at times for an arrivals day but it got going. With the company of Jason and Mark throughout the day I had a superb time, I would even say it was the best day out of the 16 day trip. I had a few doubts for the day...
The day started off with a surprise Belgian Air Component Embraer 135/145?


Not only that but he backtracked...beauty!


First fast jet arrival was the beautiful Dutch F-16s...


and the Embraer set off home after it's brief visit.


and the Belgian F16's arrived, I quite like it even if it is all grey.


No sooner and 2 of these entered the circuit, and then the two of them turned and burned quite literally all over the shop! Great to see! New Voltige Victor team?


Commando Assault Demo number 1
Apache




Lovely Winter Camo SeaKing


After the demo, another lovely sea king!


French Navy didn't want to be put in the shadows...


...and neither did the Germans, last time Only one i've ever photographed.


Lovely to see 4 Harriers in one go at one of our own shows


Belgian practise display, it was superb, shame it was the standard coloured bird they put up...


...the Dutch went up immediately and put on a show right over us, I thought we were the proper audience


vapour was common as muck


Burnnnnnn!


Dutch was a heavy smoker...


Got a phonecall to say Alpha Mike Echo formation was on the scanner (thanks Chris) I knew what it was straight away, what a pair of beauties...






end of part 1...

[Macc]

2nd batch now...

Rafales first ever UK display, and it was stunning!
Turn...


Burn...


Push...


Pull...


Quartet Lynx display...




How good does that Sea King look





After seeing it at the first demo I wanted to get the line of sea kings and when Jason and Mark pointed out to me that the Lynx's were running in I ran to the centre line arriving just in the nick of time -tiring- but worth it...




This guy flew over me to go get the loads still on the runway...


The commando assault involved two of these beauties!!


7.10PM - A ghostly triangular shape over the trees in a shower as it flew joining downwind. At last I would get to see the majestic Vulcan, as she lined up a dark cloud filled the background reducing my shutter speed to below 1/100, she glided closer and then maxed the throttle...the howl was unique. She came round again this time for full stop. She then backtracked after Typhoon arrived and came down the runway to us, a moment I will never ever forget!
A big thanks to Lee for constantly keeping me in the know about the Vulcan, I don't think I would have stayed if it wasn't for the texts. Thanks!





Hoooowl!



Smokeyyy...



Backtracking







Thanks, Chris

[LeeHathaway]

Nice shots Chris, lovely rotor blur on the helo's. No worries about the texts, glad that you finally got her!

[centaurus18]

Super shots Chris. Good to have your company over the two days and a pleasure to meet you
Those two Rafales wanted to "check out the airfield" before landing, bless them.

I wonder how much was in the pot elsewhere for the Spanish Harriers NOT turning up!

[Macc]

Super shots Chris. Good to have your company over the two days and a pleasure to meet you
Those two Rafales wanted to "check out the airfield" before landing, bless them.

I wonder how much was in the pot elsewhere for the Spanish Harriers NOT turning up!

As was yours.

There was bet on against them not turning up.

[centaurus18]

There was bet on against them not turning up.

My lips are sealed.

[AndyBeau]

Chris, the shots from the museum are excellent!

Some nice shots from the outside too. A real shame the weather didn't play ball as this was the show I was most looking forward to!

[Seamus]

A nice set there Chris, gives a good account of the Friday

I particularly like that final EAV-8B shot, and there's some lovely Dutch Viper shots too

Just to be pedantic though, your Sea King ASAC 7 from the first batch isn't a local

[Macc]

It is indeed Shaun, I forgot to single it out.
Thanks Andy.