Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

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DaveGriff
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by DaveGriff »

As a trader, getting in and out was the best yet. Probably not the news all the poor punters want to hear - sounded dreadful. Reds on Sunday were superb, Thunderbirds had their moments but far to drawn out - like a Guns and Roses double-album: 20 minutes of good music! Bronco was superb; enjoyed Team Viper but that needs to get just a bit tighter for my liking; liked the Vampires but.... and it's a big but.... Kev Rumens' display in XH558 on Saturday was the best Vulcan display I've seen in recent years. Rivals the Millikin/Thomas displays of yore - the spiral climbout to 6,000 feet was eye-moistening and the wingovers were spectacular. On Saturday the Vulcan stole the show with no contenders even close. Highlight of the weekend and my life, so far! :smile:

webby23
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by webby23 »

Our 2nd time at Waddington and for the second time running we had a damn great day out.

Thanks go to all involved with the planning, for me, my 70yr old uncle and my 4 yr old son it really was a fab show. Not too large to walk around, but big enough to be fascinating and little one absolutely loved it !!!

We left Nottingham at 8.30am Sunday for the show, and using the route we take, which avoids other traffic right the way to Waddington itself, we got in with about 10 mins delay and left totally unhindered.

Great show, great weather.....roll on 2012 !!!!

DeltaPapa
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by DeltaPapa »

I've always felt Waddington is a great day out regardless of the line up, but this w/e appeared to have that extra panache from all those who displayed for us, so a big thank you to them.

Sorry for those who had to queue to get in but it appears many had no problem at all. Would be interesting to see if it was down to timings or specific entrances/routes.

Thanks to all who worked so hard to organise the w/e - Roll on 2012!!

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ni_gaz
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by ni_gaz »

Just been reading through the previous comments ... we must have been mega lucky !! normally do RIAT but decided on a change this year so didnt know what to expect regards entrance queues etc.Yes, the flying and static was a bit thin but hey,we have operational commitments elsewhere but the weather on Saturday made all that bearable, even though we left burnt raw :mad: although the weather also made "her indoors" go walkabout round the trade stalls[left Waddo a lot poorer lol].
Travelwise , we flew into Brum on Friday and drove up to "base" for the weekend at the east mids hilton.Saturday morning [after a lot of hurrying "her" up] we drove across to Newark and got the 7:30 train into Lincoln for 8:00 , got straight on one of the airshow buses at 8:10 and were in the airfield at around 8:30 [no queueing on the road anywhere.]Going back we left at 6:00 thinking there would be monster queues for the buses but we only had to wait about 10 minutes to get on a bus and despite queues coming out of the airfield we were back in Lincoln in about 20 minutes so really have no complaints about gettin to or from Waddo.
To round off a great weekend we drove over to East Kirkby on Sunday [the annual squadrons reunion day] and were treated to not one but two Lancs with "phantom of the rhur" flying over "just jane" ! rounded off a great weekend so all in all RIAT might be permanently kicked into touch and Waddo become the annual pilgrimage.

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Taurus1
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by Taurus1 »

Had a great day on saturday at waddington, parked up with no probs about 7.30, coming from north, thought static line was a bit thin, was very surprised that all the trainer aircraft put on a very good display this year i dont usally pay to much attention to the trainers, but this year they stood out, the thunder birds were good but felt the red arrows did it better, shame they got cut short, they were on fire, all helicopters were good to see, Chinook always a thrill good to see the merlin again, team viper spot on, good to see a bronco, and vampire pair, bbmf was good so was sally b, i felt the pace was slower this year but that gave me time to take it all in, in my heart the mighty vulcan stole the show to which i follow when i can i have seen her perform many a time but felt that this was her best display to date, she was so close to a roll, looking forward to my seventh visit next year, i am already asking my self the questions we will see a f22 and a vulcan next year, thankyou to the display team for your hard work.

StevieSays
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My Take on Waddington 2011

Post by StevieSays »

Firstly let me start by saying Hello as at time of writing this I'm new to this forum and this is My 1st posting here :wave:

I visit many Airshows up and down the country during the Airshow season and felt compelled this year, unfortunately to express My disappointment with the Waddington Airshow.

Ok where do I start????? I'll start with the static line-up, which in itself was ok. Would have loved to have seen the 'Tiger' F-16 flying. I don't understand why some static display craft that have kindly been sent from the various representing countries, being flown from various parts of the globe only to sit on the ground for a few days? Another example was the Tornado with the painted tail fin, why was that not flown instead of being sat there soaking up the sun? Would have made for some awesome photo opportunities for the photographer's amoung us.

Then we had the display itself. Anyone else feel they padded it out? Also what about the appaling commentary? It was like the commentators were ad-libbing all the way. Half the time they didn't know whether they were coming or going. Ok I understand that things can and do change rapidly but come on! Even the Airshow FM speakers sounded like they needed to go back to school and learn to read.

Moving on to the display itself. Well what can I say? I'm not quipping about the actual displays by the pilots themselves but about the lack of thought that went into the participating aircraft. Don't get me wrong, loved the displays by the usual teams i.e The Red Arrows, Tucano, Black Cats and even The Thunderbirds (even if it was a bit 'Hollywoodyfied'). But I ask where was the Typhoon? The Spanish sent 1 or 2 if I recall? Why was it not flown? Even for a flypast past if not a full display? I know that due to current deployment of our Typhoon squadrons they were unable to attend. And what was with the 'Rivet' that flew so high all I saw was a shiny undercarriage. Then there was the opening of the show, started with the takeoff and landing of the E-3D Sentry. My what a spectacular show opening it wasn't!!

Then there were the usual Airshow stalls & food outlets. But I have to ask how many people joined the AA whilst they were there?

It may seem like I've done alot of moaning within this post. However I'm very grateful to the organisers and all participants for their work, many of whom donated their time for the weekend especially the base staff themselves. But come on there's room for improvement.

Steve

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JJC
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Re: My Take on Waddington 2011

Post by JJC »

I'll start with the static line-up, which in itself was ok. Would have loved to have seen the 'Tiger' F-16 flying. I don't understand why some static display craft that have kindly been sent from the various representing countries, being flown from various parts of the globe only to sit on the ground for a few days? Another example was the Tornado with the painted tail fin, why was that not flown instead of being sat there soaking up the sun? Would have made for some awesome photo opportunities for the photographer's amoung us.

In response to the first part of your post, maybe the countries providing the aircraft do not want to or cannot provide the aircraft for the flying? as I recall the Belgians also provided there F-16 solo demo for the flying which wears a rather attractive scheme itself. Why should they provide a flypast aswell? :question:

The special tail Tornado was provided by 41Sqn, based at Coningsby and again there was a flying tornado demo from 15Sqn, based at Lossiemouth. The RAF managed to provide is with a two-ship demo; not bad in these times IMHO, why should they provide a flypast aswell?

But I ask where was the Typhoon? The Spanish sent 1 or 2 if I recall? Why was it not flown? Even for a flypast past if not a full display? I know that due to current deployment of our Typhoon squadrons they were unable to attend. Then there was the opening of the show, started with the takeoff and landing of the E-3D Sentry. My what a spectacular show opening it wasn't!!

Firstly there was 2 German and 2 Italian Typhoons on static, I don't know where you got Spanish from?
again, the Germans do not do not do typhoon displays, and even if they did, why should they? and why should they do a flypast? Its a good catch for Waddo to have them attend.

Finally you are clearly not grateful to the organisers, and clearly have no understanding of how an airshow works, if you think you can do better, organise your own? :loser:
''Time to dive into the fireworks!''

LarryElite
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Re: My Take on Waddington 2011

Post by LarryElite »

StevieSays wrote:Firstly let me start by saying Hello as at time of writing this I'm new to this forum and this is My 1st posting here :wave:

I visit many Airshows up and down the country during the Airshow season and felt compelled this year, unfortunately to express My disappointment with the Waddington Airshow.

Ok where do I start????? I'll start with the static line-up, which in itself was ok. Would have loved to have seen the 'Tiger' F-16 flying. I don't understand why some static display craft that have kindly been sent from the various representing countries, being flown from various parts of the globe only to sit on the ground for a few days? Another example was the Tornado with the painted tail fin, why was that not flown instead of being sat there soaking up the sun? Would have made for some awesome photo opportunities for the photographer's amoung us.

Then we had the display itself. Anyone else feel they padded it out? Also what about the appaling commentary? It was like the commentators were ad-libbing all the way. Half the time they didn't know whether they were coming or going. Ok I understand that things can and do change rapidly but come on! Even the Airshow FM speakers sounded like they needed to go back to school and learn to read.

Moving on to the display itself. Well what can I say? I'm not quipping about the actual displays by the pilots themselves but about the lack of thought that went into the participating aircraft. Don't get me wrong, loved the displays by the usual teams i.e The Red Arrows, Tucano, Black Cats and even The Thunderbirds (even if it was a bit 'Hollywoodyfied'). But I ask where was the Typhoon? The Spanish sent 1 or 2 if I recall? Why was it not flown? Even for a flypast past if not a full display? I know that due to current deployment of our Typhoon squadrons they were unable to attend. And what was with the 'Rivet' that flew so high all I saw was a shiny undercarriage. Then there was the opening of the show, started with the takeoff and landing of the E-3D Sentry. My what a spectacular show opening it wasn't!!

Then there were the usual Airshow stalls & food outlets. But I have to ask how many people joined the AA whilst they were there?

It may seem like I've done alot of moaning within this post. However I'm very grateful to the organisers and all participants for their work, many of whom donated their time for the weekend especially the base staff themselves. But come on there's room for improvement.

Steve

Hello and welcome :wave:

MKR
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by MKR »

I left Hull at 6.15 a.m. on Saturday, arrived at Waddington and parked on the verge on the A15 at 7.30 a.m. I got into the Airfield quarter of an hour later, parked up near the Control Tower. I wandered around the static which was a bit sparse this year, but included some interesting items, such as the German and Italian Typhoons, Dutch KDC-10 and ETPS Andover. I enjoyed the flying display, the highlights for me were the Vulcan, Belgian F-16, Team Viper, Thunderbirds, Bronco, Chinook and the Norwegian Vampires.

I felt that the Thunderbirds Display had a few gaps inbetween formations but otherwise quite enjoyable. Left the Airfield at about 6.55 p.m. straight out onto the A15, 100 yards up the road, then met a queue of traffic, it took until 7.30 to get past the junction with the A607 and got home, to Hull at approx. 8.45 p.m.

Overall an enjoyable day, got sunburnt and looking forward to next year, hoping for a few more items in the static display.

Mike

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Re: My Take on Waddington 2011

Post by DeltaPapa »

StevieSays wrote:Firstly let me start by saying Hello as at time of writing this I'm new to this forum and this is My 1st posting here :wave:

I visit many Airshows up and down the country during the Airshow season and felt compelled this year, unfortunately to express My disappointment with the Waddington Airshow.

Ok where do I start????? I'll start with the static line-up, which in itself was ok. Would have loved to have seen the 'Tiger' F-16 flying. I don't understand why some static display craft that have kindly been sent from the various representing countries, being flown from various parts of the globe only to sit on the ground for a few days? Another example was the Tornado with the painted tail fin, why was that not flown instead of being sat there soaking up the sun? Would have made for some awesome photo opportunities for the photographer's amoung us.

Then we had the display itself. Anyone else feel they padded it out? Also what about the appaling commentary? It was like the commentators were ad-libbing all the way. Half the time they didn't know whether they were coming or going. Ok I understand that things can and do change rapidly but come on! Even the Airshow FM speakers sounded like they needed to go back to school and learn to read.

Moving on to the display itself. Well what can I say? I'm not quipping about the actual displays by the pilots themselves but about the lack of thought that went into the participating aircraft. Don't get me wrong, loved the displays by the usual teams i.e The Red Arrows, Tucano, Black Cats and even The Thunderbirds (even if it was a bit 'Hollywoodyfied'). But I ask where was the Typhoon? The Spanish sent 1 or 2 if I recall? Why was it not flown? Even for a flypast past if not a full display? I know that due to current deployment of our Typhoon squadrons they were unable to attend. And what was with the 'Rivet' that flew so high all I saw was a shiny undercarriage. Then there was the opening of the show, started with the takeoff and landing of the E-3D Sentry. My what a spectacular show opening it wasn't!!

Then there were the usual Airshow stalls & food outlets. But I have to ask how many people joined the AA whilst they were there?

It may seem like I've done alot of moaning within this post. However I'm very grateful to the organisers and all participants for their work, many of whom donated their time for the weekend especially the base staff themselves. But come on there's room for improvement.

Steve


Hi Steve...
A few of my thoughts

A/c that fly are based over the live side of the airfield, if they were to fly you wouldn't get to see them close up.

There are no Typhoon displays this year from the RAF.

The RJ is the first time flying at a UK airshow think yourself lucky to have seen it.

The E3D opened the show as it was a Home a/c unfortunately it was the only a/c available to do so!

And in my experience it matters little what event you go to whether it's a gymkhana or a country show the AA always have a stand! :lol:

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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by jakdaw »

AA stand was quiet interesting had some historic AA vans on show including an original Ford Escort van, there were worse stalls.

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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by fs9demon »

Post of the month for been a complete ass to a new forum member having an opinion goes to JJC :loser: :loser: :loser:
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by StevieSays »

JJC - the whole point of having these forums etc is for people to express their views, offer assistance and have an opinion. At the end of the day that was My take on the airshow and therefore am entitled to MY opinions on what I would like to see improved.

So take a chill pill :surrender:

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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by aviationphoto »

boff180 wrote:the police were fast tracking coaches in on the wrong side of the road at one stage!


I was in one of those... hit the end of the queue 5 miles from the base at 10.17am and got out the coach on the base at 12... fortunately just in time for the T-birds!! Our driver said it was caused by the organisers having to move 1,000 cars from a car park as the T-birds could not change part of their display route and had to overfly it (I am sure it is justified if a display team does not want to change something 'last minute'). Of course don't know what the actual 'truth' is but this is what we were told!

In terms of getting out we left around 5.30 at the end of the Lynx display and were off base in about 2 minutes!

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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by trebleone »

aviationphoto wrote: ...... Our driver said it was caused by the organisers having to move 1,000 cars from a car park as the T-birds could not change part of their display route and had to overfly it ........


That explanation was close, but not quite accurate - the cars were permitted to remain in the car park, however that particular car park had to be cleared of people for the period of the Thunderbirds display as they would overfly it during parts of their routine.

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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by JJC »

well I wasn't expecting to receive an award so I haven't prepared a speech or anything...... But thanks anyway! :pinkwafer: :win:
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JJC
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by JJC »

StevieSays wrote:JJC - the whole point of having these forums etc is for people to express their views, offer assistance and have an opinion. At the end of the day that was My take on the airshow and therefore am entitled to MY opinions on what I would like to see improved.

So take a chill pill :surrender:


Please explain why the belgians or any other nation that sent their aircraft for the static should also take part in the flying display? And as i've said before, both the tornado and F-16 were represented in the flying display. It's not like they were solely on static :facepalm:
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by fs9demon »

He's saying that it would have been nice given the choice out of the 2 F-16's and 2 Tornado's that the specially painted versions were the ones in the flying display rather then on static :facepalm:
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by SilentFlight »

fs9demon wrote:He's saying that it would have been nice given the choice out of the 2 F-16's and 2 Tornado's that the specially painted versions were the ones in the flying display rather then on static :facepalm:


Like all things in life its not so simple. Display crews will normally keep to one aircraft for flying displays throughout a season, so they won't chop and change. i.e: if the Belgian tiger scheme was to fly the display it would be used throuout instead of the vortex scheme jet. Even though they are the same type, each aircraft has its own idiosyncrasies and handles slightly differently, therefore they get one jet so they know what they are dealing with and in theoriy the handling remains consistant and safe whilst flying displays. There is also the small matter of the aircraft belonging to different squadrons at different bases!

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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by craig.mason »

silentflight if you can sort out the horrendous traffic problems experienced by people trying to get onto the airfield first
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JagMadAndy
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by JagMadAndy »

I personally enjoyed the show this year, I thought the flying line was up very good with some nice displays, granted the static was a little thin, but unfortunately thats the way it goes at the minute what with cuts and operations. Overall a great show and well done to the airshow team. Roll on 2012! :cool:

Andy

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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by DeltaPapa »

craig.mason wrote:silentflight if you can sort out the horrendous traffic problems experienced by people trying to get onto the airfield first


From what I've read there are as many said they suffered no hold ups as those who did - I think it's all down to pot luck what time you arrive. It would be interesting to know tho' what gates were affected and the times.

I know there was nothing that unusual at Waddington but what was there I thought did us proud, all the display participants really seemed to pull out the stops - well done to them. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sarang
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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by Sarang »

Hi all, here are my (extremely late) thoughts on Waddington 2011!

Flying Display:
Although not as strong as perhaps the last 2 years, I still enjoyed the flying display this year immensely with the highlights being the Thunderbirds (amazing to see just how much more they could do at Waddo in comparison to their heavily restricted RIAT 2007 routine!), Belgian F-16 and the awesome Team Viper display. What I really like about Waddington is the respect they give to their star items and the relaxed atmosphere (ie. hour devoted to Thunderbirds and they were also parked in an excellent position- very much the opposite of the treatment the Saudi Hawks received at RIAT!). Also loved the special BBMF routine- wish we could see that more often!!!

However, there were some rather noticeable gaps in the flying display- hopefully the huge attendace from this year will have bridged these for next year! Also, although the Yak display was flown extremely well, I think it is more suited to a smaller airshow than the RAF's premier airshow of the year!

Commentary:
I really did not like the commentary this year- at points the commentator seemed rather clueless and annoying (complaining about noise during the F-16 as has previously been mentioned). I think he did a poor job of keeping everyone informed on what was going on- ie. stuff would take off to the hold and he wouldn't say anything.

Static- Definitely thin this year- the Belgian F-16 was amazing and I loved the Typhoons on static as well. Also didn't like the random positioning of aircraft (French Alphajet parked amongst some civvies)

Suggestions for 2012:
Although I did enjoy Waddington 2011, it was a shame to see it being completely outperformed by Zeltweg (normally the Belgians have that honour!) and I would really love to see a fightback next year! Waddington is scheduled in between Yeovilton and Fairford next year so maybe they can feed of these shows and take some of their more exotic items? It would also be great to see more international display teams!

Are flares allowed at Waddington as at Yeovilton? If so, perhaps this could attract the Patrouille Suisse to Waddo in the future? Their Finale Grande was a huge highlight of their display and they are not allowed to use flares during it at RIAT.

Displays I would love to see at Waddo 2012:
Croatian AF Krile Oluje
Patrouille Suisse
Team Iskra
Turkish AF F-16
Anything from US Air Combat command.

Really looking forward to my favourite airshow returning in 2012 and hoping it will have an amazing lineup!!

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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by TouchDown »

Are flares allowed at Waddington as at Yeovilton?


Unfortunately not the explosives storage area is in the way.

TD

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Re: Waddington 2011... Thoughts and comments

Post by Sarang »

Thanks for the reply TouchDown - that's a shame, but roll on Waddo 2012 all the same! :smile: