A Spotters Day the French Way

[docman]

Following an overnight stay in Val de Reuil (30 minutes from Evreux) it required an early start to arrive at the gate by 0700. The queue was slow but the security checks on both vehicles and passengers thorough. Following a welcoming talk by the base commander and having been handed coffee and a Spotters vest we were bused to one of two locations beside the runway. Until mid afternoon the sun was behind us which is always a good start. At lunchtime we took the bus back for sausage and chips (all included in the spotter package) before everyone returned to beside the the runway. It was possible to return to your car at 1800 or continue walking around the static until 2100.


_DSC3698 by Richard Digby, on Flickr


_DSC3501 by Richard Digby, on Flickr


_DSC3262 by Richard Digby, on Flickr


_DSC3460 by Richard Digby, on Flickr


_DSC3405 by Richard Digby, on Flickr


_DSC3590 by Richard Digby, on Flickr


_DSC3321 by Richard Digby, on Flickr


_DSC3724 by Richard Digby, on Flickr


_DSC3148 by Richard Digby, on Flickr

Thank you for looking

www.barleycornprints.com

[Airwolfhound]

Ooooo tres bon

Loving that Nord Atlas

[frank]

encore si`il vous plait

[harkins]

Great photos and sounds like you had a brilliant day. Seems that the French Air Force don't share the attitude of the RAF when looking after visitors, "having to be dragged out to babysit a group of self entitled spotters!" to quote disgruntled from the Marham thread.

[disgruntled]

Great photos and sounds like you had a brilliant day. Seems that the French Air Force don't share the attitude of the RAF when looking after visitors, "having to be dragged out to babysit a group of self entitled spotters!" to quote disgruntled from the Marham thread.

Yawn

[TigerMeet4Ever]

Looking forward to this weekend's event at Nancy !

[harkins]

Yawn

Has someone asked you to do something?

[disgruntled]

Yawn

Has someone asked you to do something?

And right there you prove my point about the way spotters view service personnel. Self entitled just about sums it up.
Suggest before you go making comments of such nature again you actually look at what service personnel do, the hours they work, the sacrifices they and their families make, the appalling way pay and pension has been cut, the amount of work they are expected to do outside of what might be termed “core hours” and consider why looking after “mostly” middle aged men whilst they partake in their hobby is not high on their agenda. There’s not even any benefit to the service let alone them as individuals.

[harkins]

What utter rubbish.

If events like that are of no use whatsoever, then why on Earth did they organise an event and take £50 off a couple of hundred people then? Did some spotters make them do it? The USAF at Lakenheath regularly host enthusiasts brilliantly, RAF Valley has done it and recently the Danes and French air forces have organised great enthusiasts events. I wonder why they bother to do it if it's such an unbearable and pointless thing to do?

Anyway, you just keep missing the point over and over again. Nobody is even bashing the rank and file and they were all very good to us on the day. Your assumption that all spotters view service personnel badly is completely wrong. The issue is 100% with whomever was responsible for the event and putting absolutely no thought or effort into it. It would make no difference if that event had been non-military and nothing to do with aircraft. Why can't you see that instead of slagging off everyone there and accusing them of being entitled middle aged spotters?

You clearly are blinkered and have a chip on your shoulder. I can't change that and you'll equally never convince me that last Thursday was anything other than a badly conducted affair where the responsibility lies with someone at RAF Marham.

And I'll save you replying;

Blah blah middle aged, blah entitled blah blah babysitting

[disgruntled]

What utter rubbish.

If events like that are of no use whatsoever, then why on Earth did they organise an event and take £50 off a couple of hundred people then? Did some spotters make them do it? The USAF at Lakenheath regularly host enthusiasts brilliantly, RAF Valley has done it and recently the Danes and French air forces have organised great enthusiasts events. I wonder why they bother to do it if it's such an unbearable and pointless thing to do?

Anyway, you just keep missing the point over and over again. Nobody is even bashing the rank and file and they were all very good to us on the day. Your assumption that all spotters view service personnel badly is completely wrong. The issue is 100% with whomever was responsible for the event and putting absolutely no thought or effort into it. It would make no difference if that event had been non-military and nothing to do with aircraft. Why can't you see that instead of slagging off everyone there and accusing them of being entitled middle aged spotters?

You clearly are blinkered and have a chip on your shoulder. I can't change that and you'll equally never convince me that last Thursday was anything other than a badly conducted affair where the responsibility lies with someone at RAF Marham.

And I'll save you replying;

Blah blah middle aged, blah entitled blah blah babysitting

I’m sorry that you had a bad experience Harkins. You paid your money (a lot!) took your chance and you missed out. And I do actually have an element of sympathy for you.

But I stand by everything I have said. I make these comment based on knowledge and experience and challenge you to be able to say the same.

Anyway this is pretty tiresome for all involved and we have hijacked a thread with some excellent images for which I apologise to the OP.

Now Sir, time for us both to move on and let’s say nothing more on this tedious subject

[Aquarious]

Guys, take it somewhere else. Why are you ruining docman's party?
Nice set docman.

[harkins]

Fair enough, we're both going nowhere with this, especially as we're not really arguing the same point anyway.

Also apologies to docman for the hijack (although his thread title was inviting a comparison with timely reference to a well run event).

[stevebrodie]

awesome shots, the low view angles on a couple of them are stunning.

[Berf]

Great pics and looks like a great event however it is appallingly to be served sausage and chips in France.

[SPLAT]

The 2000's shot , they look joined

[MiG_Eater]

There's a fine tradition of close formation French pairs displays - one of the few things that existed in the airshow glory days that we can still see.

Wonderful photos - could you maybe post them in a higher resolution?