dangerous brain Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Got back from a long day at the airshow today. May I say without being all spottery what a damn good family day out it was. The traffic was crappy and should I go again I'd go earlier to get into a closer car park. The kids entertainment was second to none with alot of free rides and bouncy castles and speed slides and a ride that is in fact a car factory robot (and kids get in free) and the sheer awesome noise from modern jet fighters set at max for display purposes makes top fuel dragsters look timid. Big up the farnborough air show. Very good entertainment and well worth the effort. PPS for the spotters the vulcan made it in the air for the first time in very many years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Absolutely gutted I missed this after the Fariford cancellation. Had no idea it was on this weekend otherwise me and my dad would have been there Did you get to see the Raptor perform Brian? The clips on youtube looked awesome, but as always video is nothing like seeing the real thing... Shame the Mig 29 OVT wasn't around this year, saw this at Fairford a couple of years ago and couldn't believe the manoeuvres it was doing. It was just unreal for an aircraft On the plus side I did see a U2 and a spitfire fly over on Thursday, presumably heading out from Farnbourough Just hope the Vulcan is still around for next years season! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz6002 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 The Vulcan made it?? Brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous brain Posted July 20, 2008 Author Share Posted July 20, 2008 The raptor is sneaky beaky only and as I didn't book my trade tickets in time I didn't get to see that. It was by all accounts very impressive from people I know that did have tickets. Big lack of Migs but seeing as their track record aint great at that venue you can't blame em lol. The first big outing of the typhoon did sort of show why we've spent so much moolah on it but the latest f-16 straight afterwards put a bit of a dampener on its celebrations. The aussies new F-18 didn't help either. I was hoping that they'd bring on the chinook display again this year as the rotary wing line up is pretty damn boring even with the longbow and some italian machine that flies as fast forwards as backwards (trust the italians to go backwards fast lol). Ah well only another two years til the next one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJI Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 It has been years since I last went to an airshow. I used to go to Finningly every year (until the millitary gave up the airfield back in the mid-90's). Also used to go to RAF Leeming and Fairford IAT. The plane that was the most impressive I have ever seen fly was the SR71.... it one year did a show at Fairford and it did a fast fly by just under the speed of sound..... at the time it did it's display there was a high amount of moisture in the air and you could actually see the pressure wave forming around the nose of the aircraft ! It flew past with both burners on full kick too !! And it sounds like no other plane. Also seen the Vulcan fly numerous times and another impressive airplane to see is the B52... this also did an unexpected display one year. It came in low and fast and then pulled up at a 60 degree climb and levelled off at about 20,000ft .... totally amazing to see. (It punched a big hole thorough a small cloud as it clmbed). I still have some of my old airshow visits on my first camcorder videos. 2nd favourite to see at shows are the 'Russian Knights' in their SU-27s.... great aircraft and a great formation show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 The plane that was the most impressive I have ever seen fly was the SR71.... it one year did a show at Fairford and it did a fast fly by just under the speed of sound..... at the time it did it's display there was a high amount of moisture in the air and you could actually see the pressure wave forming around the nose of the aircraft ! It flew past with both burners on full kick too !! And it sounds like no other plane. Seeing the SR-71 at Fairford was an incredible thing, even though it was something like 14 years ago! It did a very low pass at near the sound barrier (probably not more than 60 foot from the runway), I've never heard a noise like that to this day It's such a shame we're unlikely to see big, high speed aircraft like these ever again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faye Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I went on Friday, absolutely fantastic. The A380 was a very impressive beast, but the star of the show had to be the Vulcan. http://www.mbtravels.co.uk/travelog/modules/Gallery/albums/Farnborough-2008/DSCF0527.sized.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelfill Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 The raptor is sneaky beaky only and as I didn't book my trade tickets in time I didn't get to see that. It was by all accounts very impressive from people I know that did have tickets. Big lack of Migs but seeing as their track record aint great at that venue you can't blame em lol. The first big outing of the typhoon did sort of show why we've spent so much moolah on it but the latest f-16 straight afterwards put a bit of a dampener on its celebrations. The aussies new F-18 didn't help either. I was hoping that they'd bring on the chinook display again this year as the rotary wing line up is pretty damn boring even with the longbow and some italian machine that flies as fast forwards as backwards (trust the italians to go backwards fast lol). Ah well only another two years til the next one. Bri, there's a few videos on you tube of the Raptor, it only flew on Monday, and there were loads of videos uploaded by Tuesday Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz6002 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I went on Friday, absolutely fantastic. The A380 was a very impressive beast, but the star of the show had to be the Vulcan. http://www.mbtravels.co.uk/travelog/modules/Gallery/albums/Farnborough-2008/DSCF0527.sized.jpg I saw this flying by as I drove to work today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I was there on Sat, good day although not as exciting as I remember it. Too much health and safety involved I suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
movistar Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Had a BBQ saturday and watched it all from my back garden:D.....fantastic!! shame it's only every two years...watched the lancaster and spitfire's too:salute: as they went over late yesterday, apparantly their is only one left in service??...working order that is...i dont think you can get on it from gatwick:jester: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MarkA Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Saw the vulcan and the B1-B (I was a happy boy), were the only planes I was interested in seeing this year. The f22 sounded very mean and very loud (been copying the russians there). Saw the vulcan by walking out of the front door to take some pics. Raptor was very impressive when it was flying, definately got a few tricks up its sleve when it comes to manouverability. Much better than the f16 and f/a18. Watching the red arrows from my window and on the way to work was something a bit5 different in the week as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I was there on Sunday, saw the Vulcan, A380, B1-B, Euro fighter, F16/18 and the WW2 display, really good fun with the planes and a great experience to see them so close in person.... the Red Arrows were superb. First Airshow I've been to in probably.. 18 years. [rant] shame the whole event was let down by the total shambles of the parking situation. Took about 2 1/2 hours to get out of the area. The buses were slower than walking leaving the place and the police and groundstaff had no control over the crowds or getting people onto the buses in a decent fashion. [/rant] Still a really good day out tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I was hoping to see this on TV, it always used to be on when I was a kid. Why don't they televise it now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraStar 3000 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 because its not PC War planes = Bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 because its not PC War planes = Bad. Please don't tell me that's the real reason! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraStar 3000 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 no, just a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Black Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 because its not PC War planes = Bad. FFS i reckon your right with that guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous brain Posted July 21, 2008 Author Share Posted July 21, 2008 GAH war planes = not speaking german or russian in this country. I have to admit the traffic was proper crappy and quite badly managed. I find it hard to believe that they didn't expect the level of traffic either. They said on the tannoy system that there were 80k people attending. Looked alot more than that to me. If you said 80k paying tickets that might be closeish with the same amount of unpaying kids and then event freeby getter inners on top. The red arrows giving it max beans on the brakes at the bottom of the runway to announce the main attraction was on its way made me giggle a bit. I missed the airbus display due to being stuck in the damn traffic on the way in. Arrived just in time to see the typhoon strut its incredibly noisy stuff. It looked like the most maneuverable aircraft on show but considering its 30 odd years design ahead of the F-16 that followed it and a massive amount of cash more expensive I wasn't over-awed by it. The F-18 was alot of noise for not alot of impressiveness. The heicopter displays were a bit timid by comparison, wish they'd tripped out the chinook as that manages to make as much noise as a jet fighter To see the vulcan make it airborne again was for me as an aviation tech quite a thing as I know how much ball ache that will have been just to get it to the end of the runway. Its also quite nice to be working in and amongst the people that are making these aircraft possible, designing, testing, and implementing all this new technology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juanchan Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Gutted that I couldn't get to this I did see the B1 bomber taking off from Fairford on Saturday as I was in the area, so I felt a little of the love To see the Vulcan in flight would be incredible, and the F22's do make the Typhoon look mildly archaic with their manoeuvreability! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraStar 3000 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Wanted to go Waddington but decided on watching the Silverstone GP. Wasn't the RIAT cancelled because of water logged car parks? The booklet and website showed pictures of the US Thunderbird display team but I didn't see it on the flying schedule. A little miss leading I thought. Watching the Typhoon II and F22 would have been awesome, and obviously the Vulcan. I'm a bit of a heli fan so would have loved to watch the Merlin's and Longbow Apache. Cant wait to one day see the JSF / F35. How the main jet nozzle can traverse's from horizontal to vertical is just amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm7_PPE-8nk&feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 I enjoyed this day too - the Vulcan was beautiful, so good to see it back in the skies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraStar 3000 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 maybe next year we should have a supra meet at the same time. I've always said that about Duxford too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous brain Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 Duxford is a damn good day out. They've got a Vulcan in the hangar and a blue streak if memory serves me right. The first wooden tailed concorde is outside and the TSR2 is there as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraStar 3000 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 yep, been 3 times. The flying legends show is just ace. Wanted to go last year and see the P-38 Glacier girl's return to the UK but couldnt make it Dont they also have a SR71, or am I thinking of a U2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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