Cosford Airshow and a Treat for Rover Fans

[carlpenn]

Yesterday, Sunday 01st June 2008, I had the pleasure of spending the day with my Family at Cosford Air Show.

Anyone familiar with Cosford Air Museum and its Airshows will know what a Fantastic day you can spend here.

The day was slightly spoiled by the excessive 4 hour queue we had to endure, which I must say, the 75 handled better than me and the kids !! What made it worse though, was all the ignorant folk pushing in by jumping the Queue..........The Traffic Control / Police had opened the Hard Shoulder for the Airshow attendees to use, to prevent unnecessary delays on other motorists, a good idea except for the moronic few who thought they could jump Queue by stopping in the first lane of the motorway and wait there until someone let them in. Luckily there was no reported accidents, so the idiotic impatient few where spared from harm. Iwas amazed to see how many Cars had broken down queueing, one Gentleman had popped his Mercedes Bonnet while waiting in the Jam (as I had done in attempt at encouraging heat dispersal, only to forget about it and zoom off at speed, his bonnet popped up and amazingly he managed to get his car off the Motorway without any accident !!

So, we sadly missed the first few displays, including the P-51 Mustang, which is one of my Favourites. Although we did get to see the Mustang flying overhead as we waited in line. As we had just parked the Car, the Red Arrows began their Display, I have to say that this years effort was the best to date that I have seen, it was a 20 Minute walk with Kids and Hampers etc to the Front line of teh airfield, so some of the Arrows display was missed.

Following on from the Red Arrows came the Typhoon, and what a performance that was !! There is very little else that can out show this plane, as far as Jet Power goes. His first pass on the Airfield left the ground shaking and kids diving for cover (Elliot hid under Tina's Jumper for most of this display!!).

Highlights following on from here included the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the highpoint of my day, since I was a kid, attending many airshows back at Woodford, the BBMF was always the most exciting part for me, and some 20 years later, I still had butterflies in my stomach as the trio came into view on the Horizon. The BBMF flew along the crowd line and as they left the airfield boundaries, the Hurricane and Spitfire broke away to perform their solo spot, whilst the Lancaster dissappeared behind the treelines. As always, the Spitfire and Hurricane gave exhilarating performances, although, this year, the Planes sounded much more "Relaxed" there seemed to be no throttling hard and divings and swoopings as previous years I have seen them perform.

Also attending was a Spitfire Mk1a and Hurricane Mk1a. Both appearing for their first time after restoration. I was extremely lucky (alongside others) to be standing within twenty feet of both planes as they where parked right in front of us, so we got to see the pre flight checks, starting and warming up, Taxiing and then take off / display / landing and parking all right in front of us !! Brilliant !!!!

The Blades, a 4 member aerobatic team, appeared up later, these guys are awesome and I would place them right at the top of the list with teh Red Arrows for performance and entertainment value, this year they blessed everyone with a manouver that was absolutely fantastic, all four planes in abreast formation climbed up to stall and then again in perfect formation rolled over and came back down to fly past teh crowd line, just one of the many amazing treats they offered in their display.

We also had a visit from a Gnat and Hawker Hunter, a more subtle sounding show of power, but all the same enjoyable.

The RAF also provided us with a show of Military Tactics and precision attack as they demonstrated an infiltration and retrieval of two "Captured" Service men behind enemy lines. The last time I had seen something like this was at Balckpool airshow back in the 1980's. 4 Tornados, 2 GR-1's and two GR-4's launched there attack from several miles away, several (controlled) explosions on the airfield alerted us to their presence, some 30 seconds later the air exploded with the sound of teh Tornado's as they had passed over us and almost dissappeared out of sight. Continuing their assault on the airfield as a Chinook deployed troops and later came back to retrieve. Some amazing effects used and some awesome flying on behalf the Pilots, the Crowd really enjoyed this part of the day and I must say it was worth the wait in that Queue

The only other part of the day that was dissapointing was the absence of the AVRO Vulcan, I had waited with massive excitement for this, only to find out when asking a member of the RAF who was on Traffic duty, that the Vulcan could not attend due to licensing issues. Not sure what that meant, but it was saddening to learn that this beast was not coming

We then packed up and went for a walk around teh static displays, I came across a gent who owns WW2 memoribilia, and WOW !! This guys was cool. I got to have a play with a Bren Gun and at teh same time, an old Gent standing beside me, turned out to have been a Bren Gunner in WW2. I should have asked him for a Picture !! Also there was a Thompson MG and a Lee Enfield rifle, well two actually, one with and one without a Bayonet.

I then discovered a gentleman, sitting with his car.

Nothing unusual about that really, except this Car was a beautifully restored Rover 110. So I asked him if he minded me taking pictures, he said it was ok and I did take a few shots. I then asked if he minded me putting them on this site, explaining that we are Rover enthusiasts etc, he accepted, so, in the following posts there will be some photos of this car, with full credit going to Mr David Dudley, who is the owner of this lovely motor.

[carlpenn]

Mr Dudley was even kind enough to pose for us:

[Zeb]

Excellent write-up and great photos of an old classic

Thanks!

[carlpenn]

A few more pictures from yesterday:

Part of teh WW2 Collectors display:



Me with the Bren Gun:



and the Enfield:



The Mk1a Spitfire:



and its Partner, the Hurricane:

[Jules]

Oh they were the days in the RAF lying under a wing from the heat!!
Very nice Rover 110.

Carl did you go round the extensive Jet engine museum?
Interesting how the Thrust power increased tremendously over the development of the Jet Turbine.

It seems the organisers haven't learnt anything then from hours of queing when I attended 5 years ago!!

[GERFIX]

Excellent work Carl. I'm hoping to attend RAF Leuchars Airshow this year and your report has got me right in the mood. We also have a local one at East Fortune Airfield. I might have a wee look at that too.

[carlpenn]

Originally Posted by Jules

Oh they were the days in the RAF lying under a wing from the heat!!
Very nice Rover 110.

Carl did you go round the extensive Jet engine museum?
Interesting how the Thrust power increased tremendously over the development of the Jet Turbine.

It seems the organisers haven't learnt anything then from hours of queing when I attended 5 years ago!!

Hi Jules - We didnt go in the museum this time. But I am a regular visitor with my Son Elliot, Cosfords not a massive journey and we can spend a few hours there quite easily.

It is a shame that the Organisers didnt get it quite right, saying that, when you have 100,000 + Cars turning up in a 5 hour time slot, I guess organisation is difficult.

[carlpenn]

Originally Posted by GERFIX

Excellent work Carl. I'm hoping to attend RAF Leuchars Airshow this year and your report has got me right in the mood. We also have a local one at East Fortune Airfield. I might have a wee look at that too.

Thanks Gerfix - I was very excited on the day and even when queing, those little Butterflies where whizzing about in my stomach !! I love Airshows.

I could have written a lot more, but I didn't want a post that went on for three hours

[Pete]

I normally get a great view from the back garden - yesterday was blimmin noisy!

[podge]

Thanks for that Carl,super planes..super Rover.I too am waiting to see XH588 where she belongs,and Cosford's Cold War museum, I really look foreward to seeing the Lightning they have there.Wonderfull times for aviation the 60s....as she was not there a little clip to watch...that intake sound!!!.ENJOY.P.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VECwLl06ik0