Lowestoft Air Festival 2011

Our first visit to the Lowestoft Air Festival was like the parson's egg.  The flying display was spoiled somewhat as several aircraft were cancelled due to weather, unserviceability and operational necessity.   Thank goodness the Red arrows turned up to steal the show, as they always do.

Even the opening attraction, the Army's parachute display team, could only risk a low altitude "pop and drop" due to the high wind.

Not surprisingly they all hit the drop zone.  Rather them than us!

A team of Russian Yak aircraft put on a nice, noisy, spirited show.

The Hawker Hunter on display had been liveried beautifully, and looked like a Zoom lolly, you'll probably have to click on it to see for yourself.

The wing-walking team were bonkers.  The two girls atop the aircraft even completely unattached themselves from all their harnesses for a couple of passes.  Absolutely crackers, but very enjoyable to watch.

 

And they flew VERY low!  The lowest flypast we saw all day.

During a weather-induced hiatus in the flying programme we took the opportunity to stroll along the prom to an imposing structure that Sam had spotted earlier - the "Para Tower"!

Victims/customers can climb the tower and then throw themselves out of a small hatch at the top.  Apparently this is quite a close simulation of an actual deplaning as undertaken by The Paras, and all the proceeds go towards the regiment's charity.  Sam was very gung ho about having a go....

So...."Geronimo!"....out he popped and down he drifted.  Huge adrenaline rush, judging by his excited gabbling for the next few minutes!

So, we will visit the Air Festival again.  As well as us two, there were 172,000 other people there at the same time, and a similar number the day after.  That's a LOT of people.  And it's a fun day out.  Recommended.

Duxford Airshow - Part Three

The first aircraft to display were the Red Arrows, who delivered the usual exceptional routine. I find it almost unbelievable that the government are considering disbanding them to save money!





Sam has seen the Red Arrows before, as have I, but it seems that their appeal doesn't fade.

In between displays we managed to have even more fun, and Sam tried his hand at "zorbing", with hilarious consequences....

Sam says that his very favourite aeroplane is the Lancaster bomber. He saw one for the first time at the RAF museum in Hendon a few weeks ago. Seeing the sole remaining flying Lancaster for real made his day, as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight put on a crowd-pleasing show.

We just had time to watch a four-ship of Hurricanes whizzing around, before heading back up the A10. Great show Duxford!

RAF Museum Hendon - Part One

Earlier in the month we drove down the M11 and visited the RAF Museum at Hendon, north London. I knew Sam would find it fascinating and fun, and for me it was a trip down Memory Lane - my Dad took me there twice when I was about Sam's age. It's certainly changed a lot in the meantime, and expanded greatly. The new areas are superbly well designed and built and the whole museum is a joy to visit.

Our first port of call was the Milestones Of Flight hall. All the images in this post are from that location, including the replica of Bleriot's Channel-crossing plane at the top of the page. This hall is a fascinating collection of flying machines from many eras, such as the airship basket above (with Tomahawk cruise missile behind). We thought this helicopter may have been an Apache, but it is much, much older:

This Mustang WWII fighter took Sam's interest....

....especially when I pointed out the black crosses that showed how many German aircraft this very machine had shot down.

Sam took it upon himself to "chuck one up" in tribute to fliers past and present.

Neither of us fancied a go in this crazy old contraption.

Each aircraft had its own information board....including this one. Sam is reading it intently, mainly because he couldn't believe that there was an aircraft called a Fokker! When you're seven, finding out that you can legitimately say "Fokker" as often as you like is pure comedy gold. Stan Boardman has a lot to answer for....

The most modern plane displayed was one of the prototype Eurofighters, aka Typhoon in the RAF.

After a very bumpy ride in a Red Arrows simulator we left the Milestones Of Flight behind and made our way to the Battle Of Britain Hall....