uk airshows

[craigmason71]

who is going to an airshow this year i am going to the one at waddington witch one are you going to ?????????

[Rotary Booty]

If you want to be taken anywhere near seriously on this forum, I suggest you get rid of that crass signature of, 'i love war'.

[Rotary Booty]

Thank you!

Strangely enough Craig, no serviceman who is sane likes war, and those who do like war have never been in one.

By the way, it's RAF

[rabby]

I went to Leuchars last september, does that count?
they were supposed to fly the Eurofighter there, they never did.

[Topper]

I was at Farnboro last year when they flew the Typhoon. They have three Typhoons but only one flies because they have to keep caniblising them just to get one in the air. And the performance wasn't particularly impressive either, easily outdone by the F-18F and its sqaure loops.

[rabby]

The Tyhoon didnt look that impressive because the pilots are restricted from performing high stress manouvres at the moment. At all airshows worldwide that the Typhoon has been at it has only used 80% of its power, we still have some more to see...

[Topper]

Exactly it keeps breaking down anyway, who knows what would happen if they pushed the envelope. The F-18 was the most impressive jet, but the pilot got two 'yellow cards' for pushing it too far and flying over the crowd, this was the same day as the Flanker crash. But those sqaure loops and things must add tens of hours to the airframe, but the Yanks have loads of them anyway.

[Guest]

best airshow attended was at Jacksonville NAS in Florida, not only is it buckshee to get in, we actually got to get our arse in a B52, shyte are they big, they also had the B1B there, very impressive, and one of those great Starlifter thingy`s, you could play football inside that thing, they also had various old ww2 aircraft, and crept up to modern day stuff, the finale of the day was the Blue Angels, the US Navy FA 18 Hornets, this aircraft is one hell of a beast, and very quiet until it drops in on you, the old fat albert shows her face every year as well, demonstrating JATO (jet assisted take off) which is also quite impressive. As we know, the yanks do not do things by half, the Red Devils were strutting their stuff, and very good they were too, even invited me in for a wet or two, hic. There was numerous side shows, simulators etc, I even got to climb the 30 foot wall, although it was on the easy side. (joke) the USAF Thunderbirds (F16 Fighting Falcon) are also quite impressive,F111`s F15 eagle`s and the A-10/OA-10 thunderbolt 2 ground support, it was also nice to chew the fat with a RN helicopter pilot, who joined up when i left the Corp`s, shyte, did that make me feel old. but I think my vote goes to the Blue Angels. If they come to the UK, and i think with anglo american relations, they might well do in the near future, you have to see them. you can check out their website on the following link

http://www.navy.com/jsp/explore/comunit ... d=28&pid=2

there are some great phots on the site. if you click on the video link, you can see a video of Fat Albert taking off with JATO

try this link for some older aircraft

http://www.usaf.com/airshownew.htm

thunderbirds links

http://www.airforce.com/thunderbirds/

http://www.sky-flash.com/thun.htm

last year the USMC did an amphibious landing in hover craft, supported by apache choppers and Harriers, quite immpressive....................the Harrier that is

[Guest]

just to add, the angels and thunderbirds have visited the uk before, so there is hope of another visit in the future

[Topper]

I've seen the Thunderbirds at Mildenhall, they were good. I haven't seen the Blue Angels but i have seen the photo where it appears that there is the reflection of one aircraft directly on top of another, with no space between them, do you know how that is done??

[Guest]

hi topper, if you click on the angels link, you can actually see some video footage, seems like there is one hornet , but then another one appears, there is generaly a couple of feet between the aircraft wings when flying diamond formations etc, but when you have two aircraft flying belly to belly, the seem quite close, but infact, they are offset slightly, so if you looked from above, they would look like they are flying side by side, taking nothing away from them, they are very good pilots, and the awsome power of the hornet is amazing, the solo aircraft, numbers 5 and 6, do individual take off`s, the first doing a dirty roll, (undercarriage down) which tends to throw the airodynamics of the aircraft out the window. the second takes off, and immediately nails her, into a vertical thrust for the clouds, very impressive, this is on the video`s. They are definately worth watching. I don`t know about british airshows, but after the crews have done their bit, they actually come over to the crowds so you can get up close and personal, phots autographs etc, obviously having an English accent, they ask where your from, and are well chuffed that you have made the effort to go to the states and see them, Major Len Anderson USMC, spent quite a time with us, as i had a bootneck baseball cap on, a few pished off locals.
which aircraft did the thunderbirds have when you saw them F16`s?

[rabby]

When I saw the Thunderbirds they had small plastic looking spaceships, not to mention the fishing line for engines.

[Guest]

rabby, er............i think you`ve lost the plot somewhere nice one though, but i know where your coming from, TB2 was always for me

[Topper]

They had those F-16s with the stars and stripes paintscheme, slightly more powerful than a Hawk. It was at RAF Mildenhall in 1997, the 50th anniversiry of the formation of the USAF. I also saw a big Jolly Green Giant helicopter being AAR by a C-130, quite impressive. They also had the F-117 on display, surrounded by a perimeter of 5 mean looking men with M-16s. There was a flypast by a B2, which apparently had flown all the way from Whitesman. It was escorted by two armed F-15s, and until the aircarft banked over the crowd it was virtually invisible, a very impressive and wierd sight.

[gash-hand]

best airshow attended was at Jacksonville NAS

Haven't been to the airshow at jacks but had a runashore there once - got plastered and hitched hiked back to the dockyard only to be picked up by a massive USN homosexual who made it very plain what he would like to do to my a*se

Luckily E&E kicked in and I ended up legging it back to the docks like an extra from 'deliverence' on speed, got cut to buggery from all the trees as well - looked such a mess at the main gate it took ages for them to believe I was a British Serviceman

I know this if off the thread but I thought it might provide a bit of an idea to the wannabees as to what sort of a night out they can expect in foreign ports