Farnborough Airshow

When organising the 16 week European sabbatical, Andrew decided to search for major events that we might be able to attend.  Initial focus areas were U2 concerts (not touring) and major sporting events (Tour de France, possibly, but in London not France).  However, while researching things to do in the South West of England, he discovered that the Farnborough Air show was on just before we returned home.  Andrew has always been a big aircraft fan, and attended several air shows in Australia (and Dubai) in his 20s and 30s.  Farnborough is one of the biggest and possibly the most famous Air Show in the world, so he was very keen to attend.

On Sunday 20^th July, we drove up the M3 from Winchester to London, before peeling off towards Farnborough.  With tickets purchased over the internet and maps printed off, we found our way to one of the large car parks around midday, about an hour before the 5 hour flight display commenced.

Upon leaving the car park we had our first bit of fun, with a policeman allowing the kids to sit astride his motorcycle.  Xavier in particular loved it.

 A 20 minute bus ride later and we were entering the gates to the airfield, and not long afterwards the first aircraft took to the skies.

An early highlight was the Breitling wing walkers, who performed numerous acrobatic feats while tethered to four 1940s vintage Boeing Stearman biplanes, with smoke billowing out the back.

Andrew very much enjoyed the World War 1 flying exhibition.  The individual aircraft looked great (Sopwith triplane, SE.5a, Junkers CL.1 , and Fokker DR1 triplane, made famous by the Red Baron), but of more significance they had nine in the air at once.  This enabled them to recreate what a real WW1 air battle might have looked like, with multiple dogfights occurring at the same time.

Despite tiring during the day, and struggling to keep up with his Dad’s aspirations for him to love the experience, William did enjoy several of the static and flying exhibits.  In the photos below, he is in front of a BAE Hawk (with Andrew), used by the British Air Force Flying Display Team, the Red Arrows (more on them later), and the famous Supermarine Spitfire from WW2.

 Although the crowd was huge (see below photo with Airbus A380 overhead), the large spaces at the airfield provided several uncrowded areas in which you could relax and enjoy both static and flying displays.

Although we didn’t queue to go inside, the distinctive Super Constellation looked great both on the tarmac and in the air.

Andrew was very happy to see (for the first time) an Avro Lancaster flyby.  It was surprisingly not well announced, and even more surprisingly only did one pass or the airfield, but he did quickly get a photo.   The Lancaster was one of Andrew’s favourite aircraft when young, and was the largest model plane he ever made, hanging alongside 3-4 others on a cotton string above his bed in Echuca and Tatura.

Later research revealed the following about the aircraft we saw:

PA474 is one of only two Lancaster aircraft remaining in airworthy condition out of the 7,377 that were built (the other is in Canada). PA474 rolled off the production line on 31 May 1945, just after the war in Europe came to an end.  She was used for many and varied tasks, including taking part in two films, ‘Operation Crossbow’ and ‘The Guns of Navarone’, before being adopted by the Air Historical Branch.

Other military aircraft highlights in the flying display were the Avro Vulcan, the Hawker Harrier, and the Eurofighter Typhoon (all shown below).

The Vulcan made the loudest noise of the day on take-off, while the Typhoon the loudest while airborne.  The Harrier performed a great display showcasing her unique engine thrust deflection system, hovering and drifting in the air for several minutes, before tearing off and performing very tight radius turns.

A small disappointment was the cancellation a few weeks earlier of the planned flight of the F-35 Lightening (or Joint Strike Fighter).  Commissioning issues in the USA forced them to revert to a static only display of an aircraft (see below) and separate engine system display.

The Lightening was contained inside the US Air Force display area, which also contained an F-15 Eagle, F-16 Flighting Falcon and F-18 Hornet (see below).

Among many highlights, all family members agreed that the 30min Red Arrows flying display was #1.  As much as we like the Roulettes, the Red Arrows are a cut above.  This is largely because with nine aircraft, rather than six they seem to be able to perform more numerous and more difficult formations and tricks more frequently.  Also, as the USA and French will confirm, red, white and blue smoke looks great out the back of aircraft!

After the flying display was all over, we had some more fun before heading back to Winchester, by going on some old fashioned carnival rides, including the Hurricane (pictured).