grusome - no great foresight or fore-telling abilities, old son, just 22 years RAF servoce and another 20 civilian here in Oz. I was hoping against hope for SOME RAF input, but it was no more than that, blind Freddie could have foretold the scenario with less experience of the MoD(UK) than I.
As an aside, do you have any idea why the Nimrod was so subdued? No confidence- busting requested, just curious.
I've had a week to reconsider, and have come to the conclusion that, given my innate inability to ignore noisy aeroplanes, I will probably be there again in 2007! Sad, isn't it!!
As for volunteering, I did for the first Show, spent six days there as a Ground Controller, Military Aircraft, but haven't offerred since primarily 'cos I was a shift-worker as well as being in need of "brownie-points" with SWMBO most of the time. Add to that the difficulty of getting there, and back, from near YMMB airfield, and you may understand why. Nowadays, my age might militate against any great commitment, or does age not have any place in the deliberations of the organisers?
Overall, I enjoyed the Trade show more than the flying demos, with a couple of notable exceptions, but I believe that the airspace and display-line restrictions placed on the Show by nameless authorities contribute to that in no small way. Could today's litigious societal tendencies contribute to those, I wonder?
Kind regards,
TheNightOwl.
