I went to this Sprit of Adventure thing IN SPITE OF it being called 'Spirit of Adventure." I mean, the poster I saw showed planes and pilots and it was an RAF promotion so I thought it MUST BE some sort of air show. But if I wasn't so incredibly bright and deductive I just might have thought it had something to do with adventure training or something, and gone shopping instead.
Which, it appears, is what most of Oxfordshire did on Saturday. At least I couldn't reckon on more than 2,500 people there - if that. And most of them were at least 30 years old - apparently air show fans from the looks of their gear. Very few kids, which again wasn't surprising given the price of tickets.
I thought it must be an air show when the Typhoon did its bit, but then they put on some sort of fake race with NASCAR sort of cars. What was that about? And kite flying? And I felt sorry for all the fairground people who came with their rides and £5 beef burgers. What shops? If there was a band I didn't see it.
The heart of it really was this movie/live air/ground action, which is what I've hoped the RAF would do at air shows for years 'cos the boom! zoom! whizz! is what stirs the blood. Takes me back to At Home days with my Dad up at the camp, and why I wanted to join up. And the movie is a good idea that links up actions you can't see in front of you. (What's this 'interactive' bit then?) But who needs this Jervis bloke interviewing Andy Turner?
The film should have shown troops under attack on the ground and a FAC calling out "we need CAS NOW!" and then the GR4s would have rolled in. Crump! Boom Bang! RAF saves the day!
Anyway, that 60 minutes, whatever, was what the day was really all about - but you'd never have known it from what publicity there was. And it could have been fitted in nicely into a proper air show. Why is it not being offered for RIAT? Instead of this vague Spirit of Adventure concept it ought to have been called something like "Air strike! Come and see the RAF in action! You've seen and read what the RAF is doing overseas. Now come and see and FEEL close up what its like at an airfield at home!" "Live" bombing! Strafing runs! Aerial Dogfights! Mortars! Machine guns!
I'll guarantee if the RAF gets that message out, and beefs up the show with helos dropping off troops and door gunners blasting away at a much more visible 'enemy' , the kids will drag their parents in.
So get with it, RAF!
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