I remember well a 'real' airshow at Cottesmore, either '65 or '66 when Finningley was closed. It was a 'real' airshow becasue we did not have a modern carnival. We had picket posts and rope along the crowd line, no barriers, and several standard brown marquee tents just behind that.
It rained. It blew, It was dog s
t.
At 0700 on show day OC Admin decided on a master stroke. The station sirens sounded and we all turned to for an operational generation with no thoughts of an air show.
After 45 minutes or so of absolute confusion we discovered it had been his bright idea to get the station up and doing. We were then milling about on the crowd line, in number 2s and flying boots and raincoats, wondering what to do.
The main job seemed to be re-erecting the tents. At one point we group of flt lt, led by a captain naturally, were hammering in the stakes. Along can an engineer sqn ldr who took over the sledge hammer (we only had one hammer between 10), and the flt lt took shelter in the marquee.
Then along came wg cdr A. He took over the sledge hammer, as he was senior, and the engineer held the stakes. The other flt lt took shelter in the marquee.
Later I guess hot tea and butties were brought around and the air show got under way sometime but most likely not at 1000.
The highlight was the BAF F104 doing high-speed rolls and 20 feet or touch and go rolls at 50 feet with 2 or more touches per pass.
