There are some lovely shots doing the rounds of the two-seat VAAC Harrier which displayed at Yeovilton this weekend.
Yeovilton was good - especially considering the weather. There was less in the static park than usual, though the French Frelon crew were handing out cups of wine, and the flying was compromised by the very strong cross-wind, blowing into the face of the crowd. The wind got worse after lunch, and it was impressive to see good flying from aircraft like the Qinetiq Harrier, Wasp, Merlin, Vampire, Venom, Sea Vixen, Hunter, Mustang and F86. Given the wind, I was hugely impressed with the stick & rudder work in the Wasp and the Harrier, but the Sea Vixen looked magnificant and was almost worth the £20 entrance fee alone. The Typhoon opened the display very nicely – then stayed at Yeovilton instead of flying out. FRADU did a nice, tight formation display with their Falcons and Hawks, the ‘Black Cat’ team displayed their Lynxes and the Royal Artillery parachute display team jumped out of a Lynx – one chap had to cut away his chute as he got dragged along the ground after landing. There was also some lunatic rolling his glider on tow, while another lunatic flew rolls around him... The wind prevented flying by some aircraft (e.g. Swordfish, Gnat, Sea Hawk) and BBMF wisely gave it a miss, but we had the bonus of C17 ZZ172 landing to bring a Sea King home from the Middle East. With the weather worsening, the organisers brought the finale forward to 1530 and it started to rain quite heavily half way through. Have to say that the commentators were excellent, and it was a bonus being able to get in and out of the car park so easily...
I'm really envious of everyone who saw '558 flying, but hope to see her at Farnborough in a couple of weeks.