I think a Seamew thread is a great idea. Recall it well from schooldays.
Despite the Shoreham tragedy, this is still very much Air Show season. I thought that memories of Farnborough 1966, as seen from a Gannet's cockpit, might be appropriate.
1966, Farnborough and Families Day
HMS Hermes' Air Group was chosen to do the Fleet Air Arm's bit at Farnborough in 1966 and, on Sept. 9th, repeat the performance for the ships' Families Day. Hermes was at sea, somewhere off the Nab Tower I think. I thought a view of both might stir memories, Farnborough first.
What follows is written from the point of view of a Gannet's cockpit, flying in close formation and so missing some of the bigger stuff, but I hope it gives an idea.
The FAA's 7-minute contribution to Farnborough was all action and variety, VERY careful co-ordinated and controlled. Manoevring around the Farnborough area with approx. 25 FAA aircraft anyway was interesting, let alone those in the display before and after us, the trip to Spithead simply added complications, mainly for Southern Radar. The various controllers that week, and especially that day had my profound admiration.
The Hermes Air Group was Buccaneer 2s (809), Sea Vixen 2s (892), Gannet AEW 3s (849 B Flight) and Wessex HAS.1s (826) and the FAA display began with a combined Air Group flypast followed by individual squadron performances - Royal Marines abseiling from Wessexes, Sea Vixens refuelling each other, Gannets doing a formation re-light, Buccaneers at really low level, Sea Vixen aerobatics and so on. You name it, Hermes' Air Group did it for a non-stop seven minutes.
The flypast axis was Runway 06/24, with our initial combined approach up 06, heights and speeds on the approach were carefully worked out, timing and accuracy were everything.
The Choppers were at 200 feet and 90 knots, Gannets at 300 feet and 180 knots, the jets (6 Buccaneers and 10 Sea Vixens) at 500 feet and 360 knots, all converging as a vertical stack of aircraft as we passed the President's tent. And yes, it worked every time.
However, Tweezledown Racecourse is immediately SW of the airfield and higher than the runway. So the choppers had to be over it and down to 200 feet before we came across the treetops in the Gannets - the jets were safely out of reach at 500 feet.
For those who remember him (with affection) Paul "Bloggs" Bootherstone was our Senior Pilot and led the formation each day with the CO, Lt-Cdr Cobb in his rear cabin as timekeeper/co-ordinator.
Loose formation from Yeovilton to Odiham, then tighten up and orbit Odiham airfield while the CO in Paul's Gannet checked timing and all the other Hermes aircraft joined us on the Farnborough frequency - which was fairly busy anyway. We all set the Farnborough QFE, there was a count-down and, at the precise moment called out by the CO, we all set off.
I forget where the actual turning point was, but we would leave Odiham in a SE direction to do a very specific dog-leg intersection with the extended centreline of 06/24 and call out at passing a certain checkpoint for timing. Speed absolutely constant, we slowly lost height and passed over Tweezledown at 300 feet relative to the runway ahead. So we weren't much above the trees, or the several Army officers exercising their horses in the woodland on the hill.
One horse clearly didn't like Gannets and threw its rider into a bush. We flew on, and were suddenly over the airfield. At the edge of my field of vision the choppers passed below and the jets above, bang on time. Now we had to get clear and set up for our party piece in about 4 minutes.
Lots of familiar voices in our headsets as the action continued over the field. We climbed to 1,000 feet and flew a big clockwise oval so we could approach again up runway 06. A view of Guildford Cathedral on the hill and the line of the Hog's Back and, on a count from Paul, each of us shut down one engine. We were going to do a formation relight.
The Gannet's relight in flight sounds really good from the ground, somehow reminiscent of a Merlin running up to full power. Three at once is even better, with the addition of the visual factor when done in unison in tight formation. It means releasing the brake on the stopped prop and unfeathering it while starting fuel flow and running the igniters. The prop rapidly windmills up to speed, the engine lights up and produces power.
So, around onto the extended centreline again, very specific timing again and over Tweezeldown again. The unfortunate Army officer was chasing his horse, but he paused long enough to shake his fist at us.
Amid all the RT chatter, Paul came through strongly "Gannets, stand by to relight! "ONE" (HP fuel cock on) - "TWO" (press the relight button to unfeather the stopped prop, release its brake and start the igniters) - be aware of it windmilling up and "THREE" (once everything is clearly working, match throttles). And away we went, each leaving a Gannet's signature puff of black smoke behind us.
We were now directed southwards by Southern Radar. Bob Humphries, in the back of my aircraft was kept busy changing frequencies throughout while I stuck to Paul's starboard wing across Hampshire - and then we were over water, and there was Hermes with a Flight Deck full of people and splashes of colour amongst the blue.
We used the Ship's head as our display axis. After almost fifty years my memory of the precise display details are a bit vague. I know we did most of the Farnborough display, we Gannets certainly did our relight party piece and judging by photos taken at the time, the jets had a high old time at high speed and VERY low level.
The Flight Deck we would so soon be using in earnest was happily occupied by families, who looked as though they were having a great day at sea. Sunshine, calm sea, it looked like a perfect day for a party.
Time to leave, but we would soon be back to embark. We said farewell to the ship, contacted Southern Radar again and flew back to Yeovilton across soft, green and gold sunlit Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset in loose formation. It had been a great day.
Mike
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There are two good links to the Farnborough performance at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdUTb19O1wU at 2 mins 22 secs and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6IJtuq_j3g at 4.06 (briefly) and 4.52.
In the second one there's quite a dramatic low flyby of Sea Vixens very close to Mach 1, with massive condensation in the shock waves above the wings. Both videos are silent (old 8mm film) but lots of other good aircraft in each, including replicas built for the film "Those magnificent men and their flying machines".