Leuchars Airshow

[BillHicksRules]

Dear all,

Would just like to say a big thanks to all involved in organising this years event.

Took the wife for the 2nd year running and she loved it. Also to the parents, my sister and her fiance and they all had a great time.

Best static display for several years.

Flight display was fantastic. The "Arrows" were superb despite the initially low cloud level, the BBMF was better than ever. However hats off to the F18 and F16 display pilots. TREMENDOUS.

Other notables were the Mighty Hunter display and the loudest and dirtiest of the lot, the Phantom.

Cheers

BHR

[owc]

Must admit I was a little disappointed in the content. The only RAF heavy on static was the Sentry, also no Jags. And the flying display was missing a few items, don`t remember a Hunter flying!

[Wycombe]

....2 Jags were in Jersey for BoB Show from Weds until Friday am.

[DB6]

owc, Jag was on 3rd last. You weren't on your way home were you? :p

[Stuff]

DB6 - subject of that sentence was the static display, hence "no jag" refers to no jag on static which was perfectly true.

OWC - "The Mighty Hunter" is the Nimrod.

I also note there was no Hawk static (save for the rather unconvincing plastic mock up), no sea king (although they were probably all working at the time). Nothing I saw from the RAF Regt. I remember one year they had a rapier system set up and tracked the flying displays with it. - It had almost as many people watching it as the display :p

I also miss Alan Wade's Firefly display but I guess that's gone along with JEFTS.

No flying Lynx or Merlin and no J model to be seen and that's only covering the UK assets never mind the decline in foreign attendees.

On the plus side, food was actually quite reasonably priced (RIAT take note!), the ticket and car parking prices were ok (RIAT take note!) and the traffic management was spot on considering the limited number of roads around the base and finally the OP Telic hanger was great.

I may sound quite negative but I really enjoyed the day, the point I guess I'm trying to make is that it's been bigger and better in the past but that's defence cutbacks for you :{

[BEagle]

Well, it sounds as though it was a pretty underwhelming static display at one of the few front line fighter bases still in existence. No fault of the organisers though, I would imagine.

In contrast, here’s what RAF Merryfield, a little AFS in Somerset, was able to put on static display 50 years ago on 19 Sep 1953:

Vampire 5
Vampire T11
Chipmunk
Wyvern
Prentice
Oxford
Lincoln
Canberra
Varsity
Provost
Harvard
Meteor
Dragonfly
Anson
Meteor NF11
Expediter
Viking
Pembroke

That’s the sort of static which virtually every RAF aerodrome was capable of putting on back then – and it certainly encouraged many youngsters to want to join. When I was holding at Biggin Hill in 1977, we moved a filing cabinet, from behind which appeared an old memo. Dated some time in the 1950s, it included the sentence “Of the 34 stations in Home Command holding Battle of Britain Open Days in Southern England........”. That was just one command in one part of England. Surely the RAF must be able to do better these days for its ‘shareholders’?

[Chris Kebab]

....still no Jaguar tho' BEagle!

[pubsman]

I think I would take issue with the parking traffic comments. I travelled from the south, via St Andrew and entered via the "normal" southern crash gate and was parked accordingly. On leaving, I was directed NORTH via some tortuous back roads, side roads etc and eventually ended up at Tayport (beside the River Tay)!!! I then had to backtrack to Leuchars village and then St. Andrews (approximately an extra 15 miles of journey). In all the many previous visits to Leuchars I have always left by the gate I entered. Not a very satisfactory end to quite an average day as noted above.

[shack]

BEagle, reading that date you made me feel old----I was flying one of the Vampires that day!!!!!!!!

[DB6]

I don't know, you want one in the air AND one on the ground! Well it was on static if you had binoculars :cool: .
Alan Wade works for the Navy/Army part of JEFTS (now DEFTS) which is still going at Barkston Heath; it was only the RAF Squadron that disbanded. The management have a somewhat short-sighted view of the worth of those displays to the company so have tightened the purse strings somewhat, hence no Firefly.

[PICKS135]

RAF Regt had there own setup complete with mock cliff face and loads of big kids playing on the rifle range. It was hidden behind the IL76. Well it had camoflage netting over it.

[NoseGunner]

No typhoon (flying or static) - probably too busy
No Stealth anything
No FSU fighters
Very ordinary - personally I'm a bit bored of all the usual stuff.

[Impiger]

NoseGunner

You're right to get bored with all the usual stuff but the problem is that the show organisers are rather limited by what the world's air forces will send. The real disappointment (stand fast the lack of Typhoon) is that the RAF senior leadership does not ensure a full turn out of its own aircraft at what is, after all, an Air Force Board mandated/sponsored event.

Typhoon next year for sure!!!!!

:cool:

[Budfrey]

Best static display for several years.

It was actually the worst! Worse even than the decimated static after 9/11 in 2001. Only 7 visiting RAF aircraft in the static display - thank goodness for the Royal Navy who had an example of every aircraft type in their inventory on show.

Nothing to do with cutbacks - Waddington managed to have 30 odd RAF aircraft on static display. So why is Leuchars the poor cousin? Perhaps it has something to do with the amount of space required to accommodate the vast funfair or the assortment of tacky non-aviation stalls that Leuchars is now famed for.

Why also was it necessary to have BOTH RAF solo Hawk displays and YET AGAIN two F-16 displays??? It's only a one day show, and yet there were still horrendous gaps in the flying display despite all the padding.

[Wycombe]

...sounds like there was more RAF participation in Jersey than at Leuchars! I went for a wander round the pan there last Thurs morning, present were:

2 x F3s
2 x Jags
1 x GR7 (still there on Sat, looking a bit poorly)
2 x Hawk
2 x Tucano
Reds (10 Hawks)
BBMF (Spit, Hurri, Lanc & Dak)
1 x Sea King (SAR duty for show presumably)

The Reds Support C130J came and went

Falcons didn't appear and neither did the E3 or Nimrod mentioned in the programme

The B52 (!) that did some low-level flyby's at the start of the display was the highlight for me, along with the Sea Vixen.

No sign either of any of the usual MyTravel participation (usually a feature due to the boss's residency in Jersey) - wonder why that was!!

[TURNBULL]

Although a poor turn out from the RAF, rumour has it that RAF aircraft were turned away, albeit at the last minute, due to a shortage of accomodation in the New Halls.

Still, a great airshow - many thanks to the service personnel who gave up their weekend - thank God they haven't turned it over to a profit-making organisation like so many others !!! But are we seeing the end of the great RAF at-home days?

[EESDL]

You have a choice:
Participate at Leuchars or at Jersey.....mmmmm! not very difficult that one.
In an era where support for the Forces is at an all time low as finances and 'welfare' packages are argued down to the last halfpenny(!). Is it any wonder why, if given the choice, hard-pressed aircrew opt for the airshow where entertainment isn't rationed and where you can understand what the local fillies are trying to say!
Then again, sometimes you are ordered to attend Leuchars!!

[Postman Plod]

EEDSL - Seeing as the majority of the local fillies at Leuchars are probably English thanks to the fairly unknown university across the Eden Estuary, or from the fairly cosmopolitan RAF base, I'm not entirely sure what you are suggesting? :E

[Mad_Mark]

Seeing as the majority of the local fillies at Leuchars are probably English thanks to the fairly unknown university across the Eden Estuary, or from the fairly cosmopolitan RAF base, I'm not entirely sure what you are suggesting?

Unfortunately the airshow normally takes place before said southern fillies have returned to brighten up the local scenery :{

MadMark!!! :mad:

[hairey]

i travelled up from oxfordshire to the airshow and was suprised at the lack of aircraft that was there.i agree the display was very patchey,but at least it gave u time to grab an ice-cream on a very windy day.still all in all i had a good time and it was worth the long trip.

[Divergent Phugoid!]

Are you sure the Stealths weren't there?? :D