Spirit of Adventure
 

Imagine my surprise and excitement when I read that I could shape the future of Britain and make decisions above my pay grade in the RAF Spirit of Adventure this summer !!!!
Unfortunately I'm not around at the moment (and won't be when it's on come to think of it) so am relying on the PPRuNe community to tell me what it's all about.
Seems like I can text in decisions or something and win a villa in Spain ?!
Any thoughts ? Bollard doesn't look like he's protesting too much in the pics ;)

(And before any protests about me naming Bollard in a public forum, remember it's already been on the Red Arrow programme. Plus, everyone knows Bollard anyway :ok: )

Already been mentioned http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...9112&highlight
Looks like an utter, utter load of tosh to me and it all starts with the page about "heroes and heroines" scripted by the civilian MD of the meeja company who are staging the whole thing. Is it me or is the Rock in the photo on said opening page making a "w@nker" sign? (see below):uhoh:
I'm truly mystified by the presence of the "Zapcats" at said event. They appear to be some kind of toy speedboat which is a) hardly going to get very far on the grass of Abindgon airfield and b) more appropriate to the Royal Navy surely?
The "event" also seems to be weighed down with quirky ideas like "trendy" phone text messaging in order to decide the outcome of Jerry Bruckheimer's "RAF - The Movie" or something. Wakey wakey MOD, this ain't X-Factor.
The thing that sticks in my mind is how the aviation aspect of this "event" has been nudged in to second place to be replaced by apprently cool, trendy but ultimately quite vague "multimedia experiences", and bizarrely motorsport seems to feature very heavily. Maybe MT are undermanned and this is a thinly veiled recruiting drive. The real disappointment is the whole ethos behind this event suggests the Public need (and want?) to be entertained by the military rather than be genuinely informed about them.
:(
Abingdon Air Fayre (two weeks previous) is much, much cheaper and far less pretentious.
http://www.jervismediaevents.com/soa/DI/45145747.jpg <<< See what I mean?

Will it have a big sandpit? How about a few JPA terminals so the public can e-mail their responses to the unfolding scenario!

Flyer Just Out
 

Spirit of Adventure is a DefPR(RAF) concept, developed in close conjunction with Jervis Entertainment Media, to project Defence and the RAF in a modern an innovative setting through the new Engagement Strategy. The overall concept connects merchandise, video games, clothing, events and a feature film – all under the new RAF logo and brand.

Only £10 per ticket, plus booking fee of £1.50 plus additional £4.80 for up to 6 tickets. So for 6 ATC Cadets = £73.80 (really £12.30 each). Not bad, a minimum 23% hidden mark up.

Should be free, especially to cadets. :mad:

Since the tax payer owns Abingdon, and all the assets being shown, and pays the guys displaying them, where's the cost?

Royal Tournament was not free, but ISTR some/all of the profits went to Services charities.

ATC have to wear uniform too. Servicemen get in half price. Not sure what Joe Public is to pay, £20 a head?

The synopsis is amazing.

Nice to see a full-page poster advertising this event in a well known aviation magazine describe one of the participating aircraft as a "E-30 Sentry!" :rolleyes: (F*yP*st, June edition, Page 17, if anyone's interested..)

And that's another Ppruner outted as an anorak.:)

- and that's another Ppruner confirmed as a small minded kn*b (Oh, and there's only one 't' in outed, too)

I think they've been smoking whacky-baccy at DPR...

WTF, Over???:confused:

God help us all...

LJ

Confused? No, simply bored after para 1.

I thought the Bond franchise had gone back to basics? :uhoh:

http://www.jervismediaevents.com/soa/DI/45145747.jpg

http://www.personal-development.info...ul-McKenna.jpg

Maybe our station guard-force are turning into hypnotists? "Can I see your car-pass Sir?...Look into my eyes, not around the eyes...into the eyes...you want to be stationed at Kinloss...3,2,1, you're back in the room!"

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscart...res/jnan7l.jpg

Or maybe he's a future gameshow host, "let's look at the old scoreboard..."?

I pity this man if he really is in the RAF :}

Just returned from Abingdon.Counted approximately 600 cars present so around 1200 people (2 per car?) attended though quite a few cars where staff vehicles.

Show was very poor value for money at £25 entrance though flying could have been watched having only paid £5 for car parking..

Flying started at 1130.Large gaps in flying programme with only Tucano, Hawk,Typhoon ,Spitfire and Falcons displaying.

Role demo started at 1400 and was OK with good pyrotechnics (AWACS plus 2 Tornado F3s ,2 GR4s ,2 Hawks, No helis) and lasted 50 minutes. Reds finished the show at 1600.

Lots of RAF personnel looking very bored and unhappy caterers who had paid for pitches.They had been told to expect 15,000 people per day!

Cannot see that ,given the weather forecast, tomorrow's attendance will be any better.

Josh

It will of course be a collosal success and someone will get promoted and probably an OBE!!!

What a flop...embarrassed to be a crab-fat blue man.

LJ

The E-3, F3s and GR4s provided some entertainment to the crowds down by the river in Oxford for Eights Week. I overheard a couple of tourists say it was jolly decent of the RAF to put on a free air display for the last day of Eights, and they supposed that the display couldn't be directly over the river for safety reasons. Certainly gained the attention of, ooh, about 3,000 people, I'd guess.

So some decent PR for the RAF did result, albeit amongst several thousand people several miles away who paid nothing for the privilege of watching. And the food (cooked at the college boathouses) and drink was probably cheaper as well.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Oh and it's just started hammering down outside. :hmm:

Oh dear. What a pity. Never mind.

Shame that....

And only 17 years ago when the RAF still owned Abingdon, Thames Valley Plod were complaining about the traffic jams caused by the REAL air displays which the RAF could still afford back then.

If this pile of poo proves as much of a flop as everyone who knew anything predicted...well, sympathy can be found in the usual place in the dictionary. Between '****' and 'syphilis' and closer to 'Squadron Leader' than 'sorry'...:cool:

Having lived in Abingdon for 27 yrs and witnessed the previous At home Days and BofB days, this flop was fully predicted. I have been ranting on for weeks to however would listen about the total lack of promotion for the event in the local area. The only way the Abingdon community knew about this event was when the standard yellow AA signs appeared last Monday giving directions and little else. There has been no posters, radio publicity or flyers. Those that were fortunate to find any information were then horrified at the entrance price. This is hardly Fairford! If Abingdon can not muster up a fly-through appearance of a C-17, Tristar & VC10, based just 18 miles away, surely it proves how low key this event has been treated by the boys up top. With 2 major conflicts taking up the majority of the transport fleets flying hours, a skeleton shift left behind at Benson and Odiham, its obvious all your going to get is trng jets or a Typhoon. I feel sorry for those that have tried to make this a memorable event and the time they have commited, but if I feel this way, how do we expect a BMW plant worker, Tesco check-out operative or a Mays carpet fitter to feel.

What "Spit the Dog" might not appreciate is the difficulty of conjuring up a C17, Tristar or VC10.

Just adding a few extra tons of gas to the return trip to the UK for a timed flypast, just might mean that not everyone can get a seat home. How happy (or legal) do you think that the soldiers on board might feel about making their loved ones at Brize wait for another hour whilst they participate in an airshow?

Whilst your idea sounds simple, in reality every little change has far reaching consequences, legalities and difficulties. Such is the reality of the modern military force.

Fantaman

It is my understanding that the RAF paid nothing. The risk is/was on JEM, but I wonder if the Kinross show will go ahead or whether they will pull the plug now:E

Bring back At Home Days!!!:ok:

Had a look at the UK Airshow forum to see how it went down with the paying public.

"The only airshow where the loos outnumbered the punters" seems to be the most favourable observation...

Fantaman said: -

The E3 and two F3’s seemed to spend the first 20 minutes capping at about 3000’ not really doing anything

So apart from the height, fairly accurate :ok:

Just a few observations on a complete shambles.
 

I went today, and paid to get in. By the time I'd paid my parking fee and driven over the grass several miles, I was wondering if I was in the right place. The complete lack of a crowd was noticeable. I paid the disinterested and obviously bored staff, and was confronted, at 11 o'clock in the morning, by people leaving and one group demanding their money back. Apparently Toady Jervis had published a map via the Herald local newspaper website with with Dr Who, Star Trek and other TV show stands on it, and some fans were disappointed not to see ANY of the stands there. Lie number 1.

I ran into an old air show freind of many years expereince and we compared notes on the crowd, 9 rows of 52 cars (yes, we counted!) makes for 1,872 people at 4 people per car. The RAF estimated 50,000 a day on its website after the Horseguards launch of the SOA, and JEM estimated 25,000 per day. Staff were then overheard telling people at least 8,000 people had been there today. Lie number 2.

The spectacular car action consited of 6 European NASCARs of dubious quality being driven up and down and doing the odd cowboy donut. Ho hum, deadly dull, except for the all-body RAF and Typhoon logo wearing Ford Fiesta, which was a gem of pathetic marketing and embarrasing "yoof" culture.

Jervis is quoted on his website as claiming that this would also be a shopping specacular. This consisted of the RAF clothing collection, the Red Arrows ground crew stand, and the Red Arrows Marketing Company stand. Lots of choice then, and lie number 3.

Conversations by my colleague with staff at the show revealed and interesting fact. The movie that was to save the day and be the centrepiece of the show was delivered late by JEM. This was also one of the reasons that the original show in August 06 was cancelled, it had not been finished. Despite the limited and hard to find pre-event press talking about an hour or 90 minute hollywood-style blockbuster film, the actual film delivered by JEM was under half an hour, and consisted mostly of Andy Turner and Terry Jervis in newsroom-style interviews. Terry Jervis may be many things, but a screen presenter he is not. Andy Turner may now hold a record for ums and ers in a pre-recorded video. Deadly dull, but a good high profile for the two gentlemen involved. In order to pad the film out, DDefPub staff spent Wednesday of last week in the Old War Office Building, splicing pieces of old RAF information films into the so called blockbuster movie, giving it about a 55 minute length. These splices had no relevant soundtrack, so on the day, the commentator had to improvise voiceovers, which sounded terrible in conjunction with the set soundtrack in the rest of the movie. There wan no interactivity at all, despite everyone concerned stressing this was a vital feature of the film. You sat and watched, and were deeply confused, then laughing out loud at the pitiful acting and appaling boys-own storyline. No aliens were involved, despite the JEM site pronouncements, and no interactivity becomes lie number 4.

The flying was pedestrian in nature and so far away as to be un-photographable. The much vaunted dogfight was two F3s, each following a Hawk in lazy circles at about 2,000 feet. The pyrotechnics set off in time to the RAF Regiment mortars and GR4 flypasts at least made my son jump, but thats all. Many of the aircraft in the published programme were simply not there.

I could go on, but the list of things that were promised but were not there, and the list of blatant mis-information about this show and its content would fill a small book.

Andy Turner should be made to show his accounts on this fiasco. Terry Jervis has proved himself an incapable shyster of the worst stripe. I would like to know why the RAF still has him contracted after his failure to produce this show last year, two magazine projects, a clothing range of any quality and most crucialy, a movie of acceptable length and quality to base a £25 a head show on. He should be asked to return the funds paid to him and be removed from his contract for so many clear breaches. I doubt this will happen, largely because of Jervis's colour, no one wants the racist slur cast at them do they?

My final comment must be a reply to the Turner/Jervis statement about the ticket price. Yes, it does cost more for a ticket to Twickenham, but the international rugby organisers don't lie to me about what I will see, and I get a solid 90 minutes and a half time entertainment. You failed to provide even that. And further, rugby doesn't iron its teething and technology problems out in front of a paying audience. You two should be ashamed, you have made the RAF a laughing stock.

For tomorrow, the only three simulator rides have left for the free airshow at Southend (estimated audience in excess of 500,000) and it is unlikely any flying will take place int eh forecast 400 ft cloudbase.

Sorry to go on at length, but I think these facts should be made public, Turner and Jervis censured, and both of them stopped from organising anything else that costs the RAF money and reputation.

Just a few observations on a complete shambles.
 

I went today, and paid to get in. By the time I'd paid my parking fee and driven over the grass several miles, I was wondering if I was in the right place. The complete lack of a crowd was noticeable. I paid the disinterested and obviously bored staff, and was confronted, at 11 o'clock in the morning, by people leaving and one group demanding their money back. Apparently Toady Jervis had published a map via the Herald local newspaper website with with Dr Who, Star Trek and other TV show stands on it, and some fans were disappointed not to see ANY of the stands there. Lie number 1.

I ran into an old air show freind of many years expereince and we compared notes on the crowd, 9 rows of 52 cars (yes, we counted!) makes for 1,872 people at 4 people per car. The RAF estimated 50,000 a day on its website after the Horseguards launch of the SOA, and JEM estimated 25,000 per day. Staff were then overheard telling people at least 8,000 people had been there today. Lie number 2.

The spectacular car action consited of 6 European NASCARs of dubious quality being driven up and down and doing the odd cowboy donut. Ho hum, deadly dull, except for the all-body RAF and Typhoon logo wearing Ford Fiesta, which was a gem of pathetic marketing and embarrasing "yoof" culture.

Jervis is quoted on his website as claiming that this would also be a shopping specacular. This consisted of the RAF clothing collection, the Red Arrows ground crew stand, and the Red Arrows Marketing Company stand. Lots of choice then, and lie number 3.

Conversations by my colleague with staff at the show revealed and interesting fact. The movie that was to save the day and be the centrepiece of the show was delivered late by JEM. This was also one of the reasons that the original show in August 06 was cancelled, it had not been finished. Despite the limited and hard to find pre-event press talking about an hour or 90 minute hollywood-style blockbuster film, the actual film delivered by JEM was under half an hour, and consisted mostly of Andy Turner and Terry Jervis in newsroom-style interviews. Terry Jervis may be many things, but a screen presenter he is not. Andy Turner may now hold a record for ums and ers in a pre-recorded video. Deadly dull, but a good high profile for the two gentlemen involved. In order to pad the film out, DDefPub staff spent Wednesday of last week in the Old War Office Building, splicing pieces of old RAF information films into the so called blockbuster movie, giving it about a 55 minute length. These splices had no relevant soundtrack, so on the day, the commentator had to improvise voiceovers, which sounded terrible in conjunction with the set soundtrack in the rest of the movie. There wan no interactivity at all, despite everyone concerned stressing this was a vital feature of the film. You sat and watched, and were deeply confused, then laughing out loud at the pitiful acting and appaling boys-own storyline. No aliens were involved, despite the JEM site pronouncements, and no interactivity becomes lie number 4.

The flying was pedestrian in nature and so far away as to be un-photographable. The much vaunted dogfight was two F3s, each following a Hawk in lazy circles at about 2,000 feet. The pyrotechnics set off in time to the RAF Regiment mortars and GR4 flypasts at least made my son jump, but thats all. Many of the aircraft in the published programme were simply not there.

I could go on, but the list of things that were promised but were not there, and the list of blatant mis-information about this show and its content would fill a small book.

Andy Turner should be made to show his accounts on this fiasco. Terry Jervis has proved himself an incapable shyster of the worst stripe. I would like to know why the RAF still has him contracted after his failure to produce this show last year, two magazine projects, a clothing range of any quality and most crucialy, a movie of acceptable length and quality to base a £25 a head show on. He should be asked to return the funds paid to him and be removed from his contract for so many clear breaches. I doubt this will happen, largely because of Jervis's colour, no one wants the racist slur cast at them do they?

My final comment must be a reply to the Turner/Jervis statement about the ticket price. Yes, it does cost more for a ticket to Twickenham, but the international rugby organisers don't lie to me about what I will see, and I get a solid 90 minutes and a half time entertainment. You failed to provide even that. And further, rugby doesn't iron its teething and technology problems out in front of a paying audience. You two should be ashamed, you have made the RAF a laughing stock.

For tomorrow, the only three simulator rides have left for the free airshow at Southend (estimated audience in excess of 500,000) and it is unlikely any flying will take place int eh forecast 400 ft cloudbase.

Sorry to go on at length, but I think these facts should be made public, Turner and Jervis censured, and both of them stopped from organising anything else that costs the RAF money and reputation.

We can only hope the "truth will out" via the Freedom of Information Act in good time.

I worry what the flop will mean for the future of RAF participation in airshows. I hope the powers that be don't take the poor turnout and inevitable financial loss as an indication that there's no market for airshows as a recruiting tool. Anyone with half a brain could see that Spirit was going to be a colossal disaster.

I fully expect a media backlash at the waste of taxpayers money, and personally am intruiged to see if the Scottish sister event at Kinross goes ahead.

My daughter had a grand time with the RAF in Oxfordshire yesterday - flying with 6AEF at Benson.

There was no publicity within the ATC org. for this event. How hard would it have been to have sent a poster to all the southern England ATC locations - it's in the public domain. Offer them x% discount for group tickets of 10, and hey presto, your numbers swell, and your ice cream van does a good trade.

Today's weather does not look very promising. Brize is giving:
EGVN 270438Z 270606 VRB07KT 9000 -RA BKN008 TEMPO 0606 6000 RA BKN006 PROB40 TEMPO 0618 2500 +RA BKN004 BECMG 1417 01020G30KT BECMG 2023 BKN016 BECMG 0003 36012KT

However, if Jervis Media try to blame the undoubted flop this farce will prove to be on low cloud and heavy rain, that will be yet another lie.

Not normally given to schadenfreude, I can't help thinking that this absurd event was doomed from the start. An air show is an air show is an air show... Nothing else.

Nor would it have been difficult to arrange some participation from Brize-based aircraft, given the fact that this event was postponed from last summer.

However, it is the RAF squirearchy who are chiefly to blame. The low profile the RAF has these days has meant that the nation's yoof, bar the Air Training Corps, is no longer 'air-minded'. A giimmick-ridden overpriced nonsense such as 'Spirit of Adventure' is not going to restore air-mindedness in the UK's youngsters.

I have copies of the RAF 'At Home' day brochure produced for RAF Merryfield in 1953 and 1954. This was just one At Home day of many, held at a small training aerodrome in Somerset. Yet the quality and variety it manged to provide far outstripped the paltry efforts which seem to be all that the RAF - with or without the efforts of Jervis Media - can manage 43 years later.

How glad I am that I was around to enjoy the At Home days of the 1960s...

Well well well...... RAF website this morning -

That's handy. Nothing to do with yesterday's bijou debarcle then?

Interesting that all the other guff on the Spirit of Misadventure site seems to have been deleted too......
:hmm:

I wonder how many people who have already bought tickets (has anyone really done so?) will be checking the RAF website bfore setting off for ex-RAF Abingdon?

And, for a taste of what the RAF was like the year I joined, see:

http://www.petergoodearl.co.uk/airdays/raf50/index.htm

Come come now BEags me old....

Surely this is more in line with the RAF airshows of your day.....

http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/...geant_1922.jpg

:ok:

Oooh you can be such a bitch at times, Stoppers...:p

I missed the 1990 Abingdon air show as my brother was getting married on the same day. But by all accounts you lot had a pretty good time?

Incidentally, there's nothing on the 'Spiwwit of Adventure, bwavado and dewwing-do' website about the other show due to be held at Kinross, Jockistan. That really is Kinross, not ISK.....:rolleyes:

It was a very quiet affair BEags. Must've been as I have little or no recollection of events..... :hmm:

Is it me or do both the Jervis Media website and the Spirit of Misadventure website look as though were designed as year 5 school web project? I would've thought that a meejah company would've had some grasp of the concept of presentation etc. I'm no web designer but I guarantee I could knock you up a better website than their efforts given about 30 mins on Front Page :rolleyes:

Lovely!
 

StopStart, that is a stunning photo! 504s! Ah, Avro!

Cancellation due to weather may mean they recover some of the miss-spent public money in insurance cover, if they had any. The shame of it is that the RAF has a wide variety of real experts to produce some superb events. All that effort and money has been hijacked by a grasping cretin in Jervis and an either unbelievably gullible or stupid ambitious Group Captain. How could Turner have trumpeted the SOA at Horseguards when the crucial film hadn't even been delivered?

Interesting you note their website competence BEagle, its on a par with everything else they do, the CGI in the Jervis movie was terrible. You could do a better website? I could have done better CGI with Flight Sim X and a bit recorder!

So Turner is off to Odiham as OC in July I now hear. Not on promotion at least. Major General Coward, you are about to get an officer who is the living embodiment of a little knowledge and a lot of ambition is a dangerous thing as one of your JHC station commanders. You have been warned.

Hmmm. I was there in 1990. Wasn't that the night when some dentist tried to order all of the aircrew in flying suits out of the bar at the end of airshow party? And someone produced a copy of QR222 :E (IIRC) - pity they repealed that one!!!:{

A quiet affair :hmm:;)

A_A, there was an email shot for the ATC came out week before last. Special ATC price just £10 and they had to wear uniform. That was another lie.

The website only requested that they wear uniform.

Oh, the price, that was a lie too.

It was £10 plus a booking fee of £1.50 plus a fee of £4.80 per group of 6. Maximum group size 6, which put the minimum price at £12.50.

But was that correct as the website had a group size of 20. Ho hum.

Oh, and the RAF got in at half price to, yes only £10 + ++ + of £12.50 or so.

Wobbler Fang, it wasn't my obervation about their website, to be fair!

Ah, Roly, you've clearly never encountered the dry wit of Stoppers at first hand :).. If he says it was a quiet do....:suspect:

One understands that some of the female students took their allocated task of 'entertaining' visiting aircrew particularly diligently.....:E