Duxford Flying Day, Sunday 5th May.

[Tony1963]

The Tempest has disappeared from the ‘Expected’ flying list.

Thankfully, as an IWM member my ticket was at no extra cost, and I’m meeting a few very old friends for a mini reunion, buts it’s still a disappointment.

Does anyone here know what has happened?

[Tony1963]

If it wasn’t for our mini reunions at Duxford on Flying Days I honestly don’t think I’d see much historic flying at all now. The last airshow I went to was 2015, and nothing has ‘improved’ since then. I was hoping the Tempest could rekindle it all for me.

[Tony1963]

aeropilot said:

.

Might try and get to an Old Warden show this year if I can before I get too old to be bothered

Joking aside, I think getting older might well be a part of the problem for me. Watching airshows when there were moments that really made me jump was an incredible experience. Transonic passes, low level stuff, flying over the crowd etc, hell, even the Red Arrows were worth watching! And now… they fly absolutely nowhere near the crowd, don’t go BANG!!! as they pass down the runway, and spend the whole display turning away from the crowd. And they want you to pay a small fortune for the privilege.
Similar for motorsport. And the circuits have been ruined.

I try to not let it make me sad.

[Tony1963]

I'd forgotten just how far away the aircraft are now when passing the crowd. It is just 100% disappointment. You see the camera lenses rise as an aircraft turns towards the crowd, then all drop again as the aircraft turns away. Anything less than 500mm on a full frame camera will be a struggle, with lots of cropping later on.

My guess is they're passing the crowd the far side of the tarmac runway. They're closer when landing!


Still... the event sold out, and I guess the tiny number of airshows each year will sell out.