A trip to Fairford air show by Kevin

Hi, flyers,

Did any of you go to Fairford this year? Wasn’t it brilliant! We, myself and ‘She who must be ignored’ (for sanity reasons) set off from Bristol bright and breezy at 5am. Well armed with flasks of coffee, camera, film and a good selection of French fancies. We arrived on the airfield at 10.30. Why the delay I hear you ask? It seems the Americans were a bit jumpy about something so they had nearly everyone searched. After queuing for 3 hours I was ushed through a body scanner and searched by 2 fierce looking soldiers. She who must be ignored was saved this ordeal and allowed to pass unhindered. Even though her facial hair is second only to Bin Laden himself, they could see the flasks and cakes were not a threat to national security. Unless of course you were foolish enough to digest them.
Having secured ourselves a good vantage-point at the end of the runway we settled down to enjoy the show. We were not disappointed. Tornadoes tortured the air; Harriers put through their paces and display teams risking life and limb. The best being the hot Chileans.

The first highlight (accidentally) was the Italian transport. He did some quite amazing maneuvers, and then on landing (a bit steep on hindsight) there was a terrific thud as his front wheel bucked underneath him. With smoke billowing from the rear and sparks from the front it careered up the tarmac accompanied by a noise like a thousand finger nails being scraped down a blackboard. Finally coming to rest in front of us.

The crew bailed out to the sound of clapping and sirens. ‘I don’t know why they clapped him’ moaned she who should be ignored,’ His display was short and he didn’t put the smoke on until he landed.’

Moving swiftly on the next highlights. The Stealths of course. First the F-117 was put through its paces. Looking like a 1960’s coffee table on its spindly undercarriage, flying, it ate up the sky with precision. Hats off to the Americans who went to a lot of time and expense to give us a glimpse of their technology.
Next the B1 (Bone). Awesome plane, that vibrated every one of my ribs as it took off. (Make a good sloper?)

As we looked to our left a slit opened in the sky. Escorted by 4 F-15s the B2 Spirit slid silently across the sky. The crowd was hushed at first, and then a barrage of camera flashes as it did one fly pass after a 10-hour trip. Impressive!

All in all an excellent day. 8 hours of flying, acres of statics and mountains of French fancies. Who could ask for more?
Arrived home 1 a.m. Sunday due to getting blue car par muddled with green. Won’t say whose fault that was!
Waggle my wings to you all

Kevin, The Bristol Bulldog

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