RAFA 2005 Shoreham

[Hagar]

My local air show is regarded as one of the best of its kind in the country. Beautiful weather & the place was packed. Not many photos this time as I bumped into an old friend & we spent the day together chatting & enjoying the atmosphere. Makes a nice change to actually see what going on instead of digital images in the viewfinder. Here's a few snap shots to show what it was like.

Christian Moullec & his geese. An amazing sight if you've never seen it before. Great entertainment despite a blustery crosswind.


Meanwhile Mark Jeffries had taken off in his Laser 200 to officially open the show with a big smiley in the sky.



More aerobatics. This time Denny Dobson up to his tricks in his Extra. The number of limbo poles increases every year.



Impressive display by the RAF Chinook. Taking off backwards in the first shot. A beautiful location for an air show with Lancing College as a backdrop.


This thing is incredibly manoeuvrable for its size.


I've been spoiled for aerobatics this weekend by some of the best in the business. I had another chance at the Red Bull Matador team. Among the very best display of precision formation aerobatics I've seen anywhere.

[Hagar]

Very nice pics there.

I loved the smily face that Mark Jeffries drew and his display was very cool, I can't believe he built that amazing aircraft himself.

I thought the best display of the day was the Honda? where he commentated himself.

Thanks Pete. Glad you enjoyed it. That was Will Curtis of the Honda Dream Team. One of the best aerobatic pilots in the UK. Amazing stuff although I didn't get any shots. Wish I could get one like this. http://www.airliners.net/open.file/898030/M/

Christian Moullec was interesting to watch, his microlight seemed to consist of less than the deck chairs that were being sold lol. Whilst listening to the scanner I found that he held up the Typhoon for 20 minutes whilst he tried to get his geese off the runway and into their hutches the controller said the words "Typhoon, your 1 minute warning shall come soon, your display seems to be dependant on a man getting some geese into a cage."

I think someone slipped up there. He probably shortened the display because of it. Christian had flown earlier & actually opened the show.

P.S. Do you have any pics of the Aerostars display? I think those guys allways do an awesome show.

Is that the Yak team? I was surprised they now fly 5 aircraft. I got one or two bad shots of their display. It's usually a waste of time trying to capture these aerobatic aircraft. I have a couple of them landing if you're interested.

[Hagar]

I believe that there still are 6 Yaks in that team, I don't know why there was only 5 yesterday.

I must be getting the teams mixed up. The Yaks usually display as a 2 or 4-ship. The crosswind would have made it difficult to do the full display

I noticed there was only one of the Black Cats as well. It was very lucky they got one going at all. At Biggin there were engineers clambering all over the two of them for most of the day. They must have fixed one overnight.

I think there must have been some rule on noise abatement that made the Typhoon have a short display. I noticed it didn't use afterburner at all during the fly pasts, this would also explain why there was no Tornado or F-16's as there had been in previous airshows.

I heard one of the Black Cats caught fire during a display somewhere. They both arrived at Shoreham on Friday & gave us an excellent display before heading off to the north. I posted some nice shots in another thread. Not sure about the noise issue. The Harriers are probably the noisiest. Don't quote me but I heard the F-16 is too expensive now. Shame as he used to put on a super display.

Any shots you have at all of this airshow would be gladly recieved

OK but don't get too excited. I tried to get some of the Spitfires for Mark & Roger but the old jinx is still with me.

[Craig.]

Great shots Doug:)

[flyboy 28]

Nice shots Doug. I wish they had some stuff like that here. Mostly Air Force bases that have shows anymore around here..

[Hagar]

Thanks for the comments.

Nice shots Doug. I wish they had some stuff like that here. Mostly Air Force bases that have shows anymore around here..

I know how lucky I am. Being retired gives me the time to enjoy myself so I'm taking advantage of it while I can. The UK is probably the best place for air displays in the world. Being a comparatively small country I can find at least one event of some sort within a couple of hours radius almost every weekend during the season. I had 3 to choose from this weekend. Just to make you jealous these are the more important ones. http://aeroflt.users.netlink.co.uk/shows/showdate.htm

I heard that some of the display pilots are getting a tad weary & looking forward to a break. It looks like fun but these chaps work hard for our enjoyment.

[Hagar]

I loved the smily face that Mark Jeffries drew and his display was very cool, I can't believe he built that amazing aircraft himself.

Thanks. I thought it was an Extra. It's actually a Laser 200. http://www.yakuk.com/laser.asp

I've corrected my original caption.

[beaky]

Never seen a performing goose squadron... that's amazing!!
Also never seen a "limbo" pass- puts the lowest ribbon-cut to shame, really. Wow.
 And that 2nd Red Bull shot is fantastic!!

[ozzy72]

That smiley is awesome

[Felix/FFDS]

Of course, the best photo was of the Chinook taking off backwards!!!  :)

[Hagar]

[quote]Of course, the best photo was of the Chinook taking off backwards!!!

[FLYING_TRUCKER]

Wonderful shots Doug...very very nice.

Thanks for posting them.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

[H]

PS. I couldn't get the one I really wanted with a vintage biplane instead of a Chinook.