Goodwood Air Display preview

[Hagar]

Goodwood Aero Club is holding a Vintage Fly-In and Air Display this weekend. http://www.goodwood.co.uk/Site/Content/Aviation/Aero-Club_Flying-at-Goodwood_Vintage-Air-Display.aspx
This event started out 2 years ago as a vintage fly-in with free entry to the airfield. This year it has become a fully-fledged air show with prices to match. I went over there yesterday to purchase an advanced ticket for tomorrow (Monday) as the forecast for today is not at all promising. In fact the weather is not at all bad at the moment.

While we were over there I caught a couple of early arrivals.

Cosmic Wind 'Ballerina'. It's a long time since I saw this little beast.


Ferocious Frankie turned up at about 4 pm. No sign of its stable-mate MH434.


That's the result of several hours hanging around the airfield. The circuit was strangely quiet for a Saturday. The strong gusty wind might have put visiting pilots off. Not ideal conditions for vintage light aircraft.

Hope to do better tomorrow.

[pepper_airborne]

Nice shots, shame it was so quite, looking forward to the airshow shots!

[Roughrider]

Nice shots, Can't wait for more.

[beaky]

 :)  :)

Ah, the Cosmic Wind... interesting history behind that design. Do you know if this one was plans-built in the UK, or is it one of the originals from the Skunk works?

At any rate, it must be something to fly it... an O-200 pulling a plane with 18' of wing and an empty weight of 600 lbs!!  

Hope to see a few good snaps from this one...

[Hagar]

 :)  :)

Ah, the Cosmic Wind... interesting history behind that design. Do you know if this one was plans-built in the UK, or is it one of the originals from the Skunk works?

At any rate, it must be something to fly it... an O-200 pulling a plane with 18' of wing and an empty weight of 600 lbs!!  

'Ballerina' was one of the originals. I believe there were 3 examples of the Cosmic Wind built although some sources state 4. Originally registered as N22C she was first registered in the UK as G-ARUL in 1961 & owned by the Tiger Club at Redhill. That was when I first saw her on her regular visits to Shoreham. She was badly damaged during an air race at Halfpenny Green in 1966. From this photo you can see the extent of the damage  & it was a complete write-off. http://www.airliners.net/photo/LeVier-Cosmic-Wind/0986487/M/

The one in my photo is actually 'Ballerina II'. She was rebuilt by Paul Bannister during the 1970s & the date of manufacture is officially 1973. This was more a reconstruction than a rebuild & involved new parts & several modifications to the original design.

[C]

 :)  :)

Ah, the Cosmic Wind... interesting history behind that design. Do you know if this one was plans-built in the UK, or is it one of the originals from the Skunk works?

IIRC Ballerina was also used by the British Aerobatic team in the mid 60s. The late Neil Williams in his book "Airborne" tells the tale of a rather interesting dead stick landing in G-ARUL (which comes a close second to the landing in the Zlin with the wing folded!).

[Hagar]

Looks like I made a bad mistake. Despite the best efforts of the forecasters the weather has been beautiful here all day. Heavy rain & strong winds are now forecast for tomorrow. We shall see.

[Mictheslik]

Looks like I made a bad mistake. Despite the best efforts of the forecasters the weather has been beautiful here all day. Heavy rain & strong winds are now forecast for tomorrow. We shall see.

I hope the weather holds out. I was at Old Sarum today and although hving been forcast heavy rain we got away lightly, even getting a spot of sunshine or two

Unfortunately half the program were weathered in at their home bases

.mic

[Hagar]

Looks like I made a bad mistake. Despite the best efforts of the forecasters the weather has been beautiful here all day. Heavy rain & strong winds are now forecast for tomorrow. We shall see.

I hope the weather holds out. I was at Old Sarum today and although hving been forcast heavy rain we got away lightly, even getting a spot of sunshine or two

Thanks Mic but I'm none too confident. This is the reason I don't usually get advanced tickets for these events.

Unfortunately half the program were weathered in at their home bases

That's the old problem with fly-ins. The local weather might be perfect but you have to take conditions at the visitors home bases into account.

If I'd known about that event at Old Sarum I might just have joined you. It's not much further from here than Popham.