Warbird Heaven!

 

Last weekend Sywell Aerodrome hosted their first full airshow - and it became apparent from when they first started releasing information about the participating aircraft that they were going all-out to make this a success. A group of us decided to go along - some for one day, and a few of us bit the bullet and committed to both. Tickets were reasonably priced, standard parking was free, and the participating aircraft looked good - generally a pretty solid basis to assume that a show will be a decent one! 

So it proved - and the weather joined in as well to make things even more of a success. Sunshine with a light cooler breeze on Saturday, and Sunday was even warmer, with sunshine pretty much right through the day. We even got airshow favourite clouds scudding across the sky too which from a photography point of view is a winner! 

The show opened with the formation above - it’s always a bit of a coup for a show to get an F-35 to fly with anything else, and the two warbirds alongside (a P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang) were just such a good pairing - I think we were all a bit stunned after several passes to be honest! We weren’t given much time to gather ourselves though before the P-47 joined up with iconic B-17 Bomber “Sally B”

How stunning! We weren’t done with USAF types either, a formation of Mustangs was quite something to see, sparkling and gleaming in the sunshine…

These frequently have “bare-metal” type schemes - wonderful to watch, but a bit of a devil to photograph…a bit like the incredible Flying Bulls B-25 Mitchell. 

You can literally see the countryside around reflected back from the immaculately polished fuselage! The Flying Bulls are a bit of a rare sight in the U.K. although they do occasionally appear, I’ve seen them just a handful of times though so their participation was extremely welcome and keenly anticipated. They didn’t disappoint either - displaying the Mitchell above with a P-51 Mustang (already seen earlier in the show both with the F-35a and in formation with other mustangs), a Corsair and another rarely seen type, the P-38 Lightning. 

Comedy moment of day 1 was undoubtedly the arrival of the Oil Spill Response Boeing 727 which took the commentary team - James Holland of the We Have Ways Podcast, alongside Mike Ling, best known from his time spent with the RAF Red Arrows both as a display pilot and as Red 10, safety supervisor, and also now an accomplished warbird pilot - by surprise. Their astonished reaction elicited an audible ripple of amusement throughout the crowd line! 

Another absolute highlight for most of us was the stunning wing walking display from 46-Aviation, a Swiss based (I think?) husband and wife team. The most frequently heard phrase during this one was “well she’s clearly just utterly bonkers isn’t she!” - not surprising when you realise that their finale was this…

Absolutely incredible to watch - she had the entire audience gripped throughout I think, not always the case with wing walking displays. I for one would be delighted to see these guys make more regular UK appearances! 

The main display on day 1 ended with a massed Spitfire formation. This is always an incredible treat to see - and indeed hear! They did a few passes in their group of 9 (albeit with one aircraft on day 1 tending to hang back off the main formation a bit, making it tricky to get in shot) then moved to line astern formation to engage in a lengthy tailchase display which was stunning to witness. 

Day 2 was much the same as far as the majority of  participants were concerned. No F-35 to start, and the display closed with a Red Arrows display after the massed spitfires.  

This year’s Reds display is an absolute cracker - without question the best for a fair few years, in fact. The return of the famous Diamond 9 formation after several years of the team flying reduced numbers for various reasons is fantastic to see - and they are flying the above version of short diamond with all 9 jets streaming smoke which is a bit of a nod to this being their Diamond Anniversary year, I think. 

There were the usual synchro passes - and I even managed to track the right jet on some of them which was handy! We’d decided on a far more chilled day so were sat a good way back, but of course that doesn’t matter much for a display like the Reds. It’s also nice being able to see and hear the crowd reaction along with the noise of the jets too - the ooohs and ahhhs at Synchro’s close passes, and always a ripple of delight when “Tornado” makes an appearance too. 

All in all this show was an absolute winner. A great range of aircraft flying, including stuff rarely seen in the U.K. something a bit “different” too - it’s always great to have something a bit unique to point the camera at! They did a great job with the car park too - staggering the departure times by adding the evening display on Saturday made leaving straightforward, but even on Sunday when a lot of folk were leaving directly after the Reds it was easy - in the car and straight out, barely even stopping. The large shows that have been doing this for years could learn a LOT from their approach! 

Well done Sywell - if you run again next year I will be straight in the queue for tickets! 

Robyn. 

Here we go again...!

The "Suffolk Spitfire"

 The 2024 Airshow season started for me over the weekend with a lovely afternoon at IWM Duxford, and some new-to-me aircraft to photograph. It's always great when show organisers make a real effort to get "different" stuff displaying - and hats off to Duxford, they do a good job here. This was their first "Flying day" of the season - a shorter than full airshow programme with just 2 - 3 hours of flying, but they packed plenty in. Members also get free admission to these which is a nice bonus - and is definitely something which guarantees I will renew my membership each year. 

I was probably most excited about seeing the lovely "Suffolk Spitfire" - pictured above, this beauty is unusually seen in a US Air Force scheme and in usual US fashion flies bearing a name and nose-art - "Porky II" in this case - although she also bears a more normal-for-the-UK designation of RW382 as well. I'd seen her on the ground before but not flying so this was a really nice treat. 

Also out to play was a Hawker Sea Fury that I don't believe I've seen before - indeed I have a feeling this a newly restored to airworthiness aircraft. As you can see we had an utterly glorious day for photographing aircraft - and my combination of mirrorless camera with it's new lens was a real joy to use coping well with all the changes in light that occurred during the afternoon...

Hawker Sea Fury

I like the Fury/Sea Fury - in the UK it "just" has WWII heritage, and indeed it has the distinction of being the final propeller driven fighter to see action with the Royal Navy. Because it was developed during the war years you can really see the influence of other aircraft from outside the Hawker "stable" with the streamlined shape being more reminiscent of a Spitfire than a Hurricane. 

Hawker Nimrod

My records suggest that I'd not photographed the Nimrod before, either - another Naval aircraft, and from an earlier time period as this one predates WWII by quite a few years. Compared with the sleek Fury it's a whole world apart, isn't it! Indeed, this one never quite even made it to the beginning of WWII, being replaced by the Gladiator before the conflict began. 

There were a couple more "new to me" aircraft at the show as well - but I haven't yet got to the photos of those, and will be processing those through the week no doubt, aiming to get them completed ahead of show No 2 next weekend at Shuttleworth. Here's hoping it's another lovely sunny day!

2021 Airshow season is GO!

I'm pretty much still smiling after a fabulous day at Shuttleworth's opening airshow of the season on Sunday. Shuttleworth is a gorgeous venue - a real favourite of mine as you are always guaranteed an array of wonderful old aircraft including the warbirds I love so much. Also, quite often, you're guaranteed great company as well - and this time was no exception. Normally it's a case of rock up there and meet people, but because of the current restrictions around Covid-19 this time was a drive-in airshow so a little more logistically challenging, which is why 9am on Sunday morning saw myself, Max, Kevin & Sven, Richard, Mark and his Mrs (Wendy I think?) and Adam gathering in a car park on the outskirts of Biggleswade to travel in convoy to the show. 

The organisation at the Shuttleworth estate was superb - a large holding area for those arriving ahead of the official gates open time, then well managed queues to the ticket gates and a special convoy system for groups of vehicles wanting to be placed together. People were also being very conscious about giving others space in food queues, and while generally wandering about.  

Opening the show was the Consolidated Catalina in the photograph at the top - a stunningly beautiful aircraft. She'd flown in ahead of displaying so seeing her powering up and taking off was an additional treat. Next up was a series of flypasts by two of the Spitfires of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight - one of the two flown by my pal Andy, who managed to multi-task what might be described as a "sporty" entrance, a cracking topside view of the aircraft AND a wave, all at the one time - impressive! 

Shuttleworth has a big collection of resident aircraft ranging from vintage biplanes like this Gloster Gladiator...

...through to classic racers - including the immaculate DeHavilland DH.88 Comet...

If ever an aircraft looked like it simply belonged in the sky, flirting with the clouds, then this is it. This particular example also has an illustrious history - winner of many air races in the 1930's, it also appeared as a static exhibit at the Festival of Great Britain in 1951. Above all it is just stunningly beautiful and a joy to see fly. THIS is what the Shuttleworth Collection does so well - taking classic aircraft and putting them where they belong - up in the sky. 

Sunday was a brilliant day - great company, great aircraft, lots of banter...and if driving into the show and having to stay in our own little allocated areas by our vehicles is currently the way we can actually have airshows, then that's worth it to me. It was fantastic to spend time with good friends, and catch up with others who I'd not seen in ages. Max and I have already booked for another Shuttleworth show in a few weeks time - and it just feels brilliant to have airshows to look forward to again! 

Robyn

A tiny bit normal...

 

This week has felt like something approaching a bit of normality is beginning to creep back in. Firstly, I’m looking forward to my first airshow of the year at lovely Shuttleworth tomorrow - there will be brilliant people, and good banter, and biscuits (always biscuits!) and above all lots of fabulous warbirds to watch and to photograph. Bliss! Not the rather wonderful old girl above though, no, that shot was taken earlier in the week up at RAF Coningsby when I ventured up for a trip which I knew would include not only some BBMF flying in the shape of the Dakota pictured above, but also something rather faster, noisier and altogether whizzier...

Yes - that’s the 2021 display pilot practising his display routine - and a first watch suggests that it is QUITE the routine, too! I was lucky with this sky too - the weather forecast said grey and overcast, but when I arrived in Lincolnshire there was a nice little patch of blue in not far off the right place, and sure enough it lingered around with some attendant sunshine for just long enough! 

I’ve got a soft spot for the Dakota - often overlooked in favour of her more famous BBMF hangar-mate the wonderful Avro Lancaster, and I am nothing if not a keen supporter of the underdog as those who remember my speedway days will be all too aware of! The Dak is a beauty of an aircraft though, and with a fantastic history too both in military and domestic service. 

That blue sky came into its own when it came to perfectly showcasing the Typhoon’s exit from the display, too - the traditional exit when the conditions allow is a fast vertical spiralling climb - as you can see from the photos above this looks great when seen from almost directly underneath, and the blast from the reheat looks fantastic against that vivid blue sky, too! 

Also in an aviation vein but slightly earlier in the week, we had an unexpected and very local visit from the East Anglian Air Ambulance too. 

Sitting in the front room after eating our tea, we heard a helicopter passing over somewhat lower than we are used to, so I opened the tracking app to take a look - and sure enough confirmed that it very much appeared that the Eurocopter EC145 had just landed in a nearby playing field. We threw on shoes and jackets and walked through the woods to go and take a look. Thankfully soon after we arrived the pilot confirmed that they had been stood down as the incident was deemed not serious enough to require their team’s skills. We quite often see the Herts & Essex machine locally but very rarely this one - it was called upon because it was already in the air returning from a previous shout when the call came through for this one. 

As if a LOT of photos from the Coningsby trip weren’t enough to be working on, I also ventured to Imperial War Museum Duxford for a brief visit yesterday afternoon. I have taken a year’s membership to the museum - in part because it includes free entry to the “flying days” they have planned and in part because it’s been such a difficult years for museums generally, and in particular those who rely on big events like airshows. It felt like an easy way of doing something - and gives me some benefits also of course, including the ability to just pop up there for an hour or so as I did yesterday. 

That is the Aircraft Restoration Company Hispano Buchon taxiing out ready for a run through of the display it will be performing at Shuttleworth - it’s a fantastic although slightly odd looking aircraft, but all those blurred edges on the camo pattern make it an absolute devil to photograph! There were also several Spitfires up and about so my trip up was very much worthwhile! 

All in all, it has felt like a rather aviation-filled week, and with more yet to come! 

Robyn 

Throwback Thursday...

 

One of the things I’ve been dipping into doing over the past 11 months is going over old albums of photos from the backup drives and checking for any new stuff to process from them. There can be all sorts of reasons why I find previously unprocessed stuff - sometimes in the busiest patch of the airshow season all I get time to do is download the shots, and pick out a handful of particular favourites to process. Sometimes I only get to the shots that I know someone is particularly waiting for or will be interested in. And sometimes it is as simple as, for whatever reason the show didn’t altogether grab me as much as it might - perhaps because the sky wasn’t great. 

That last is the only reason I can think of for the album I got to today having been neglected as the first thing ai discovered was a whole load more photos of the Shuttleworth and Aircraft Restoration Company Westland Lysanders flying together - for me without question one of the aviation highlights of 2019. The Lysander is a favourite aircraft of mine anyway - I do always like the underdog, and this aircraft is without doubt one of the most under-acknowledged heroes of WW2. Used among other things for the dropping off and collection of SOE agents in occupied France, an incredibly dangerous task, and one that many Lysanders were lost carrying out, it’s very possible that the war could have turned out rather differently without their input. 

I’ll be posting some more of the “new” photos on my Instagram over the next little while, and ai’m rather interested to see what else I might find in that album now, too! 

Robyn 

Looking back...

 

Obviously we’ve had almost no airshows this year, and relatively little aviation action all told. As much as I’ve missed that, it has at least given me a chance to look back to pick up on gaps from photos taken in years gone by. 

Recently I’ve been working through shots from 2014 - my first season of “full on” airshows and one which got extremely busy from June onwards with lots of excitement and stuff happening - check back at my “CircusAtWork” tag over in the cloud to the right for a reminder!  Because of that I wasn’t hugely surprised that there were a fair few images that I’d seemingly never so much as glanced at previously. So far a I’ve found shots of some great old favourites (like the Lancaster above, seen here at Waddington Airshow) and also some aircraft that we’ve not seen in the air since like this English Electric Canberra and Hawker and Hunter pair...

...operated by Midair Squadron - sadly their operation had to close down at the end of that season due to lack of funds and most of the aircraft have now been sold overseas.

It’s been a real voyage of discovery going back through so many happy memories too - thinking back to things like seeing the last two airworthy Lancaster bombers flying together, all the activity around the Red Arrows 50th display season and the many friends I made at that time - several of whom I’m still close friends with now. While we’ve all missed the fun and activity we’re used to in a normal summer this year,  we have still managed to cram in whatever has been possible when we’ve been allowed to, and when we can get back to airshows it will perhaps feel all the sweeter for the enforced break! 

Robyn 

Another one bites the dust...

 

BBMF Fighters

This year just keeps on kicking us in the teeth - the latest disappointment being the cancellation of Duxford’s Battle Of Britain airshow which was due to be happening this weekend. Following the introduction of the Government’s new “Rule Of Six” the organising team decided it was no longer logistically possible, and it was cancelled last Friday. The cancellation was made even more poignant as this week saw Battle Of Britain day - all the more meaningful with this year being the 80th anniversary of the Battle. There were so many grand plans for the anniversary most of which have, by necessity, been scrapped. On VE Day alone the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight had over 100 flypasts planned - it would have been the busiest day ever for the flight until Covid came along and rendered all the carefully crafted plans redundant.

Sad as the Duxford cancellation is, there IS no choice. I for one was beginning to get a bit twitchy about how they planned to make it possible, and whether the majority really would take any notice of requests to social distance. No clear information had been provided giving reassurance on this, which didn’t help. Rumour was that people were going to be corralled into number-limited compounds, meaning that those who had bought tickets individually intending to meet up with friends on the day would end up standing alone - not really the way most of us plan to visit an airshow the size of Duxford. That IS just rumour though, we may never know what actually was planned. It is fair to say though that to have gone ahead with the show and been responsible for a Coronavirus outbreak which could have lead to deaths both among those attending and in the local area would have been grossly irresponsible, and as the organisers have to be applauded for taking the decision that they did. The majority are accepting of this if social media is anything to go on, with only a tiny handful of negative reactions, and those mostly from those who are blatant Covid-deniers (and probably flat-earthers, as well!) and so can be safely ignored as having nothing worthwhile to say. Most agree that it’s better to be safe. 

I now have one final shot at actually seeing an airshow this year with the planned show at Headcorn in a couple of weeks time. Smaller than most shows, they have also limited numbers, and I understand have plans in place that will hopefully enable it to go ahead although I won’t be too hopeful until I’m actually on the airfield! My fingers are crossed though - it would be great to see some more warbirds flying this year! 

Robyn 

Day 21...

The final day of the Easter bank Holiday weekend - colder today, but still plenty of sunshine. For us, more painting - the white metalwork now finished, and the blue paintwork needing just one more coat in a few places. It feels like a job well done, and realistically without the enforced down-time that the lockdown has given us it's also a job that would have been waiting for some time still to come. So still not a good thing, but at least some small positives.

A walk this afternoon took us round Netteswell Pond (above) - another spot that proves Harlow's "Concrete Jungle" reputation to be so much nonsense.  We're so fortunate to have our green spaces - indeed contrary to reports from the town on the BBC news just tonight where a resident of temporary accommodation claimed that the local park has been closed, it very much hasn't.

I also made a start today on looking back at some old airshow photos - another of those jobs that has been sitting there forever but with no sense of urgency. I reckon just doing a few each night will keep my hand in with processing, and also give me some new material for instagram which is always a bonus.

In general news - the Prime Minister is now out of hospital and recuperating at Chequers - the conspiracy theorists are going to town with suggestions that he was never really ill at all - something which seems to show a remarkable lack of respect for the NHS which would, after all, have had to have gone along with such subterfuge had it occurred. We have now been under lockdown for three weeks - the original period finishing today - but we have already been told not to expect things to end any time soon - not though that has come as much of a surprise.

Robyn

Airshow season - half way already!

We've reached the mid season point in the UK airshow season and what fantastic weather we've had for it so far!

My season this year started at Shuttleworth in May - I was getting itchy feet and when someone mentioned the first of their "evening airshows" I couldn't resist getting started! As well as the usual Shuttleworth residents there was also a visit from this beauty:

A few blank weeks after that as we headed off to Lundy with a big group of friends for a week (there is a blog post half written on that, to!) but our return to the mainland tied in nicely with the lovely Torbay Airshow - having attended their first show a couple of years ago it's become a bit of a favourite of mine so I was pleased to be able ton get there for a day again this year. It was also my first time this season seeing the Red Arrows display:

A lovely day in the sun with Maxine watching the flying, chattering lots and making the most of access to cheap ice cream!

From June things start getting busy as a rule - although I had made a conscious decision this season that I was going to step things back a bit simply because there are just too many things I want to cram into my summer" - still, Cosford was up next - one that I'd previously ummed and ahhed about doing, but this year the line-up made it an easy decision.

So many highlights it's tricky to know what to pick out but seeing these guys do their full landing display is also good:

Mid month was the first Great Yarmouth Airshow - and I debated long and hard about whether to go or not. In the end I decided to judge it based on the weather, and as the date grew nearer the forecase wasn't looking great. Then a few days before a couple of this year';s Red Arrows Circus chaps started encouraging me to head up to Norwich to see them at the airport which was what I decided to do in the end. I was very glad I did too - thanks to the lovely Caz, and the kind chaps at Saxon Air, I ended up spending a full day airside with the team and the jets - which of course meant that this year's "Circus At Work" project is very much on!

Another trip to Shuttleworth followed - warbird heaven! then into the "big" shows again with Yeovilton arrivals and the show itself. The arrivals day there has proved to be a really nice chilled day and for its £15 price tag, great value too, so friend Gary & I pitched up on a blazingly hot sunny day before being joined by Kim & Jade the following day for the show itself. The absolute highlight for me was finally getting to see this for myself:

My much loved and missed Uncle Bob's name on the tail of RAF Red Arrows Hawk XX322. Thanks to the fundraising "Names on a plane" scheme Bob had been whizzing around the skies of the UK and beyond since last season but for various reasons this was the first time I'd got to see it up close. There was a shriek, and then a tear or two when I realised it was visible - very emotional indeed and I just know how excited Bob would have been at this!

Flying highlights were probably the Belgian Air Force F16 display I think - with their stunning "Dark Falcon" scheme complete with the additional of flares for this display:

The following week was of course the biggie - The Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford - a great three days of incredible displays but most of all the years best chance to catch up with oh-so-many great friends that you simply don't see enough of! So many highlights on the flying front - the RAF BBMF's incredible "Trenchard Plus" display where they got all the toys out of the toybox to fly:

Awesome is a much over used word but this really was. See also "emotional". Very very special indeed - I'm incredibly glad to have seen it for myself. Another "Special" was a 617 Squadron Formation with the BBMF Lancaster, the Panvia Tornado and "new kid on the block" the newly arrived to the UK Lockheed Martin F35b Lightning II.

Spectaular and another great tribute to both the #RAF100 anniversary and the anniversary also of the Dams Raid, of course.

This end of the season got wrapped up with a visit to Farnborough. Now this is a show I've never been sure about visiting - tickets tend to be on the expensive side and the public days at the weekend are often said to be not great. However, the draw for me was that they had secured a Spanish Navy Harrier jump jet - and this one was going to be FLYING! The decision was made and I duly met up with another pal - Simon - shortly after bacon butty time for a good old wander about the show. We found the prototype model of the newly announced RAF jet the Tempest which was interesting, then  separated for a bit to find our chosen spot top watch the star of the show:

What a star it was, too! I'd forgotten how unbelievably loud these are! Thank goodness for earplugs - they really were much needed! She flew, and she hovered and yes I confess that it must have got quite dusty as I definitely had something in my eye! In spite of not being greatly impressed with the rest of the show, this was actually well worth the ticket price, for me. Probably not a show I'd got back to though, on the whole.

So next up for me after mid season break will be Eastbourne - this is one for the "usual suspects" gang - Claire, Anthony and I are all in the same hotel I believe, and Tom & Alysha are staying elsewhere in the town. Lots of other friends will be about as well so it's going to be a sort of combined mini holiday and big get together, hopefully! Planning is happening apace and we're all thoroughly looking forward to a great few days! Bring it on!

Robyn

It's started!

Yep, we're flat out into the Airshow season now and once again I've been out and about round the shows watching those whizzy Little Red Jets doing their thing. No big plans this year (2014 was simply to see as many Reds displays as possible in the course of the year, last year was to see them in England, N. Ireland, Scotland & Wales all in the space of the one season) aside from just to get out and about with the gang as much as we can and thoroughly enjoy ourselves. Somewhere along the line there does seem to be a plan to see the boys outside of the UK for the first time (Republic of Ireland, since you asked) and I'm toying with another "display on an Island" too - but that's a work in progress at the moment. ;-)

So far I've done Shuttleworth (sunny, glorious)...

...before our Hebrides holiday interrupted proceedings. Once back it was onto the first Torbay Airshow held in Paignton in June - the weather was mixed but it was a fantastic weekend and the organisers should be rightly proud of themselves. None of the rest of the gang could make it down that far but I had a hilarious weekend with the Reds PR team, regardless. The weekend afterwards saw me make a solo trip down to Folkestone - but a wasted trip also as the weather intervened, the boys were weatherbound at their operating base and unable to get to us. The next day - back with Claire, Tom & Ant and back to Weston-Super-Mare for a day - this one's become a firm favourite of ours over the past few years so this year we decided to try a different viewpoint...

...not the best of days weather-wise again - but that view down on the display made up for that. The following day was Cosford, which once again came with grey skies and rain showers - I'm sure one year we'll get lovely weather for this one but it wasn't to be this year. It's still good though as we get to meet up with some more far-flung members of the gang including Colin, Layna and their gorgeous lad Logan, as well as lovely Aunty Di - it's the social side of the airshows that's as much fun as the flying, in fairness!

The weekend after was the National Armed Forced Day event in Cleethorpes - so Claire, Tom and I piled into Claire's long-suffering Corsa and headed off there - and a thoroughly enjoyable event it was. Although not an "airshow" as such we still got the Reds, Chinook, BBMF and lots of parachutes, and some decent weather to see them all by, also, so we were happy enough with that!

Most recently of all last weekend I joined Anthony for a day at the Yeovilton Air Day - this was one we went to last year but due to a variety of reasons I really didn't enjoy much, but in fairness to it I was well aware it was me, rather than the event itself, hence when Ant asked I said yes to doing it again. I was glad I had too as it felt totally different this year - we arrived earlier and so were able to get a spot at the front (a big deal when, like me, you're 5'1"!) and had a lovely day with THE most fabulously dramatic skies at times...

Next up is Airtattoo at Fairford - three days of wall to wall flying action and more importantly for me, the Reds jets on the ground too so I will be concentrating on my groundshots of the engineers a lot of the time. Look out for the #CircusAtWork hashtag on Twitter (@EssexHebridean) & Instagram (@Robyn_PF) to see those. Looking forward to catching up with a few old friends and getting to know some of the new guys also. We've got the debut of the new F35B fighter there too which will be good - it'll be doing some flypasts with the Reds too which will be good to see.

Robyn

An ambitious trip...!

Last week I made my first trip to the Hebrides without MrEH in tow as well - and also my shortest ever visit, as I was in the Western Isles for a grand total of 22.5 hours! Those of you who follow my Instagram or Twitter accounts already know that the reason for this trip was to see those RAF Red Arrows displaying in Stornoway - only their third ever visit to the Hebrides and the first time they've been there since 2001.

This one took a LOT of planning...right from when Red 10 first mentioned on Twitter having done the site survey back in March there was never any real question in my mind that I wanted to do it, the question was always how it was going to be possible. Flying straight up & back just proved too expensive and had to be dismissed straight away, it would also have meant that I would have had to lose two days work rather than just one - increasing the cost of the whole escapade even more. Thankfully as you know I do enjoy a bit of travelling so the thought of doing it in lots of stages wasn't as daunting as it might have been, and a bit of lateral thinking later and I settled on the following plan of action:

In flight on a Ryanair 737-800 o the way up...

On Saturday MrEH dropped me off at Stansted airport - it's at times like this that living close to a major hub airport comes as an advantage. I flew to Glasgow, where lovely Fay picked me up and drove me into the city to spend the night with another ace lady - Laurie, being able to combine the trip with seeing those two was a total bonus! Much wine was consumed and I confess to feeling a little delicate as I set off for Queen Street station and the next phase of the journey on the Sunday morning. Thankfully a large bottle of water sipped gently between there and Inverness sorted out the worst of that, and a fast-food lunch killed off any residual doubts as to whether my innards were going to behave or not! Good thing too as the next stage was one of my least favourite modes of transport - the bus across to Ullapool to catch the Ferry over to Stornoway itself. All went like clockwork and by 9.30pm I was happily settled in at the cosy B&B I'd booked, with a cup of tea and a book. Monday morning dawned with heavy grey cloud and light drizzle - just the sort of weather we really didn't want to see but with the boys not due to arrive until 2pm and the display not until 5pm there was time for it to change. Over breakfast I got my first surprise of the trip when I discovered that the display site has changed from the Airport to the town - all sorts of questions came rushing to the fore at that point - notably how on earth I was going to get through there in the first place, and then back to the airport afterwards in order to check in in time for my flight back to Glasgow - which was due to be shortly after 7pm! I know from experience that these things have a habit of working out though so stuck that one onto a mental back-burner for the time being.

Circus 2, aka James, aka "The short grinning Geordie" ;-) 

A few weeks previously I'd emailed the airport at Stornoway to enquire where they were planning on putting the jets while they were on the ground there - as I was hoping to be able to spend some time taking photos of the Circus guys at work I was hoping that they were going to be close to a fence-line where I could at least shoot through the fence. The reply came back asking me to call at the end of the week before, so on the friday beforehand I duly placed the call and spoke to the Airport Manager who proceeded to inform me that what they'd like to do was arrange airside access for me so that I could be on the ground to see the team arriving and get my groundshots too. Absolutely amazing - I definitely didn't expect anything of that sort and once again it reinforced my knowledge of just how fabulously hospitable Hebridean folk are. As such I reported to the airport at 1pm as agreed, was duly given my pass and taken across to the tower where it was agreed that the lovely Iain would drive me over the far side of the airport to the Hangar where the jets would be parked. It was also agreed that he would drive me into town for the display as well - which was fantastic!

Discovering the challenge of fitting the jets & fire crews and appliances into a photo... 

Bang on time as always the jets appeared - unusually in two groups rather than the more familiar "Big battle" V formation of 9, or the standard poor-weather fall-back of 3 groups of 3, and in short order they taxied round the airport and arrived on the pan in front of me. First to come over was Red 10 (Lingy) - he already knew I was there as I'd tweeted him when I arrived the night before (His reponse an astonished "You haven't...?!") and it was as always nice to see his cheerful grin! I took the chance to ask quickly if there was any chance I could grab a lift back from the airport with him after the display too and he agreed that he thought it was unlikely to be a problem but to go and find him and Martin when I got into town and he would confirm. Time then to deal with the official stuff - some photos of the team with the local Air Cadets, and a few more for the Airport fire crews, then time for getting stuck in to my first proper "Circus At Work" shots of the 2015 season. Fantastic to catch up with pals from last season Nicky & James, and to meet some more of the new guys on Circus for 2015 too - seems like we have another lovely bunch this year! After a couple of hours hard work...and a wee bit of time to play...

Duck! ;-)

...there was just time to grab a quick cuppa before Iain and I headed off into town where I bid him farewell with many thanks! Off to find Lingy and Martin then - which I duly did at the ferry terminal cafe - and confirmation that my transport back to the airport afterwards was sorted which came as a real relief! All that was left then was for the weather to play ball, which it REALLY didn't - all day it had been brightening up then clouding over again, and right on cue 15 minutes before display time the cloud descended again and visibility dropped right back to outside the limits - absolutely NOT what was needed!  Even five minutes before it was still looking doubtful whether we were going to get any display at all - but thankfully Hebridean weather did it's thing of changing in a heartbeat and the decision was made that at least the jets could come in for a first-half...in the event the clouds cleared back enough that we got an entire flat display much to the appreciation of the crowd! Standing with Martin for the display it was interesting to see how he worked - as Circus 10 his role at displays is to film the display so the team can use the footage to debrief later - without someone in place to film the display can't take place so he's a pretty important part of the operation! The unexpected positioning of a massive cruise-ship at the pier caused some difficulties for both of us AND the team - datum (the centre point of the display) had to be relocated slightly to take account of it!

Circus 10 (Martin), me & Red 10 (Lingy) on return to Stornoway airport after the display.

Once the display was over we wasted little time in getting packed up, the taxi duly arrived and the three of us hopped in and returned to the airport, all that was left them was to say my goodbyes and check in for my flight home - which ran slightly late ironically enough due to the aircraft being delayed earlier in the day due to the arrival of some Little Red jets...! From there everything ran like clockwork again which was a relief - the airlink bus to the city centre arrived as planned and my National Express bus back to London left dead on time. All in all it was a truly superb few days and I'd take the risk of undertaking a similar trip again should they display in the Hebrides in the future - of course it may well be that by the time they do, any journey would be substantially shorter!

Robyn