Your 2021 season highlights
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:24 am
As is traditional as the end of the airshow season approaches, it's time to look back on the year we've had and trade our highlights and lowlights of the last few months. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you've been getting up to!
The year for me started in March at the Dubai World Cup, which featured a 700-strong drone swarm creating massive 3D shapes in the night sky. Also amazing to go flying in formation around the 2,700-foot-tall Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building! Back in the UK, I started the airshow season proper with SkySrawm in April, Duxford's May Flying Day, and then the Midlands Air Festival in June, a delightful show at Ragley Hall, with the lighter aircraft taking off from a makeshift runway in the gardens of the house. It was the first opportunity of the year to see the Red Arrows, Peter Teichman's newly-restored Russian Spitfire and the 2021 RAF Typhoon solo display, which is the best it's been for several years. There were also over 100 hot air balloons and several night time aerial performances. This was followed a couple of days later by a mini-tour of Poland. I started at the rather odd Airshow Margonin, and then Antidotum Airshow Leszno the following weekend. Leszno is one of my favourite airshows anywhere: every display was entertaining, imaginative, low and close. The most memorable performances were at sunset: the Polish Air Force's F-16, Swiss Air Force Super Puma and the Flying Bulls (P-38, B-25, P-51, T-28, Edge 540), who filled the sky with breathtaking, non-stop formation and solo aerobatics for half an hour straight. But the highlight had to be the Polish AF's C-130E demonstration, culminating with a spectacular flare drop! The day after the show, I was able to film some low flybys from the runway threshold, which was pretty special.
July started for me with another Duxford Flying Day, followed by the Duxford Summer Airshow. Some nice warbird performances were outshone by the Red Arrows' remarkable show on Sunday, managing to sqeeze in a display under the stormiest, blackest sky I've ever seen at an airshow. Next was Old Buckenham, another Duxford Flying Day, an Aerosparx show for Firework Champions at Belvoir Castle, and then the Red Arrows' performance in Folkestone, totalling four individual air displays in the space of 9 days. I took a break of a few weeks after all that, resuming my season at the Little Gransden Air & Car at the end of August. The highlights for me were the Miles Gemini and locally-based Global Stars aerobatic team - plus some of the warbird departures, as the crowd area is unusually close to the runway.
Things got really busy in mid-September. In 10 days I did three major airshows in three different territories, travelling by ferry, airline, train, bus and car. First up was the cancellation-ridden Jersey Air Display, a 9-hour ferry ride from the UK. Although the loss of the Swedish classic jets, Alize, V-22, A400M and many others were a big blow, there were some quirky highlights, including the Electric Cri-Cri launching mid-flight from a Broussard. The Red Arrows looked great over Elizabeth Castle, the Bronco solo display was tremendously good and it was the public airshow debut of the RAF's new Poseidon MRA.1.
After Jersey, I travelled through the night to the UK and on to France the following morning. Air Legend was perhaps the best warbird airshow held anywhere in the world this year, and there were too many highlights to mention. The flying display included two Spitfires, three Corsairs, a Skyraider, Pearl Harbor reenactment (eight Harvards, Catalina and P-40), a Morane 406, two Yak-3s, three T-28s, Boomerang, Yak-11, F-86 Sabre and much more besides. Most aircraft performed solo aerobatic displays, plus flybys, tailchases or formation aerobatics in larger groups. My warbird highlights were the three formation teams: Classic Formation (x3 C-45 and a DC-3), and the incredible Ultimate Fighters, doing flawless formation aerobatics with a Thunderbolt, Buchon, Mustang and Spitfire.
There was plenty of military action, too. The French Navy provided a Breguet Atlantique and a two-ship Rafale M tactical display. The French Air Force provided the Patrouille de France, Rafale C solo, A400M solo and one of their new tactical demonstration teams, Patrouille Gusto Delta, with two Mirage 2000s. All were of the highest quality and all other air forces should rightly look to the French to see how solo displays and tacdemos should be done.
After a couple of days at home, it was then on to Duxford for the Battle of Britain Airshow. It was virtually an all-warbird show, with the likes of the B-17, P-40, P-47, P-75, Corsair, Bearcat, three Buchons, two Mustangs, and the Great War Display Team. It was also great to see a three-ship display by Historic Helicopters with the Whirlwind HAR.10, Wessex HU.5 and Sea King HC.4. The highlight, however, was the "big wing", a half-hour set piece display involving some 12 Spitfires and 4 Hurricanes, the big formation passes interspersed by solo displays from John Romain in a Mk.V and Paul Bonhomme in a PR.XI.
The final event of the year for me was the Air Race Academy at Sywell, a secret training camp ahead of the start of the World Championship Air Race (Red Bull Air Race successor) next spring. It was great fun to meet the eight pilots hoping to qualify for the Aero SR/2 series and see Elite XR/1 pilot Ben Murphy hammering round the track for a couple of days. All in all, a very enjoyable year comprising 17 air displays in five territories. Some gifs pinched unashamedly from PlanesTV's livestreams, but only on occasions when I was one of their camera operators. You can watch the livestreams for Duxford, Jersey and Old Buckenham at PlanesTV.com, and my mini-documentaries from Midlands, Leszno, Gransden and Air Legend are on WingsTV's streaming service. Looking forward to an even busier and more international season in 2022!
The year for me started in March at the Dubai World Cup, which featured a 700-strong drone swarm creating massive 3D shapes in the night sky. Also amazing to go flying in formation around the 2,700-foot-tall Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building! Back in the UK, I started the airshow season proper with SkySrawm in April, Duxford's May Flying Day, and then the Midlands Air Festival in June, a delightful show at Ragley Hall, with the lighter aircraft taking off from a makeshift runway in the gardens of the house. It was the first opportunity of the year to see the Red Arrows, Peter Teichman's newly-restored Russian Spitfire and the 2021 RAF Typhoon solo display, which is the best it's been for several years. There were also over 100 hot air balloons and several night time aerial performances. This was followed a couple of days later by a mini-tour of Poland. I started at the rather odd Airshow Margonin, and then Antidotum Airshow Leszno the following weekend. Leszno is one of my favourite airshows anywhere: every display was entertaining, imaginative, low and close. The most memorable performances were at sunset: the Polish Air Force's F-16, Swiss Air Force Super Puma and the Flying Bulls (P-38, B-25, P-51, T-28, Edge 540), who filled the sky with breathtaking, non-stop formation and solo aerobatics for half an hour straight. But the highlight had to be the Polish AF's C-130E demonstration, culminating with a spectacular flare drop! The day after the show, I was able to film some low flybys from the runway threshold, which was pretty special.
July started for me with another Duxford Flying Day, followed by the Duxford Summer Airshow. Some nice warbird performances were outshone by the Red Arrows' remarkable show on Sunday, managing to sqeeze in a display under the stormiest, blackest sky I've ever seen at an airshow. Next was Old Buckenham, another Duxford Flying Day, an Aerosparx show for Firework Champions at Belvoir Castle, and then the Red Arrows' performance in Folkestone, totalling four individual air displays in the space of 9 days. I took a break of a few weeks after all that, resuming my season at the Little Gransden Air & Car at the end of August. The highlights for me were the Miles Gemini and locally-based Global Stars aerobatic team - plus some of the warbird departures, as the crowd area is unusually close to the runway.
Things got really busy in mid-September. In 10 days I did three major airshows in three different territories, travelling by ferry, airline, train, bus and car. First up was the cancellation-ridden Jersey Air Display, a 9-hour ferry ride from the UK. Although the loss of the Swedish classic jets, Alize, V-22, A400M and many others were a big blow, there were some quirky highlights, including the Electric Cri-Cri launching mid-flight from a Broussard. The Red Arrows looked great over Elizabeth Castle, the Bronco solo display was tremendously good and it was the public airshow debut of the RAF's new Poseidon MRA.1.
After Jersey, I travelled through the night to the UK and on to France the following morning. Air Legend was perhaps the best warbird airshow held anywhere in the world this year, and there were too many highlights to mention. The flying display included two Spitfires, three Corsairs, a Skyraider, Pearl Harbor reenactment (eight Harvards, Catalina and P-40), a Morane 406, two Yak-3s, three T-28s, Boomerang, Yak-11, F-86 Sabre and much more besides. Most aircraft performed solo aerobatic displays, plus flybys, tailchases or formation aerobatics in larger groups. My warbird highlights were the three formation teams: Classic Formation (x3 C-45 and a DC-3), and the incredible Ultimate Fighters, doing flawless formation aerobatics with a Thunderbolt, Buchon, Mustang and Spitfire.
There was plenty of military action, too. The French Navy provided a Breguet Atlantique and a two-ship Rafale M tactical display. The French Air Force provided the Patrouille de France, Rafale C solo, A400M solo and one of their new tactical demonstration teams, Patrouille Gusto Delta, with two Mirage 2000s. All were of the highest quality and all other air forces should rightly look to the French to see how solo displays and tacdemos should be done.
After a couple of days at home, it was then on to Duxford for the Battle of Britain Airshow. It was virtually an all-warbird show, with the likes of the B-17, P-40, P-47, P-75, Corsair, Bearcat, three Buchons, two Mustangs, and the Great War Display Team. It was also great to see a three-ship display by Historic Helicopters with the Whirlwind HAR.10, Wessex HU.5 and Sea King HC.4. The highlight, however, was the "big wing", a half-hour set piece display involving some 12 Spitfires and 4 Hurricanes, the big formation passes interspersed by solo displays from John Romain in a Mk.V and Paul Bonhomme in a PR.XI.
The final event of the year for me was the Air Race Academy at Sywell, a secret training camp ahead of the start of the World Championship Air Race (Red Bull Air Race successor) next spring. It was great fun to meet the eight pilots hoping to qualify for the Aero SR/2 series and see Elite XR/1 pilot Ben Murphy hammering round the track for a couple of days. All in all, a very enjoyable year comprising 17 air displays in five territories. Some gifs pinched unashamedly from PlanesTV's livestreams, but only on occasions when I was one of their camera operators. You can watch the livestreams for Duxford, Jersey and Old Buckenham at PlanesTV.com, and my mini-documentaries from Midlands, Leszno, Gransden and Air Legend are on WingsTV's streaming service. Looking forward to an even busier and more international season in 2022!