Hi everyone I hope you're all doing ok? I thought ahead of the rapidly approaching 2022 airshow season (mine starts on 2nd June when I intend to go to London to watch the special Jubilee Trooping The Colour) it might be nice for me to bore, I mean share with you some of my favourite airshow/aviation memories. I'm going to put them as chronologically as I can but even with my weird ability to recall specific years can't put a date on all of them. I hope you enjoy having a trip down memory lane with me 😀.
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| Posing with a Harrier |
My first 'proper' airshow was aged 10 in 1997 when we went to the Biggin Hill Battle Of Britain Airshow in September, we were always on holiday over Airbourne and I didn't start going to that until later. I think that day in early September was the day I fell in love with the sight, sound and feeling of aircraft that has lasted all these years and lit a desire in me to see as many planes as possible as often as possible! I remember seeing both Tornado and Harrier variants (GR4 and F3 Tornado and GR4 and Sea Harrier), a Jaguar and of course my first taste of the Battle Of Britain aircraft 💗
In 1998 we went to both Biggin Hill which had moved to the summer and Farnborough for the first time. I remember being amazed at how 'big' Farnborough was with such a huge variety of aircraft - I think I saw my first F16 that day and I remember clearly being amazed that the Globemaster got off the ground! At Biggin Hill the navy put on a really special flypast of it's historic Swordfish flying with a Sea Harrier.
From then on airshows became an annual trip for us - Biggin each year and Farnborough every other year with some quite varied weather conditions. I remember the heat of the early 2000s Farnboroughs contrasting with peering out at the SU27 display from under a tarpaulin in the pouring rain at Biggin.
We also witnessed the return of the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight's Lancaster at Biggin Hill. I managed this lucky photo of the Harrier taking off next to it.
One of the aircraft I miss most from those early days is the Jaguar.
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From about 2001 our holiday date changed slightly which mean I got to see Airbourne and pose in a Tornado (My favourite aircraft). I also set up camp on the garage roof with my binoculars to watch the show from home and would have cups of tea and the odd sandwich passed up to me. We also carried on with our annual Biggin Hill and Farnborough trips. One amazing memory is of a USAF F117 Nighthawk at Farnborough 2004 (unfortunately I can't find any YouTube footage) , it was incredibly eerie as it made a whistling noise and was this strange, black object in the sky. I'd love to see one again. Speaking of American aircraft, Airbourne 2005 had a very special visitor in the shape and sound of a B1B Lancer that set all the car alarms off along the seafront - epic! In 2006 Farnborough also had an exciting visitor in the shape and sound of a MIG 29 which I had never seen before. We were also introduced to the enormous Airbus A380 (plenty of footage and photos of that to follow don't worry!) At both their 2007 & 2008 shows Biggin Hill featured an RAF 'Role demo' where they showed how all their different components worked during a mission to rescue hostages and featured aircraft such as a Chinook, E1D Sentry, Hawks and to my delight Tornados.   |
For me, the biggest moment of 2008 was finally fulfilling my dream of seeing a Vulcan Bomber flying. I remember as she took off the commentator saying "Just ...wow" which pretty much summed up how I felt too.
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| The A380 in action too |
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| Pre-show smiles |
2008 was also the first year I went to Shoreham Airshow (dragging my long-suffering brother with me - sorry Chris) and saw more warbirds than I could shake a stick at and also a Hercules performing a super-cool short take off.
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| Chris with some Spitfires |
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| Airshow held in sunshine shocker! |
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| Shoreham always had such beautiful scenery |
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| Hercebird! |
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| One of my first 'decent' aircraft photos was of the Caroline Grace Spitfire and a video too. |
In 2009 Biggin Hill had a special flypast of the Red Arrows and a Virgin 747, I love seeing unusual pairings of aircraft together.
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| We got a low flypast too! |
We returned to Biggin Hill in 2010 for what was one of my favourite Biggin shows. A gorgeous, hot sunny day which saw the introduction of a 2 ship Tornado Role Demo, the long-awaited return of the Harrier and a rare appearance of a VC10.
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| VC10 |
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| Harrier |
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| Tornado |
And here they are in action-
Airbourne 2010 was also loads of fun because I was able to convince a lot of my friends and family to come with me over the 4 days.
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| Mum and I sheltering our Pimms from the rain |
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| Where's my sunshine???? |
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| Pimms bar with Hilary and Lydia |
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| Sheltering with Helen |
On the aircraft front we had a sneaky pre-show pass from a couple of Belgian F16s.
Dad and I weren't very lucky with the weather at Shoreham a few weeks later when the cloud and rain came down .....
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| Chuffed....... |
Despite the rubbish weather we saw the Harrier kicking up loads of spray on the runway (sadly it was the last time we'd ever see a British Harrier) and the amazing sight of a Hurricane taking off and leaving a vortex of water from it's propeller in it's wake.
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| Harrier |
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| Hurricane |
We were much luckier at the 2011 show with sunny weather and an appearance by a Sea Vixen.
At Farnborough 2012 we somehow managed to accidentally end up in the VIP parking which meant we were able to watch the show from a decent spot. We were in a prime position for performances from the A380, Hawk,Typhoon and Vulcan.
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| Vulcan |
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| The Hawk had a special Jubilee paintwork |
It got pretty noisy .....
The Vulcan finally came to Airbourne the same year which lead to this iconic YouTube footage
Not only did I get the Vulcan, I got Tornados too!
I finally had a decent camera for the 2014 season (my beloved Canon EOS 1100D) and I couldn't have had better weather to test it that at Farnborough. It was a lovely day of bright sunshine and having a prime spot next to the runway!
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| Airbus sisters - The A380 & A400M |
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| Mum enjoying the sun |
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| The closest we've ever been to the Vulcan |
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| The Mighty Reds |
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| The Spanish Airforce sent one of their Harriers |
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| The Typhoon in it's D Day markings |
2014 was an incredibly memorable one for Airbourne as we were the first show that featured the Canadian Lancaster 'Vera' in formation with the RAF's Lancaster 'Thumper'. It was an emotional sight seeing these two beautiful ladies together.
2015 was incredibly poignant as the airshow world bid a final farewell to the Vulcan. She appeared at Airbourne and we watched from Beachy Head to get the best views of her.
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| A lucky shot of the Sea King and Vulcan together |
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| I've never seen so many people on the downs |
A couple of other photos from the day -
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| Spitfire |
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| Typhoon going skyward |
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| Mustang |
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| One of the best things about watching from Beachy Head is the Red Arrows shooting low over your head! |
Airbourne wasn't the last time that the Vulcan visited Eastbourne, we had one final goodbye in the Autumn when she had a photoshoot off of Beachy Head. We went up with Grandma and Grandad to watch her.
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| Grandma, Grandad and Me |
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| Grandma, Grandad and Helen |
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| The Vulcan and the Skyvan |
At Farnborough 2016 Dad and I were introduced to the RAF's newest aircraft, the F35 Lightning II which like the much-missed Harrier also has the ability to hover.
Dad also turned 60 the same year and for his present we got him a flight alongside a Spitfire at Duxford. You can read about it in detail in this blog. but here are a couple of photos from the day.
In 2017 it was my turn for a birthday aviation event when we went to RIAT for my 30th. It was the best camping trip ever! I adored every minute of it, sitting by the caravan with planes flying all around you and over is Plane Geek heaven. It's hard to pick a favourite moment but a couple were -
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| Tornados arriving just after we did |
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| This Hercules nearly landing on us |
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| The Red Arrows & Thunderbirds in formation |
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| The F22 Raptor |
I wrote an entire blog about our trip 'RIAT 2017' and you can also find loads of videos on my YouTube channel.
Duxford was another first for me in the same year when I went to their Battle Of Britain airshow which was warbird-heaven. The highlight is the mass-flypast finale and I remember as the Spitfires were turning towards the crowd they caught the sun and all glinted simultaneously making the crowd "oooo" simultaneously 😆
2018 marked one of my absolute aviation highlights when I went to the RAF 100 flypast in London, I still consider my decision to take the day off work to go one of my best ever! There were so many different types of aircraft some like the BAE146s and Rivet Joint that I'd never seen before. It really was one of the best days ever!
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| Off to London |
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| The BBMF |
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| Tornados |
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| F35s |
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| The highlight of the flypast was these Typhoons in a 100 formation |
This is my video of the fly past but I recommend you also watching the 'proper' highlights that I've also linked below so you can see it in better quality that my phone!
Later the same week we went to RIAT and it was as fantastic as the first time.
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| Tornados! |
I was really excited to see Italy's Frecce Tricolori for the first time and they didn't disappoint.
During the show on the Friday there was a storm which lead to the donning of my poncho which Mum pointed out made me look like I was sat in a hole .....
The after effect of the rain was a really interestingly coloured sky which made for some cool photos -
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| Frecce Tricolori |
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| SU27 |
As with the previous year we watched the second day of the show from the campsite and it was on this day that I FINALLY saw a B2 Stealth Bomber. I have to say it was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen and just looked out of this world - I call UFO reverse engineering!!!!
You can read my blog about the whole weekend here
Rain was also a factor on the first day of Airbourne, the cloud was low so I'd decided not to go down as nothing was flying. Halfway through the afternoon they announced that the cloud was due to lift enough for the Typhoon to display right at the end of the day. So I donned my wet weather gear and headed down the seafront.
It was so worth it, I swear the cloud made the Typhoon sound even louder and I was one of the only people on the seafront making it feel like I was getting my own private show!
My final moments for the list both come from Dad's and my trips to Duxford last year in August and October. The first is this flypast of two F15s from RAF Lakenheath ahead of the 'Celebrating 19 Squadron' Flying Day and 'Miss Helen' the Mustang shining in the sun (Blog here).
In October we went to Duxford's final show of the season and were there for the return of the BBMF's Lancaster for the first time in 2 years. We were also in exactly the right spot for them to thunder right over our heads, I still have goosebumps now ....
Closing the show was the Typhoon which I was so so excited to see for the first time in 2 years. When it came roaring in and immediately shot skyward Dad's comment "Fucking hell" said it all.
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| Due to the late afternoon air we got some cracking vapour. |
I hope you guys have enjoyed my rundown of my favourite airshow memories, I have tons of aircraft videos on my YouTube Channel . I've also listed all my geek blogs below too for anyone with too much time on their hands/insomnia problems 😂
Love Jen
XxxX
Airbourne Blogs -
Duxford Blogs
Bournemouth Blogs-
Farnborough Blogs -
Biggin Hill Blogs -
RIAT Blogs-
Dunsfold Blog -
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