2022 In Plane Geeking

 

Hello everyone! It's been a packed 2022 airshow season with the returns of RIAT and Airbourne along with trips to Duxford and Headcorn's shows. So what better way to celebrate a fantastic year than to continue in 2021's tradition (you can read that blog here) and share just a few highlights of the season. 

My YouTube channel has a compilation of my favourite moments of the year or you can find some individual moments listed through this blog.

First up was the Platinum Jubilee Trooping The Colour in London on 2nd June. I've been to Trooping The Colour before as well as the RAF 100 celebration back in 2018 (with the iconic Typhoon '100 formation' but this was on another level. The atmosphere in London that day felt absolutely magical and I genuinely don't think we'll see the like of that again. 

The BBMF Hurricane, Spitfire, Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane

A400M Atlas and C17 Globemaster

Lightnings, Voyager and Typhoons

I thought the Typhoons might do some kind of special formation and they didn't disappoint!

The video is here- 

Later on in June I had Duxford's Summer Airshow, Goodwood Festival Of Speed and the Headcorn Battle Of Britain Airshow (you can read about them in more detail here).

Duxford took place on a chilly, drizzly day so it meant that not all the aircraft were able to perform, but we did get a flypast by the Red Arrows on their way back from Belfast.

We also got to see the fantastic Rich Goodwin with his 'Muscle BiPlane' (more from him later at Airbourne).

His normal take off .....

We saw the P51 Mustang 'Contrary Mary' 

It was also the only time I saw the Norwegian Vampire this year. 

In formation with the MIG 15

You can see full highlights here -

I saw my first full Red Arrows display of the year at Goodwood where they debuted their 'Jubilee Presents' flypast.

Flying the Red, White and Blue

Some footage of their display -

A couple of days later Dad and I had a second attempt at Headcorn Airshow after last year's wash out. It was absolutely perfect airshow weather with blue skies and a couple of fluffy clouds to frame the aircraft nicely. The show was opened with Headcorn's resident Dakota.

The Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight sent their Hurricane -

We had a Battle Of Britain dogfight with a ME109 Buchon and two Spitfires.

Having vanquished the 109 (back to 'Duxenford' according to the commentator 😆) the Spitfire pair put on their own display.

My favourite part of the show was seeing the B17 Flying Fortress 'Sally B' and it was the only time I saw here this year. 

Some more highlights from the show -

In July came the big one ... RIAT returned! Dad and I camped from the Thursday - Sunday (over the record breaking heatwave and I still managed to avoid getting a tan #GothGoals). I'll only share a couple of photos here as I have a full blog detailing everything. 

Thursday is arrivals day with aircraft passing over us every couple of minutes on their way to land as well as their practice displays.

Rolls Royce Spitfire

The fantastic Swiss F18

Lots of arrivals -

Dad and I went into the show on the Friday which is the 'shorter day' and I much prefer it as it's quieter and you can move around and see the static aircraft without being squished!

We got to see the arrival of this very rare A4 Skyhawk 

The Swiss F18 'Turning and burning'

The RAF Typhoon landing after it's display

Friday was the first glimpse we got of the amazing Korean Black Eagles display team.

Check them out here -

Another performance I really enjoyed was the Austrian air force's 'Quick Reaction Alert' which saw a Hercules intercepted by two Typhoons who then had a 'dogfight' 

We had a visit from the Airbus Beluga aka the world's most cheerful looking aircraft

One of my favourite photos of the weekend - the RAF Typhoon lighting it's afterburners!

You can see highlights of all 3 days here - 

August saw the return of my hometown airshow Airbourne! I can't tell you how much it meant to have the Red Arrows shooting over the crowd or the warbirds thundering along the seafront. You can read my full blog here.

The BBMF made a welcome return

My favourite photo of the show

The Faiery Swordfish made it's first Airbourne appearance

The Spitfire created a vortex

Not to be outdone the Typhoon made some vapour

Airbourne had some great formations of different participants with the Typhoon and Spitfire performing a routine and The Blades and Chinook arriving together. 

The best of the action -

The final airshow of the year was Duxford's Flying Finale (blog here) which, like last year, was a beautiful Autumn day. We were sat on the end of the runway which meant I was able to get some nice photos of the planes coming in to land. 

Hurricane

Thunderbolt

Sea Fury

Wildcat

And of course a Spitfire

Duxford had a real coup in booking the Swiss national team the Patrouille Suisse at their only UK show of the year and they were predictably excellent.

Another highlight of the day was the final display of the season by the RAF Typhoon

 with it's 'Blackjack' paintwork reflecting beautifully in the late afternoon sunshine.

. 

It was an absolutely fantastic airshow season from getting my photos published during Airbourne to the thunder of warbird engines to jets shooting over my head at RIAT. I must also thank everyone who's watched the videos on my YouTube channel, some of them have multiple thousands of views which is small beans to most YouTubers but means the world to me. 

Until next year Jen The Plane Geek is over and out 😎

XxxX