2021 In Plane Geeking

Hi guys happy new year! After publishing my 2021 In Music blog I thought it would be fun to go back over my favourite aviation highlights of the year. Unlike with gigs I was actually able to squeeze almost a full year's worth of plane geeking into 2021 which was an unexpected delight and I even got my long threatened Red Arrows tattoo ........

 

The first airshow of the year didn't quite go according to plan when Dad and I went to Headcorn Battle Of Britain Airshow back in June and it was completely rained off. We did get to see the famous 'Silver Spitfire' on the ground as well as a parade of other warbirds. 

 

After the show the organisers very kindly emailed everyone who had attended on the day and offered to roll over our tickets for next year as nothing flew, which I thought was absolutely brilliant as it wasn't something they 'had' to do. Hopefully next years show will be blessed with better weather and we can see these beauties in the air!

In July Chris, Vana and I went to Goodwood Festival Of Speed to see all the F1 cars (check out my blog from the day for loads of photos and videos) and conveniently The Red Arrows ....

Chris took the infamous 'Jen taking a photograph of the subject of her tattoo' photo

It was also the first time I'd seen the 'NHS Pass' tribute to the keyworkers who kept us safe during the pandemic and hearing the crowd cheer for those heros made my heart swell. 

In August Dad and I were back at Duxford for the first time since 2019 for their 'Celebrating 19 Squadron' flying day (check out my blog here) which much to my delight opened with a surprise flypast from two RAF Lakenheath based F15s!

 

The other highlight of the day was the beautiful display by the P51 Mustang 'Miss Helen'

 

 

Here's some more video highlights of the day -

In September I went to Bournemouth Airshow for the first time and absolutely loved it although the sandy beach somewhat confused Corney and I as you can see from my blog 😂. It was great seeing the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) back in formation with their Dakota, Hurricane and Spitfire. 

 

The Red Arrows also made an appearance -

There was some good helicopter action too with the RAF Chinook and Royal Navy Black Cats displays. 

Chinook

Wildcat

There was also a typically dynamic display by Rich Goodwin in his Muscle BiPlane.

I enjoyed the show so much I've booked a hotel for the weekend in 2022! I've popped some of my video highlights below -  

Later on in September I was back at Duxford for their Battle Of Britain Airshow and made the most of the members VIP area. There were so many warbirds to watch as you can see from my blog and YouTube video.

 

Messerschmitts 

Duxford resident Sally B -

 

I really enjoyed seeing Historic Helicopters with their Sea King and Wessex, living on the coast I used to see Sea Kings passing along regularly so it was great to see one again. 

 

The countryside around Duxford is really pretty and makes a lovely backdrop to photos of the aircraft taxi-ing like in this photo of Miss Helen from earlier in the blog. 

Of course Duxford's Battle Of Britain airshow is famous for it's mass Spitfire flypast, the ground-shaking thunder of the Merlin & Griffon engines makes a sound like no other. 

We had some interesting flypasts in the Eastbourne-area this year, this Typhoon Display Team Photoshoot (sorry for the link being from the Daily Heil) lead to arguably my best aviation photo of the year .......

We also had a visit from Sally B -

And this Apache joined us whilst we were walking Eos -

We had a mini Spitfire display on the seafront to commemorate the passing of a member of staff at a local college. 

 

 

My geeking year ended with an unexpected final trip to Duxford for their 'Best Of 2021 Flying Day' (here's my blog). When they announced the Typhoon would be appearing I had to go after missing it at Bournemouth and it was absolutely worth it for the vapour-tastic display at the end of the show. 

 

 

Another fantastic moment was the return of the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight's Lancaster, Dad and I were in the perfect spot as they flew in right over the top of us .... absolute goosebumps 😱

 

The theory of the show seemed to be "If it's in flying condition then send it up" which was great as we got some really interesting combinations of aircraft and some aircraft I hadn't seen for ages such as the Lysander. 

Here's some video highlights -

The Ultimate Warbirds Mustang and Thunderbolt always sound fantastic flying together. 

All in all it's been an absolutely fantastic airshow season despite cancellations of some events due to Covid Lockdowns. Next year is looking great with the (hopeful) return of RIAT and Airbourne (third time lucky), Headcorn Airshow and my Mini-Breaks to Bournemouth and Duxford's Summer Airshow. 

See you on the crowd line!

Love Jen

XxxX