Marshalls Centenary Airshow

[firbeck 859]

As I had to go up that way yesterday I had a recce.

I started off at Trumpington Park and Ride and a chat with their officials, it would appear that the Cambridge bus company have done nothing to help the congestion and their buses will stop running the park and ride service at 5:30, an hour before the airshow finishes, neither of their inspectors, even at Newmarket road P & R next to the airfield, had any idea about the event, should be fun then. There's chaos anyway as Cambs seem to be putting in these concrete bus guideways everywhere, they look bloody awful.

None of the roads around the airfield will be closed, the police have just put up about half a dozen cones against the crash gates, I reckon you'll get a better view there than inside.

I had a wander round the flying school and watched the comings and goings, loads of De Havilland classics,and I saw the RN Chippies arive and break. I also heard that Sally B blew another engine the other day and won't be there!! I also heard that the Vulcan could be doing it's formation fly in with the Reds as they've rescheduled the timings so they arrive together.

Yesterday was extremely hot and sunny, it's a bit cloudy this morning but set to clear up.

I managed to fix the old mans video camera yesteday so I'll be able to do some filming.

Here's a few bits from yesterday.

[plantfit 7,582]

Have a good day Pete as I'm sure you will, post plenty of pics

Rog

[Frank 13]

Pete

That yellow 2 seat bi-plane is the one I've flown, couple of years back now.........I remember posting a photo on here and you lot took the p**s saying thing's like 'Frank looks like Biggles' etc :tongue:

Not posting it again

[Beefsteak 305]

More like Ken Bruce ......................LOL

[plantfit 7,582]

would that be Jack Bruce who played along with Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton in the group Cream?

brilliant

Rog

what about Snoopy of Red Baron fame?

[Beefsteak 305]

Nah Ken Bruce of radio 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Bruce

Come on Firbeck where's the pics??

[firbeck 859]

Incredible Frank, I take it that the pic was taken at Cambridge, apparently, I saw every Tiger Moth in the country yesterday, or so they said, as for the Red Baron, he was there as well:-

He ended up flour bombing Snoopy.

[firbeck 859]

I would just like to say that it was probably one of the best airshows and days out I've ever had, it was fantastic, the weather was perfect as well, the crowd was great because it was families who really appreciated everything and no over enthusiastic nutters pushing you out the way, I loved it, I won't go mad with pics, besides, I got the video camera to work and filmed the flying on that, and what flying, what aircraft, I've never seen so many vintage aircraft on one airfield, it was hard to take it in.

I'll say this, I thought that the contribution from the RAF was pathetic, apart from the Reds, we had nothing but one pass from a Hercules, considering that the hangars were full of battle damaged Hercs from Afghanistan and Iraq, they could have made a better showing, not that it mattered, Marshalls wanted to capture the history of flight, and, boy, did they succeed in doing that.

I'll say one thing though, the Reds performed when the sun was going down, in perfect conditions, and I have to say it was pretty amazing.

[firbeck 859]

We parked up at the Newmarket Road Park and Ride where all the vintage vehicles were assembling, on walking down to the entrance, we had to wait half an hour to get in, by which time the qeue was half a mile long:-

We were then ushered through a small corridor with an incredible tableux of photos of Marshalls achievements:-

Being first in, we managed to get round the hangars before they were busy, first up, Britains new generation of Army vehicles, courtesy of Marshalls of course:-

The hangars were full of Hercs:-

Ever been in the cockpit of one, it's smaller than you think:

Of course we saw the beast with it's massive new engine:

Tristars are so bloody big:

[firbeck 859]

Outside was an incredible collection of vintage vehicles and motorbikes:

As for the vintage aircraft, I've never seen so many:

Some interesting characters too:

By this time we were getting hungry and went to get some grub, everything was free, as much as you wanted and a massive choice, we opted for the fish and chips, cooked freshly on order, lovely:

We wandered over to the lovely 1930's Art Deco terminal and found a bit of peace and quiet:

What a view, the only surviving flying BoB Hurricane (3 Kills) was parked opposite us:

Along with these old boys:

A bit of trouble with one of them:

We had a really old chap come and sit with us on the bench, 85 and a former RAF pilot, he had many tales to tell us, trouble is, it was so hot where we were, we had to move.

[firbeck 859]

Despite rumours of ill health again, Sally B arrived:

They took great trouble aligning the engines:

So many things going off, the vintage jets were started up:

Then taxied down the runway:

Biplanes in abundance:

Then the 'Tin Triangle' appeared:

Then we spotted Mrs Glam who is the new female Reds pilot:

Then the magnificent Reds themselves:

Finally the walk back to the car park, when I told my brother it was like going home from Goose Fair, a girl walking next to me said, what do you know about Goose Fair, it turned out she came from Sneinton, but worked at Marshalls, small world eh!!

[Beefsteak 305]

Great pics there Pete

I have seen a load of the flying display on another site so it was great to see some of the static stuff too

[firbeck 859]

Thanks mate, just the tip of the iceburg, I haven't seen all my vid yet, if you want to see more let me know.

I E-mailed Marshalls and thanked them for my tickets and wonderful day, they responded within minutes and said that everyone enjoyed themselves and that they had a great time. What made us smile was that the director, Gerald? Marshall was celebrating his 50th anniversary as a pilot, he took up his equally amazing vintage monoplane from where we were sitting and flew up and down a bit, talk about royalty, when he landed he was surrounded by Marshall staff cameramen who photographed his every move, corporate creeps!! One of my video moments, I'm afraid.

Sorry, thats my brother from Denby eating fish and chips by the way.

[firbeck 859]

Beefsteak

I've seen some of the flying shots on the Aviation Forums and very nice they are too, I can't compete with that, though my video is pretty good, I just managed to get the smokey start of the Venom.

I have to say that my preferred aircraft are the 1930's biplane fighters and bombers, I was astonished to see a Hawker Demon flying, I didn't realise that one had recently been restored. My dream formation would be to see the two Nimrods, Demon, Hind and two Gladiators flying together, thats possible now, in the future we can expect to see a Hawker Fury, and more Hinds that have been recovered from Afghanistan, about nine I believe. It's a shame that the Fairey Flycatcher replica, but with many original parts, was retired to Yeovilton, a waste of a lovely airframe. Many years ago the airshows were blessed with a Bristol Bulldog fighter, I remember it well, I believe it was badly bent in a crash at North Weald in the 60's, surely another basket case for restoration.

Sorry, I digress.

An interesting story about the Marshalls Hercules rebuilds. Apparently, such is the NATO attrition rate in the various war zones, that they are pulling them out of the desert boneyard at Davis Monthan in the States and shipping them over to Tilbury. They are arriving in a totally wrecked state, pulled apart, then it takes a year to rebuild them. This example:

Was a complete wreck, they had pictures of it in it's original state in the boneyard, unbelievable what they can do, here is what they are like after arrival and stripping out:

The engines are completely taken apart and rebuilt, there were lines of them:

A fascinating insight as to how much all this war is bloody costing us.

Lets hear from your train Stan.