A historic and rather lovely venue, reasonable pricing, strong participation, memorable flying, great company and, in the main, excellent weather. I think most of us would struggle to conjure up a better list of requirements if we were holding the ‘what makes a great airshow’ debate but there is no doubt that Wings and Wheels 2010 ticked all those boxes and, having not been to the show before, will definitely be an event I return to next year and beyond.
This was a slightly different weekend for GAR I grant you, as Karl and I travelled to the show not by road but by helicopter (more of which in the coming weeks), but that doesn’t change the essence of the show and we both left having enjoyed the whole weekend hugely.
You clearly need a bit of luck to get everything to come together for an airshow and no organiser is good enough to arrange the weather, but it’s fair to say that TSA, the team at Dunsfold and those from Brooklands who looked after the motoring side, did everything within their power to ensure a successful and enjoyable event.
So much so that Sunday’s attendance saw the show break even, meaning that Monday’s takings were destined for Help for Heroes, the Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance, Brooklands Museum Trust and Cranleigh Village Hospital Trust in their entirety – great news for all concerned and by no means a guaranteed outcome when a show expands from one day to two as Wings and Wheels did this year.
Seeing as this is Global Aviation Resource and not Global Motoring Resource I’m not going to dwell on the automotive side of the event too much other than to make what I think is an important point. A number of people over the weekend were promoting the same argument – this is the future of airshows in the UK. Here you had two distinct audiences, the airshow crowd and the car crowd as it were. Naturally there would be crossover but it is also true to say that some would have decided to attend mainly for one interest and some for the other.
It’s hardly groundbreaking to suggest that classic cars attend an airshow but this was an event that commenced with a full hour of motoring along the runway and took a further one hour break from flying for more of the same later in the day, while the showground was dominated by visiting vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Two shows in one if you like and one whose attendance was no doubt swelled as a result. Airshows will need to diversify and evolve in the coming years and this was a perfect example of just that.
And so, on to the aircraft. The show’s static display was made up of a number of items from the flying display, parked just behind the barriers at one end of the crowdline, along with a couple of dedicated weekend and daily visitors. The majority of these visitors arrived and departed each day which added to the crowd’s entertainment and meant that the two days saw a broad variety of aircraft coming and going, with highlights being an Me-108, Andrew Dixon’s Pembroke, RAF marked Harvard, a privately owned Gazelle, a beautiful black Yak-52 and a stunning pair of Stearmans.
The majority of these were parked on Dunsfold’s old disused runway which also of course features the Boeing 747 of James Bond movie fame and a fascinating, if rather decrepit, Mil Mi-24 Hind gunship. The airfield’s resident Sea Harrier and Sea Hawk were brilliantly moved on to the main showground; perfectly appropriate for the former home of the Hawker Aircraft Company - a fact which, as we will see, was not lost on TSA when it came to the flying display either.
Permanent static residents for the weekend were a Hawk T.1A from 208(R) Squadron at RAF Valley and a Merlin HC.3A from the Merlin Force at RAF Benson. A quick word on Team Merlin - a regular on the airshow circuit since 2005. This was MACR Gareth Attridge’s last show as the team manager before he moves on to pastures new and he deserves huge credit for the way in which he has performed this volunteer role for the past five years. The Team has worked tirelessly to promote the work of the Merlin, support helicopters and the Royal Air Force at airshows and has raised thousands of pounds for charity along the way – all while engaged on operational duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The airshow community in the UK owes Gareth a huge pat on the back for all his hard work and his successor, Flt Lt Jim Taylor, has big shoes to fill – not that I have any doubt in his ability or desire to continue in the same vein. GAR looks forward to working as closely with Jim as we have done with Gareth and we wish them both all the very best for the future.
Gareth took the time to speak to GAR after the show and here’s what he had to say: “This year's Dunsfold Wings and Wheels was a poignant event for me as it was to be my last show as Team Manager and my last ever UK flight in a Merlin. Being able to spend the weekend with a lot of the friends and colleagues that I have met over the last five years made this a great way to bow out and hand over to my successor, Flt Lt Jim Taylor. I wish him and Team Merlin every continued success and hope he is able to carry on 'flying the flag'."
"The other thing that made this a special weekend was the incredible generosity and support shown by the air show going public once again. We managed to collect a staggering £1300 in donations for Help for Heroes making a total of over £3000 for the season so far. I will no doubt be out and about next year in a different capacity and look forward to watching from the 'other side'!”
The flying display was split in to two sections each day as mentioned above and featured a strong mix of military and civilian participation. The RAF dominated in a military sense with the Red Arrows, Tutor, Tucano, Hawk, Typhoon and Harrier all in attendance. For Flt Lt Steve Kenworthy in the GR.9 it was a particularly important show with Dunsfold in so many ways being the true home of the Harrier and this, the 50th anniversary of the first vertical take off. Closing the show on Sunday and as one of the final display acts on the Monday, there was a noticeable shift towards the barriers from the large crowd and a resounding round of applause when he touched down after the extended nozzle-borne portion of his role demo.
Flt Lts Bill Ramsey, Tim Clement and Tom Bould did what they’ve done all season which was perform consistently for an appreciative crowd, although Tom’s Tucano was unfortunately unserviceable on Monday and was towed in to the Top Gear hangar to await rectification – could he be the next Stig I wonder?? This was my first sighting of Flt Lt Scott “Disco” Griffith’s Hawk role demo and while it certainly does the job as a solo item I have to say that I find any comparison with the Hawk display monumentally preposterous. There is no similarity between a role demo and a full aerobatic display and while the arguments for and against each one are interesting to debate I think it’s extremely unfair to try and draw any comparisons between the two.
The Reds were superb on both days, despite holding on the runway for something approximating 20 minutes on the Sunday to see if the weekend’s only band of rain would pass through. They finally launched in to what was still pretty foul weather, although it did clear, and they completed their display in the dazzling sunshine which would prevail for the remainder of the day’s flying programme – possibly the best lighting conditions Karl and I had enjoyed this season; stunning!
Other aerobatic highlights came from the civilian world and the chance to see a number of our best performers taking to the stage – the Red Bull Matadors, Gerald Cooper in his Cap 232 and The Blades all flying on both days of the show. The Matadors, Paul Bonhomme and Steve Jones, were brilliant and made for compelling viewing while The Blades seem to me to have taken a further step forward in developing their routine this season
Gerald Cooper however was something else and his display was absolutely jaw dropping, seemingly defying the laws of gravity and at one point throwing the gauntlet down to the Harrier in the hovering stakes! The oohs and aahs from the crowd were audible as he threw his Cap around, tumbling back and forth, horizontally, vertically....you name it, he does it, and the audience lapped it up as co-commentator Brendan O’Brien tried to keep pace and explain how Gerald was making it all happen; a top airshow performer and one I look forward to seeing again very soon. Brendan also ducked out of commentary duties, leaving Melvyn Hiscock to go solo, for his crazy flying and truck top landing – a most welcome and popular return to the airshow circuit this season.
Not to be outdone, the warbird community also lit up the event with some spectacular flying from P-51D Ferocious Frankie (Alister Kay) and Spitfire MK IX MH434 (Brian Smith) which flew a pairs routine before splitting for their solo displays, both of which included numerous low topside passes - some of the lowest I’ve seen for some time in actual fact - which made for great viewing. They were joined in the line-up by Peter Teichman in the Mk IIB Hurribomber which on Monday, in a fitting tribute to Hawker and Dunsfold itself, flew two passes with Jonathon Whaley’s Hunter, Miss Demeanour.
Flapjack’s Hunter wasn’t the only classic jet on show with a Dunsfold connection either and, while Jonathon’s spectacular display will have caught the eye for many spectators, Lt Cdr Chris Gotke was not to be outdone in the Sea Hawk courtesy of the RNHF. Chris flies this beautiful aircraft with great spirit and I know he feels incredibly lucky to be entrusted to do so, especially when her engineers clearly spend so much time making her look like she’s brand new. A fingerprint on the paintwork would probably be frowned upon but Chris doesn’t fly her like he’s wearing kid gloves – just how it should be in my opinion.
The Vulcan appeared on both days and probably made a bigger impact than at most shows I’ve seen her this season. This was probably due to the comparatively short display line and an audience made up of many people seeing her for the first time, or the first time this season at least. Sunday’s missed approach was especially impressive although I think it’s fair to say that Monday’s routine was less impressive overall.
The Swift Aerobatic Display Team and associated Twister Duo, along with the Turbulents, provided the quieter items for the bank holiday weekend's flying programme. Just a week after Mike Newman’s unfortunate accident in the Swift at Shoreham, Guy was flying a Pilatus glider and it was great to see them back in the saddle and to hear that Mike will make a full, albeit lengthy, recovery from his injuries. The Twister Duo certainly weren’t outclassed in the face of stern aerobatic competition at Dunsfold and the Turbulents, along with the ever consistent Breitling Wingwalkers, did very well in the fiercely windy conditions which prevailed, especially on Sunday.
All in all then a wonderful weekend at Dunsfold Wings and Wheels for the reasons stated above. Some of the elements that made it such a superb weekend might be less obvious but I can’t finish without a word for the volunteers and staff who run the event. Few, if any, shows have left me feeling so positive about this part of a show. The staff were all good humoured, courteous and above all extremely helpful, more concerned with completing the job in hand than they were with taking pictures of the latest arrival or, as we often see, walking around being officious and heavy handed. Each and every one of them was a credit to the event.
This show will remain a highlight of the season for me for many reasons and if you didn’t make it to Dunsfold this year or, like me, haven’t been before, I would highly recommend a visit in 2011.
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