Dave Poile MBE and the team behind the organisation of the Little Gransden air display seem to have perfected something of an intangible personal touch at the annual Charity Air & Car Show, creating a homely ambiance that contrasts nicely with the larger, more corporate driven shows at Duxford and Fairford. Much like the recent Rougham and Sywell airshows, Little Gransden uses the small scale intimacy of the venue to its advantage, with aircraft parked into the crowd at close proximity to the crowd barriers to enable people to watch the participants being prepared for flight. Furthermore, the small scale of the event meant that the car parks filled and emptied with ease. It's always pleasant to be able to arrive at a show after 11am and still get a spot at the front of the crowdline; that's certainly part of the appeal to me, particularly as we're in the final stages of the 2010 season and I've spent almost every weekend from May until the present getting up at the crack of dawn to head to an airshow!
Little Gransden aerodrome is a small grass strip with a crowdline that is more naturally 'L-shaped' than curved, with one axis along the runway, which is in close proximity to the crowdline and thus in an excellent position for departure and arrival photographs. The main 'A' display axis runs over the aircraft park, adjacent to the main runway, with the corner of the crowdline occurring at the bottleneck in which aircraft entering and leaving the aircraft park must pass and indeed often hold before departing.
This allows for some excellent opportunities to see and photograph the display and visiting aircraft at a proximity not normally afforded at larger venues; indeed, when the gorgeous North Weald-based Beech Super 18 (support ship for the 'Me-108 Taifun' and a welcome static visitor) departed, you almost felt the instinctive need to duck as the wingtip passed only a few feet away! For a small donation, you could also buy tickets to grant access to the hangar in which the Cambridge Bomber and Fighter Association's Hawker Hurricane is currently being restored; unfortunately, while I bought a ticket, I didn't find the time to look over the hangars in the end. All the more reason to do so next year!
It was also good to see a number of local farms selling their home grown produce at the show; something that other shows would do well to capitalise on. Not only is this food often of a higher quality than the usual overpriced "gourmet" burgers that blight the majority of British airshows, but it also allows the show to give back to the local community by getting them involved in the proceedings and helping them to make a little money of their own. I certainly don't see the harm in having local farms, schools and bakeries selling their goods at airshows - in this instance, it also fitted perfectly with Little Gransden's small-show atmosphere.
As always, Little Gransden offered up a veritable variety of atypical airshow acts, ranging from John Elliott's Autogyro to the likes of Strikemaster and Vampire. Unfortunately, the weather on the day, whilst generally bright and sunny, bore with it strong on-crowd winds of some 20-25 knots - gusting to 40+ knots at 2,000ft, apparently - which hampered several aircraft's attempts at getting through the 'Gransden and ultimately led to the cancellation of some seven items from the programme, including Peter Holloway's Fieseler Storch, a show highlight.
For many events, losing this many displays could be a potential catastrophe and lead to lengthy gaps while the flying programme, often fluid when dealing with conditions like these, is rearranged. Little Gransden took the losses in their stride, restructured the programme and managed to pull together an excellent flying programme that certainly left me feeling as though I'd seen my money's worth. The drafting in of reserve acts to replace the cancellations further demonstrated the team's determination to turn negatives into positives; a testament to the much lauded 'Little Gransden spirit' that has been a hallmark of the events over the years.
I arrived mid-morning to find new parking arrangements - often a cause for concern, as found at Flying Legends where a bizarre new system had been implemented on Saturday which generated so many complaints that it was abandoned altogether on Sunday! - which actually made getting in easier as I was parked closer to the airfield and no longer had to cross a public road to get on site (a change I'm sure many families with children were grateful for).
Many display aircraft had already arrived, though there were sporadic movements throughout the morning, highlight of which was the arrival of Nigel Willson's Yak 52 leading the wonderful three-ship of P-51D Mustangs 'Marinell', 'Janie' and 'Big Beautiful Doll' for a couple of circuits in what looked like a possible photoshoot. Historic Flying Limited's Spitfire IXT also made two very welcome flypasts in the hands of Dave Ratcliffe, who was apparently passing through the local area on the way to another display and was on hand to make an appearance.
One innovation in 2010 was the introduction of a flightline walk. Limited to 40 places at an incredibly reasonable £2 per person, this walk really put the £4-5 flightline access at Duxford to shame. Limiting the number of places meant that each group of 10 were allowed unrestricted access to get up close to and photograph all of the aircraft on the ground, including some of the treasures tucked in the furthest corner of the airfield, without any rush from the tour guides. My group spent more than an hour walking around the aircraft park and the feedback as a result of the unprecedented access was unanimously positive. With Old Warden and Sywell also offering guided flightline tours, Duxford's arguably overpriced walk has some serious competition.
Little Gransden's natural curvature allows for many, if not all, of the participants to perform the ever popular topside pass manoeuvres, transitioning from 'A' to 'B' axis or vice versa by banking around the corner, thus showcasing the top surface of the aircraft, which many people feel is the most attractive angle from which to view an aircraft.
The gusty winds made it difficult for some of the lighter aircraft to follow suit, with Matthew Boddington's Fokker DR1 display, for example, being much more high and distant than his previous appearances due to the Northerly wind blowing the machine towards the crowd. Credit and appreciation goes to Matthew and his colleagues, however, for flying in these trying conditions; I'm sure no one would have thought any less of them had they curtailed or cancelled their displays due to inclement weather.
Utilising the curved crowdline to full effect were the climactic P-51D Mustang trio from Rob Davies and Maurice Hammond, whose show-closing tailchase gave the audience a good idea of what Flying Legends would be like if it were to be held at a smaller venue. Initially combining formation passes, a duo tailchase and a brief aerobatic solo from Dave Evans in 'Janie', the show closed with a terrific tailchase with each aircraft banking around the corner at high speed before gracefully performing a wingover to reposition for the next run. It was a fantastic end to the flying programme that I would argue eclipsed even the traditional Flying Legends Mustang sequence this time round.
In complete contrast to the Mustang stampede was the delightful duo routine from the two locally based Spartan Executives, with owner Nigel Pickard leading Mark Jefferies in an impressive tailchase that saw the Spartans demonstrating near fighter-like capabilities, with big sweeping wingovers and fast runs along the crowd. Very much the Learjet of its day, the Spartan is a wonderful looking aircraft - particularly the polished bare metal example that invariably reflects whatever light is available.
Further art deco era American aviation was represented by the welcome and unexpected appearance by two WACO biplanes, each of which filled in the slots left vacant by the cancellations. The second routine in particular was a delight, with plentiful close passes that showed off the grace and charm of this exquisite aircraft. On reflection, I can only recall having seen a WACO display once in the UK, at Old Warden; I can only hope that these wonderful aircraft receive more bookings in future years, as it'd be lovely to see more of them.
Little Gransden's main strength lies in the quality of the participants, if not the quantity - though it's hard to consider a show that musters four or so hours of flying 'small'! Opening the proceedings was the tremendous Peter Teichman, battling through the inclement weather from North Weald in his Hawker Hurricane IIb, an aircraft that has enjoyed a very busy year in this Battle of Britain 70th anniversary year. The near weekly appearances from the 'Hurribomber' have allowed Peter to perfect a scintillating routine in 'Pegs' that is always a highlight wherever it appears. With a year of fantastic displays up and down the UK, Peter Teichman has solidified himself in the top tier of British display pilots with his dynamic, lyrical warbird displays.
Following in Peter Teichman's determined footsteps was Tom Maloney in his BAC Strikemaster, battling the weather over Southern England before being grounded by low cloud at North Weald, where he remained until later in the day when he was able to take advantage of the marked improvement in the weather conditions to fill a later slot with his usual refined routine.
Further classic jet aviation was represented by Mark Hooton in the superb Vampire T.11, always a pleasure to watch, be it in the hands of Mark Hooton or Matt Hampton. The display at Little Gransden was no exception, with some lovely banking passes that exhibited the aircraft's unique de Havilland twin boom design.
At the other end of the scale was the Redhawk Pair, flying a captivating display of mirrored aerobatics that contrasted nicely with the aggressive styling of Richard Grace's Pitts Special duo. Probable highlight of the afternoon, however, was provided by aerobatic maestro Mark Jefferies, owner of Little Gransden airfield, whose stupendous Extra 330 routine frequently defied the laws of physics.
It isn't often that a display leaves you open mouthed and wondering "How the Hell did he do that?", but Mark's Extra display invariably does so. The take-off, with the aircraft getting airborne in no time at all before snapping into a side-slip around the corner, was as exhilarating as it gets from the crowd side. Following his solo, Mark paired up with Nigel Willson in his Yak 52 for an unusual formation aerobatics duo, contrasting the Yak's older generation agricultural Russian charisma with the Extra's sleek, purposeful Germanic prodigy.
With the Mustangs closing the show shortly after 5pm, the organisers were in no rush to hurry people off the airfield, instead encouraging spectators to stay, be it to watch the many departures or to enjoy the hangar party - though I'm not sure how many people, pilots or otherwise, stayed long enough to make it worthwhile.
Getting out was a breeze - no queues, no aggravation, none of the "joys" of the bigger shows to keep you log jammed for hours. Despite takings apparently being down this year, Little Gransden still attracted a healthy crowd who all seemed to enjoy the day. It was pleasing to see such a turnout despite a poor start weather-wise, which had initially concerned me as some shows are hit hard by poor weather forecasts.
One thing is clear - Little Gransden remains a popular gem on the British airshow calendar, with the event having rightfully developed a reputation as one of the most enjoyable of its kind in the UK. This year saw the organisers triumph over adversity, always remaining positive and never allowing the changes to the programme to affect the slick running of the display.
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