Spring 2010. A new coalition government takes office in the UK promising sweeping cuts to all public spending. The population of Greece takes to the streets over “austerity measures” as the country plunges into a deep economic crisis, with the threat of other countries in the Eurozone following suit in short order. Not to mention ongoing NATO operations in Afghanistan proceeding at an ever increasing tempo.
Not really the ideal time to be putting together a gathering of aircraft for a Photocall!
However, that was exactly the task facing Phil Dawe and his team at RAF Northolt. The June Photocall at Northolt has been a fixture of the UK enthusiasts' calendar for many years, and has gained an enviable reputation for attracting rare and interesting aircraft from throughout Europe.
Against the global backdrop of economic gloom, it really is a miracle that events like this can still go ahead and attract the numbers of aircraft that they do. This year’s event was marred by a large number of cancellations, some at a late stage, but still managed to attract a varied selection of interesting types, some of which are very rarely seen in public.
Last year for the first time a small group of photographers was allowed onto the airfield on the Friday before the Photocall, when many of the aircraft arrive. This opportunity was repeated in 2010, with close access being afforded to the runway at Northolt throughout the day; in addition to the Photocall aircraft, there were also a considerable number of biz jet movements during the morning and 32(The Royal) Sqn were also rather active during the day.
In terms of movements for the Photocall, the morning was fairly quiet, with the only notable arrival being the Gloster Meteor from Martin Baker. The Meteor is a rare aircraft indeed and, considering its age, it is quite remarkable that a pair of aircraft remain in service as ejector seat testbeds. The aircraft are rarely seen in public, but regular visitors to the Photocall. We were treated to a run and break followed by two low go-arounds before the aircraft landed – just lovely!
Northolt is a popular location for business and VIP traffic, and much of the morning’s movements fell into this category. Particularly smart was a Gulfstream G550 which departed late morning on a regular service carrying an executive passenger to his weekend home.
A proportion of the VIP traffic is made up of government and military aircraft from all over the world – Northolt’s proximity to central London and secure location make it a popular choice for such flights. As luck would have it, a very smart USAF Boeing C-40 Clipper had arrived a couple of days before, carrying a senior US officer for meetings in London. The aircraft was still present on the Friday, but departed on Saturday, before the Photocall itself, so the arrivals day photoshoot provided a welcome opportunity to photograph this immaculate aircraft. In fact, we got two opportunities – in the morning when the aircraft was repositioned onto the north side of the airfield and then in some beautiful evening light towards the end of the day.
The RAF’s own VIP transport squadron, 32(The Royal) Sqn, operate an interesting mixed fleet of aircraft, and all were active throughout the day. The largest aircraft available to the squadron is the BAE 146, and this aircraft flew several times during the day – a first opportunity for me to shoot this smart machine.
Later on, 32(The Royal) Sqn were to provide one of the highlights of the day. An earlier paired departure of BAE 125s had been scrubbed due to weather so we were delighted to see three of the aircraft start up later and depart together. Calling up on the radio as “Claret Formation”, the first two aircraft departed in stream before turning tightly back over the airfield, to allow the third aircraft to join up. The aircraft were to return later in a smart echelon left formation to perform a very punchy run and break to land.
With the civilian exec jet movements ceasing around lunchtime, the Photocall arrivals began to become more frequent. The French Air Force are regulars at Northolt and this year sent single examples of the Alpha Jet and TBM700, with a Hawk T.1 from 19 Sqn RAF arriving at around the same time.
Many nations seem to be very regular participants at Northolt events, and these include the Poles. During WWII, Northolt was home to a Polish fighter wing, and the airfield has maintained strong links with the Polish armed forces since. This year it had been hoped that one of the recently delivered Polish AF C-130E Hercules transports would attend the Photocall but unfortunately the crew was forced to cancel their trip at the last minute leaving Poland represented only by the Polish Navy M28 Bryza.
Another Hercules was to have appeared in the form of an RAF C-130K Hercules, but sadly this was also prevented from attending. The RAF’s transport assets are extremely busy at the moment, and the recent unfortunate gear up landing at Brize Norton has left the C-130K fleet even more stretched than usual meaning it was simply not possible to send an aircraft to the photocall.
The loss of these two participants meant that there was only one example of Lockheed’s legendary airlifter in attendance – an MC-130P Combat Shadow from the 352nd Special Operations Group at RAF Mildenhall. The aircraft was one of the more recent arrivals at Mildenhall, where the fleet of aircraft operated by the SOG has undergone some rotation in recent months. In contrast to the aircraft previously based there, 66-0215 retains the unusual nose profile and redundant mount for the Fulton recovery system. The MC-130 looked superb arriving at Northolt and was very popular with the visitors to the photocall on the Sunday; apparently its departure was one of the highlights of the day.
Despite a lack of frontline RAF assets, trainers were rather better represented. Aside from the aforementioned Hawk, a King Air and a Dominie from Cranwell also appeared. The Dominie was especially welcome as the aircraft originally scheduled to attend had a bird strike earlier in the day, putting its appearance in doubt. Fortunately the crew were able to switch to another aircraft to bring to the event, all the more welcome as the Dominie is getting rather long in the tooth and won’t be around forever.
Rounding up the military types in attendance were a few more Northolt regulars. The RNAF sent a smart Gulfstream GIV staff transport while the Irish Air Corps provided one of their AW139 helicopters, which arrived smartly in front of the photographers. The British Army Air Corps was represented by an Islander – a familiar aircraft to local people, albeit in a slightly different guise.
There was an interesting mix of civilian types which also arrived for display, all of which are rarely seen at public shows. The Natural Environmental Research Council’s German registered Dornier 228 has been in the news recently as the aircraft involved in air sampling during the volcanic eruptions in Iceland and was a welcome visitor, looking very smart and “tooled up” with its sampling pods.
The Shorts Skyvan is a distinctive aircraft and one which is now very rare in the UK – apparently there are only two airworthy examples on the British register! Mainly used for para-dropping, but also of late acting as a platform for aerial photography, this charismatic aircraft was a welcome sight arriving at Northolt. The aircraft is flown by a single pilot, and demonstrated its excellent short field performance on landing, turning off the runway after an impressively short landing roll.
Final items to arrive on the Friday were a pair of ex-RAF trainers – a Chipmunk and a Jet Provost. The Chipmunk in particular carried a smart red colour scheme and was one of the aircraft used by Prince Charles when he learnt to fly.
The arrivals day was excellent – the opportunity to shoot the aircraft arriving for the Photocall was superb, with the other movements during the day being a very welcome bonus. In particular, the chance to see 32(TR) Sqn out in force was very much appreciated.
The Photocall itself on Sunday however, came in for criticism in some quarters. Some excellent aircraft were invited and confirmed only to cancel at a late stage. Perhaps the most disappointing of these was the aforementioned Polish Air Force C-130, which was set to make its UK debut, only to cancel at the eleventh hour.
The impact of this cancellation was felt by all who attended the event, but also very much by the organisers. Main man Phil Dawe was especially disappointed, having spent some days before the event preparing the historic gates at Northolt for transport to the Polish Air Force Museum – in the C-130! The aircraft was unable to attend due to a serious technical fault, as Phil explains, “The Polish AF C-130E cancelled on Thursday evening due to a fuel leak. Their technicians had been working for two days to try and get it repaired and they actually put back their arrival to give the techs more time but they eventually ran out of time.”
Also disappointing for many was the lack of RAF frontline participation; again this was not through lack of trying, “We used all available channels to get a Tornado GR4 and it had actually been confirmed some weeks ago. When it came down to it, it looks like all available GR4s were committed to the Queen’s Birthday Flypast! The Sentinel that was scheduled to be in our static ended up in the QBF and that resulted in a flypast only on the Saturday!”
All air events suffer from cancellations for one reason or another. However small events feel the effects of these cancellations more deeply, as fellow organiser Lee Barton points out “Even a couple of cancellations makes a big difference for us as we have fewer aircraft attending. Northolt was the first to suffer with cancellations this season due to the recession, I know we won’t be the last!”
The level of planning that goes into the event is a lot higher than most people realise, with planning starting many months in advance. As Phil points out, “Planning starts in the preceding September with a letter to the RAF Events Team at Cranwell advising them of our event and submitting our “wish list” of attending aircraft. They come back to us around Easter and advise us if we have been successful with our bid for aircraft.
“I always try to look for the unusual or exotic for the weekend. A classic example of this was the Polish Border Guard M.28 Skytruck in 2008. They have been unable to return due to the recession and the lack of budget for such a trip. This year I tried for the Swedish AF Test Centre Sabreliner. The OC of the Test Centre was interested in attending with the aircraft but sadly the Swedish AF Air show at Linkoping fell on the same weekend as our event and the Sabreliner was wanted for their static. They said they would try for next year.”
Another criticism levelled at this year’s event was the fact that some aircraft attended the RAF Families’ Day on the Saturday but departed before the public event on Sunday. This led to some very disappointed people on the Sunday. Again, this was not something that the organisers were necessarily aware of before the event. “When we contact Squadrons/Operators we always promote the weekend as a two day event. The Saturday caters for the service families and the Sunday focuses on the Charity Photocall. We advise that the preferable day to arrive is the Friday and departure on the Monday but if that is not possible we accept arrivals on the Saturday morning and departing Sunday afternoon from 1600hrs onwards.
“After getting confirmation from operators sometimes circumstances change and operational requirements dictate that aircraft either cancel or curtail their appearance and have to leave early. The DHFS Griffin for example that came on Saturday morning announced that he was now also booked to do a Help for Heroes event in Worcester and had to leave around 0900 Sunday thereby missing the Photocall. I presume this is a symptom of the recession - whereas before a separate aircraft would have attended both events, the costs were kept down by utilising one aircraft to do two events over two days.”
There is little doubt that the current recession has had an effect on the level of participation, with many air arms being forced to scale down their training plans. “The German Army Bo105s which normally attend are not allowed to fly over water at the present time and their flying hours have been cut dramatically.”
I think it is fair to say that this year’s event was a victim of previous years’ successes. The fact that in previous years, the organisers have been able to attract such interesting aircraft in such numbers means that the enthusiasts attending the event expect every year to be as good as the last. However, with the European economy in its current poor state it is simply unrealistic to expect attendance at the same levels as previous years.
That the organisers were still able to not only put together an event, but also attract some rarely seen aircraft to it means that they deserve a lot of credit. The Photocall is a specialised event, designed to appeal to serious enthusiasts rather than an airshow with a more general appeal and there were certainly plenty of fascinating participants.
Planning for next year’s event will no doubt start soon, along with planning for the four smaller night shoots planned for the next 12 months, but this task is unlikely to get any easier: “This year’s has probably been the hardest to pull together since we started.”
There is however no doubt that Phil and his team are still very much up for the task and will provide us with many superb events in the years to come.
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