Located a handful of miles to the north-east of Northampton, Sywell last staged one of its airshows in 2008, and quite a bit has changed at the airfield since then - most notably the completion of the hard runway which did play a part this time around.
As an airshow, Sywell has many fantastic selling points, not least the great variety in the display line-up which you can guarantee will include a handful of acts that even the most hardcore of airshow goers will probably only have seen once or twice that season - at most, an Old Warden-esque style dog-leg display line, and a grass runway that ensures lots of up close and personal action from the arriving and departing aircraft during the day. And so to Sywell Airshow 2010.
On Thursday night while down at Dawlish I happened to catch the weekend forecast and, horror of horrors, Sywell looked certain to take a real soaking. So when I checked again on Saturday morning I was delighted to find that the picture had changed so drastically! The band that was pushing across the country was hanging further to the south than had originally been expected, leaving Sywell expecting a largely pleasant and sunny day - exactly as it would turn out.
In the knowledge that advanced ticket sales had already surpassed the numbers passing through the gates in total at the 2008 show, we arrived early at about 0930 - half an hour before the gates opened. The skies were perfect and we were three or four rows from the front in the car park. As we crossed the road and on to the airfield side there was a tangible sense of excitement about what the day would bring as we waited for the turnstiles to swing in to action.
After what seemed an eternity we were finally allowed to enter and made a bee-line straight for the crowdline. If there was one criticism of the venue it would be that the display line is a tad short, but, at the same time, it's also that that enables those displaying to show off their topsides to such great effect. My advice, get there early and bag your spot!
Aircraft had been arriving for the whole time we waited to get in and it wasn't long before a stream of traffic started to pass in front of the lens. The organisers had arranged a tail-dragger fly-in the day before and I did wonder whether the weather around the rest of the country had been responsible for some of the arrivals having delayed their journeys by 24 hours. Regardless, these on the day arrivals always add to the charm of this and similar events and help to maintain interest during the build-up to the flying display proper.
As mentioned earlier, Sywell users now have an approximately 1000m hard runway at their disposal and the first aircraft to make use of it were the Air Atlantique Classic Flight Dakota and Anson; the pair arriving together in formation, and with the former wearing bona-fide Air Atlantique colours. As nice as KK116/G-AMPY looks in her RAF Air Transport Command scheme, it made an extremely pleasant change to see G-AMRA out and about. Now if only Classic Flight could find a window in the test schedule to display G-ANAF in her red and black colours, complete with probe and white radar bulge…!
The one negative about the hard is that it is a long way away from the crowdline, but the positives its presence brings, for me, far outweigh the negatives; for instance, the presence on the ground, of Mark Hooton in the Vampire Preservation Group's Vampire T.11, WZ507/G-VTII. Much to the surprise of my dad who grew up just eight miles away in the 1950s, Brooklands Aviation overhauled over 300 Vampires on the airfield around that time!
With the lunch period offering the public the opportunity to partake in a flightline walk, Classic Flight also used the window to allow members of the public to take a taxi ride around the airfield in the Dakota. As Commercial Director, Steve Bridgewater, explained during the commentary, it's still the organisation's long-term aim to make the necessary modifications to their Dakotas to allow them to put the type back on their Air Operating Certificate (AOC), meaning that they'll once again be allowed to fly passengers in the type. There are, however, a number of significant financial hurdles that need to be overcome first.
The Grace family played a fairly significant role in the flying display with mother Carolyn, flying the Spitfire, son Richard, making up one half of the Pitts Duo and daughter Olivia providing commentaries for both.
Indeed it fell to Richard, along with Dave Puleston, to open the show with the Pitts Duo; an act I witnessed for the first time here. Both Richard and Dave have extensive airshow experience behind them with both having previously flown with the now defunct Dukes of Cassutt formation team, and that experience had clearly done them no harm. Their new project looked particularly slick, precise and was very well flown, though I'm not too sure about the dark purple element of the colour scheme.
One of the unsung heroes of the UK airshow circuit is The Great War Display Team. Displaying at Sywell with replicas comprising of Se5a, three Fokker DR1 Triplanes, two Junkers CL1s and a Nieuport 17, their routine takes the shape of an aerial battle and for the entirety there's always something going on right in front of you - to the point where you almost don't know where to look! They're a tremendous tribute to the brave souls who fought, and, in many cases made the ultimate sacrifice, during World War I.
Classic Flight delivered one of my favourite sights of the whole season when the Dakota and Anson teamed up for a spectacular paired, topside pass to open their account, which they then followed up with a run in straight at crowd centre before breaking left and right respectively and going in to individual displays. Just wonderful!
Anyone who's attended a Sywell show before is certain to have been wowed by the rotary antics of SkyTech's MD, Martin Lovell. Flying a 'borrowed' Hughes 500, Martin pirouetted his way up and down the crowdline before employing his now famous party trick of knocking over a road cone and scooping it up on the end of his skid - taking precision flying to a whole new level. Not content with that, Martin then put the cone back down on the ground and flicked it back upright, again using the skid. It's a quite superb exhibition, yet it still remains an act that I've only ever seen here; somewhat perplexing given what a massive hit it is with the crowd, regardless of how many times they've seen it before!
Sywell's resident Miles Messenger paired up with Peter Holloway's Miles Falcon to produce another seldom-seen sight, while a further first for me came with the Fournier RF-4 Redhawk pair - a progression of Bob Grimstead's solo powered-glider routine.
One item which took me by surprise was the Rans S-6ES/TR Coyote II, a product of the "Build a Plane Project", built by Air Cadets and Air Scouts across the country and sponsored by the Brooklands Museum. Not only was the display a lot easier on the eye than I was expecting, the commentator - who sounded just like Justin Lee Collins - managed to get some great interaction going between the crowd and the pilot 'Stu', with both parties audibly heard shouting at one another as 'Stu' flew past!
It did get a mention earlier, but I simply can't gloss over the wonderful display put on by Mark Hooton in the Vampire Preservation Group's T.11. I'm not sure I've ever seen her displayed with more impact, and I think it's fair to say that both Mark and fellow regular pilot, Matt Hampton, are displaying her more effectively almost display on display. What a wonderful looking machine she is too. Keep it up chaps!
I couldn't help but think that the 'air race' was perhaps the one item on the programme that represented a bit of a wasted opportunity. The three aircraft that took part were the magnificent Mew Gull replica, the Real Aeroplane Company's Aeronca 100 and Melvyn Hiscock's Rearwin Cloudster - all of which are pretty special aircraft in their own right - but sadly all we got to see from them was straight line flying in a racetrack pattern. While I appreciate that is the crux of what air racing is all about, a few slightly different passes would've added so much more….
Dennis Neville's Flying Circus and its barnstorming routine is another act that always goes down well with the public. Residing at RAF Henlow, the ensemble for Sywell comprised Chipmunk, two Tiger Moths, the Queen Bee and the Jackaroo, and, while much of the winning formula has remained the same, the flour bombing has made way this year in favour of dive-bombing football instead! The pilot of each aircraft took turns to launch a ball from the cockpit, aiming as they did so to beat the 'big gloved' goalkeeper guarding the portable football goal that had been set up. A couple did indeed manage to do just that!
Making one of its first post-restoration forays away from Old Warden was Peter Holloway's Fieseler Storch which showed off its remarkable short-field performance. It really is a wonderful restoration and, according to commentator Ken Ellis, is the only Argus powered example flying in Europe. While not the first time that I've photographed a Storch in 2010, it was the first time I'd seen this one. She looks magnificent and is a real credit to the team that worked on her.
The forecast had predicted that cloud would roll in during the afternoon and by 1530 - a little later than anticipated - it did just that. With the sun now moving round in front, it could be argued that it was almost welcome, and, at times, it provided some rather dramatic backdrops, most notably for the BBMF Lancaster, Peter Teichman's 'Hurribomber', Carolyn Grace's Spitfire and Dave Evans in Maurice Hammond's P-51 'Janie'.
It was to the huge credit of Pete Wells and Guy Westgate who'd been scheduled to put on their Swift Aerobatic Display Team routine at Sywell, that they travelled north with the Twister Duo instead. This after fellow team member, Mike Newman, had been injured in an accident in the Swift glider at Shoreham earlier in the day. On behalf of the whole GAR team, we wish Mike a speedy recovery.
By now the programme had become extremely fluid as aircraft battled - or didn't - their way up from Bournemouth and Shoreham, and, as things transpired, the final two acts of the day were Sywell residents, The Blades, who were followed by The Breitling Wingwalkers. The slackening wind sadly meant that both team's smoke hung in the air rather longer than ideal, making photography difficult, but it did also coincide with a few brighter moments.
Just a couple of weeks before the show itself the organisers had taken great delight in confirming the attendance of the Vulcan, and it's almost certain that the bumper crowd that turned out would've contained a significant number who had made the journey specifically to see her. It was somewhat ironic then that the change in weather that had saved Sywell's own bacon ultimately caused the cancellation of XH558 herself. Operating from Bournemouth for the duration of the seaside resort's own Air Festival, low cloud on the south coast meant that the Vulcan remained firmly rooted to the deck. Operating on a permit to fly (PtF), the Vulcan is only legally cleared to operate under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) - that is generally where the pilot/crew are able to visually see whether they're going - so there really was nothing that could be done about the situation.
Once the announcement of her cancellation was made at what had turned out to be the culmination of the display, a mass exodus ensued, which in turn led to utter carnage in the jam-packed car parks (several of which were overflow car parks only opened because the main one was full). Indeed, if there was anything to take the shine off the day it will have been the 'traffic management' on the way out, which was nothing short of farcical - and that from a third party company allegedly specialising in event management!
What happened then should not be allowed to detract from what was otherwise an almost faultless day out for the 9000+ in attendance. It's been a while since I've heard almost every display act roundly applauded either, and, in the instance of the Great War Display Team, that extended to each and every one of their aircraft. I doubt that Sywell in the modern era has been able to boast such a high gate figure, and you'd have to hope that that in turn will translate into a very healthy donation being made to the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.
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2010-09-05 - PhilCatleugh
I agree completely with this comprehensive write up.
It was a very well staged flying display with some great variety and skilled flying.
The position made it excellent for photography.
The traffic problem was certainly evident, but due to the calm nature of the wonderful 10,000 people that went it didnt seem an issue to me.
It just shows that a large number of people aren't a problem when they are so well mannered.
A credit to the organisers and a credit to the crowd for making it quite a special day.
Pardon the plug but I got some great shots there.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phileaf92/sets/72157624787783444/
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