As a big fan of small and intimate airshow venues such as Old Warden, Little Gransden and Sywell, this August allowed me to add another great little airfield to that list in the form of Rougham, with the 2011 Air Display and Classic Car Show. Just like those previously mentioned, this WWII B-17 base is a grass airfield with a curved crowdline – perfect for high impact displays as aircraft come ‘round the bend’.
The show would also prove to hold many firsts for me! I’ve always regarded Rougham to be far away from me, which is why I’ve never gone before, but in actual fact it is only just over an hour up the road and anyway it is always a pleasure to visit the wonderful county of Suffolk with its gently rolling countryside.
Rougham is always a two day show, and this year was billed as the biggest show ever staged at the airfield. The line up on Sunday looked like the pick of the two days with more aircraft and most importantly for me, a generous smattering of vintage types. Saturday had a Folland Gnat Pair, T-28 Fennec and Hangar 11’s Hawker Hurricane IIb whereas Sunday boasted Pitts Duo, Dragon Rapide, two Spitfires, two Mustangs and visitors from Lakenheath.
The entrance fee pleasantly surprised me too, at £13 for an adult and £11 concession. The £26 per person two day ticket including camping, an evening bar and entertainment advertised on their website is definitely something I’ll bear in mind for next year - I expect the beer tent would be overflowing with Suffolk’s finest beverages! I wonder how rebranding to Global Ale Review would go down…
I instantly found the relaxed country fair atmosphere on the showground to be very enjoyable. Walking through from the car park to scout out the crowdline and set up camp took me past all the attractions. The funfair was positioned very well, nestled away at the back of the field. The main show ring had a parade of tractors chugging round and there were row upon row of vintage vehicle to inspect.
Just short of the crowdline were myriad of local food and craft stalls – these being something I would like to see more airshows promoting. We found a quiet little section of the crowdline just to the left of the emergency services, amazed that no one had snapped it up. There was no tannoy nearby so we were not able to hear the commentary, which we didn’t actually realise until halfway through the show - it actually added to the relaxed approach to the day.
The show started somewhat early – actually an hour to the fore – with the ‘surprise guests’ from just down the road at RAF Lakenheath. These were not, as many had hoped, the 81st FS A-10 Warthogs currently based there on exercise from USAF Spangdahlem in Germany but instead a pair of F-15C Eagles performing two flypasts and bringing a dose of afterburner as the only jets on the bill for the day.
In stark contrast to the Eagles I got my first glimpse of Brendan O’Brien’s crazy flying spectacle, incorporating into the routine something he can only do at Rougham, flying his Piper J-3 Cub through the gap in the row of Poplar trees that stand on the perimeter of the airfield. Later in the day the Piper L-4 Grasshopper equally showed off the agility of the Grasshopper/Cub type in a very tight piece of flying.
An element I enjoyed seeing interspersed into the main flying display was the remote control scale model aircraft. Having never really witnessed any serious model flying before it was a real eye opener, with both of the jets being rather large and having retractable undercarriage; they didn’t sound too bad either! Both displays were flown really nicely and clearly a lot of thought skill had been put into it – but they were incredibly hard to keep in the cameras viewfinder!
The crowds were treated to a host of paired aerobatic displays by the Redhawks, RV8tors and Pitts Duo – providing a good comparison between the different types, all with varying amounts of power, with the Redhawks' motor gliders performing graceful arcing manoeuvres and the Pitts bringing their high energy routine. A solo aerobatic display was provided by Nigel Willson in his Yak 52, a routine that really has to be seen to be believed.
Moving onto the ‘heavy metal’ we had Hardwick Warbirds’ two P-51D Mustangs, Marinell and Janie. I absolutely love watching Maurice Hammond and Dave Evans performing in these two, always kicking off with some formation passes before breaking and taking turns at holding centre stage, with a great balance of aero's and close topside passes. For me you’d be hard pushed to find a more entertaining Mustang piece, especially if it doesn’t include my favourite P-51, Marinell!
Seeing Janie careering around the Suffolk skies was a sad reminder that Bill Price, who flew her during World War Two, passed away recently, bringing home what it’s all about with warbirds for me – the legends that flew them into battle, and the realisation that year upon year the numbers of veterans is dwindling. Soon the torch will lie entirely in our hands to keep their memory alive for future generations.
Marinell was sporting a new signature on her nose; that of the lady the aircraft is named after. It recently transpired that Marinell was not in fact named after Capt. Bradford V. Stevens’ sister but his love interest at the time, Mary Anel Stokes-Shuffleton – check out the Hardwick Warbirds website for an interview filmed recently. This signature now matches Bill Price’s signature on Janie’s cowling – Hammond’s warbird outfit really does have history at its core.
Towards the end of the Mustangs’ reign of the sky Marinell flew off to the West to meet up with and escort Boeing B-17 Sally B in over the former ‘Fortress base. Small venues really are the place to see Sally B displaying – you really feel the thundering sound of the Wright Cyclone engines and the curved crowdline allows for some rather nice topsides. Pyrotechnics were even incorporated into the display, with the grass erupting into a line of explosions as “the ‘B” came through for her last pass. The Messerschmitt Me-108 display also made use of pyrotechnics in a simulated airfield attack, signalled by the blaring of an air raid siren, along with anti aircraft fire and explosions on the ground from the strafing runs.
Unfortunately I missed the majority of the displays by the Great War Display Team ( with their Sopwith Triplane, two SE5.a and two Junkers CL.1 replicas) as well as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flights' Spitfire Mk.Vb while queuing for food. We had hoped for a pair of BBMF Spits, performing one of the duo routines, which many regard as the most dynamic of the BBMF displays, but it was not to be. This didn’t matter however, as later in the day we got a surprise.
Shortly after the RV8tors had landed there were a few shouts and heads began to turn to the left to see what all the fuss was about to find a Spitfire bearing down with the sound of the Merlin really winding up! This turned out to be Dan Griffith in the Kent Spitfire and herein followed one of the best Spitfire displays I have ever had the privilege of witnessing – made all the more impactful with the classic shape in bold outline against the distant black storm clouds!
Towards the end of the show Aces High’s Douglas C-47 Skytrain, which landed on during Saturday’s display, took centre stage. Probably the largest aircraft to have operated from the airfield since the B-17s during the war, the crew gave a magnificent performance showing the flying characteristics of the Douglas type that we seldom see. Finally the Boeing Stearman pair from Old Buckenham closed the show in style. I had thought it a bit of an odd choice for a finale, with the C-47 just before being the obvious choice, but it became apparent that it was the pair’s final air display and they bowed out in fine style.
After the flying had come to an end the hoards of visiting aircraft began to depart and the Yakovlev Yak 11 that had been on static roared to life and taxied out, bringing the final ‘first’ of the day for me having never seen one fly before! It wasn’t as loud as I had thought it might be - it's a deceiving beast in that respect - but the pilot kept it low on takeoff which proved great for photos.
The only downside to the day that I could see was the leaving! The queues from the car park were taking 30 minutes or so to get through. Of course, this type of small venue will always struggle with the high volume of traffic and I’ve experienced similar jams at Sywell last year. Short of cutting through some hedges or building a new road or two the problem is not one that is easily helped – encouraging the public to stay on the show ground to enjoy the attractions after the flying has ceased could help to stem the rush a little, but in reality queues will never be fully erradicated. Anyway, we lost more time taking the wrong dual carriageway slip road and going through the centre of Cambridge on the way home!
If you would like to discuss using any of our imagery or feature content please contact us.