Despite a few showers on the drive down to
RAF Waddington air show and the fifteen minute monsoon as we progressed through the checkpoints into the parking area, the boy and I have managed to stay reasonably dry all day. By 11am there was no more than drizzle and by 12:30pm the precipitation had ceased altogether.
We'd followed TomTom's shortest route that brought us into the village from the West and we headed down Mere Road and
Manchester Road, maintaining a straight line until we managed to park not 50 yards from the front and bang in the middle of the runway. To our right on the old cross runway was a B-52H and just in front of that was the reason for our trip, the Avro Vulcan XH558 attending her first air show in 15 years after a mammoth
restoration project. I couldn't quite believe how lucky we were, having almost the same view as the Vulcan Trust VIP area.
The air show stayed pretty much to schedule and was action packed to say the least. A departing Typhoon, heading for the competing
Yeovilton air show, was spectacular even in the rain. The first few displays were limited by the cloud base being not much more than 1500 feet, the Red Arrows being the most noticeable casualties. We had a good scout around in the hangars, found a great example of a British Leyland Allegro and had a clamber around a Shackleton cockpit. By the time we emerged into the daylight once again it was bright and blue was beginning to spread across the sky.
Shock and awe was the order of the afternoon. The French AF Mirage 2000C was stunning, a Chinook followed by a Royal Navy Merlin both did things helicopters just should not be able to do and a second Typhoon accompanied a Spitfire before blasting around the heavens in a superlative demonstration of the meaning of agile. The Spanish CASA 101 display team put on a good show but by then everyone was waiting for the main event.
Almost perfectly on cue, the sun started to shine down from an uninterrupted sky. Vulcan departed in age old style by giving it a huge amount of beans to climb steeply and deafeningly. She lurked in the background as a Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane put on a great show. Vulcan then slotted in behind the Lancaster and pursued it on a circuit of the airfield - a scary sight to have in your mirrors!
A quick flash over her open bomb-bay doors preceded her signature gear-down go-slow along the display line before once again finding the on switch to lurch skywards in immense fashion. On landing she also managed her usual party trick of decelerating with her nose wheel high off the ground until she was at taxiing speed. Just before shut-down the pilot ran up the engines to 80% with the brakes hard on to give us one last treat and shake. To be honest, it was all a bit too safe and short but I suppose they're wanting to be ultra careful with the old girl, so new from her rebirth.
Many started their journey home once Vulcan was safely down but that was a mistake. They missed a "tactical scenario" enacted by a Chinook, an Apache, an AWACS E-3 Sentry and four utterly terrifying Tornados as they dropped smoke bombs and generally caused sensory mayhem. A Lynx helicopter display followed and to finish, the first Typhoon returned from its other engagement and took advantage of the now clear skies to rampage around without limits.
Amazingly, most of the 1127 photos (3.26GB!) from my DSLR are in focus, reasonably well exposed and actually have a decently sized subject. Admittedly there are a few duplicates in there but I reckon I'll have about 800 keeps. With the snaps from the compacts we had with us, I fear a storage review is going to have to be on the cards.
All in all, a brilliant boys day out. I wonder if I could get away with returning for day two tomorrow...
