Post by graham on Jul 9, 2017 15:41:31 GMT
The wife and I left home at 8.10am and had an easy ride down the A303 with just a short tail back at Sparkford where the two westbound lanes converge into a single lane. We arrived at 9.20am to find that the parking was in a huge field, from where it was a good 12 or 13 minutes walk to the base gates. Security was tight with all bags being checked. Weather was warm and humid but quite overcast during the morning, but in the early afternoon, the clouds broke up and it got blisteringly hot.
The static display was superb, much more than I thought there would be, plus our hosts had also opened up four of the hangars which contained lots of Merlins and other aircraft. The flying display was tremendous, the Jordanian falcons were amazing as were of course the Red Arrows.
We decided to leave just as the Patrouille Suisse were finishing the show, in an effort to beat the outgoing queues, but it wasn't to be. It was chaotic to say the least, with hundreds of cars all pushing in to get onto the single track that led from our car park. The traffic marshalls were useless and made the situation worse. We eventually got onto the A303 75 minutes after getting back to the car.
A great show though, so here are some shots of the multi aircraft flying displays to start with, I'll post more tomorrow
IMG_8325 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_8329 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_8335 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_8336 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1391 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1276 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1271 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1169 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1166 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1158 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1150 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1147 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1146 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1137 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1120 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1114 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1113 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1112 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1107 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1106 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1105 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1094 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1092 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1081 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1074 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1066 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1064 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
The static display was superb, much more than I thought there would be, plus our hosts had also opened up four of the hangars which contained lots of Merlins and other aircraft. The flying display was tremendous, the Jordanian falcons were amazing as were of course the Red Arrows.
We decided to leave just as the Patrouille Suisse were finishing the show, in an effort to beat the outgoing queues, but it wasn't to be. It was chaotic to say the least, with hundreds of cars all pushing in to get onto the single track that led from our car park. The traffic marshalls were useless and made the situation worse. We eventually got onto the A303 75 minutes after getting back to the car.
A great show though, so here are some shots of the multi aircraft flying displays to start with, I'll post more tomorrow
IMG_8325 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_8329 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_8335 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_8336 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1391 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1276 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1271 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1169 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1166 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1158 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1150 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1147 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1146 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1137 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1120 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1114 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1113 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1112 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1107 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1106 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1105 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1094 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1092 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1081 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1074 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1066 by Graham Brown, on Flickr
IMG_1064 by Graham Brown, on Flickr