Spec me an airshow over summer to go to

Minusorange said:
Don't go on the Friday, enjoy the Saturday and Sunday and make plans to see the 100 plane flyover in July ?
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Possibly... But it does mention other things on the Friday too. eg: "Joining them will be an historic P-51D Mustang and a state-of-the-art, stealthy USAF F-35A Lightning II that will perform a joint display as part of the US Air Force Heritage Flight."
 
So my wife is buying me some tickets for the Air Tattoo this year, probably Friday and Saturday. Any pointers would be welcomed? I would aim to stay local, but appreciate how I might avoid queues of people and what are the best viewing options?
 
Housey said:
So my wife is buying me some tickets for the Air Tattoo this year, probably Friday and Saturday. Any pointers would be welcomed? I would aim to stay local, but appreciate how I might avoid queues of people and what are the best viewing options?
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They frown upon people firing flares at the pilots, so there's that.
 
Housey said:
So my wife is buying me some tickets for the Air Tattoo this year, probably Friday and Saturday. Any pointers would be welcomed? I would aim to stay local, but appreciate how I might avoid queues of people and what are the best viewing options?
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Get there early. Walk found static then get comfy just before flying starts.
As you are there two days then maybe focus on static one day and display the other.
I usually aim to get there at 7.30.
 
vanandjuanunited said:
Tried non enclosure a couple of times but always go to viewing village these days. Much better experience for the extra money. No queuing for loos and food queues shorter etc.

Recommended airshows
RIAT
Flying Legends
Shuttleworth Evening Airshow.
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That’s for the advice. Will get a village ticket then.
 
vanandjuanunited said:
Tried non enclosure a couple of times but always go to viewing village these days. Much better experience for the extra money. No queuing for loos and food queues shorter etc.

Recommended airshows
RIAT
Flying Legends
Shuttleworth Evening Airshow.
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I will try to find some premium tickets as I don’t like to mix with, you know, people. I know they have sold out but will work my network to sort something.:D
 
So going to Fairfood airshow tomorrow (Sunday).

We've planned to use the Swindon park a ride.

Anyone had any experience of the park and ride there? A wise move or a waste of time? ie: Do you save a lot of time getting a bus out of the parking carnage there?
 
We bought the coach ride with our tickets. Basically turn up at Swindon bus station, show them your RIAT ticket. And get on the coach. (There’s one every twenty minutes)

Had an amazing two days so far. Special guest fly over today of a B2 Spirit was one of the highlights for me ! Also the su27 flanker ! Beast of a plane ! Also, the f35a and f35b are incredible, even if they do look like an over fed f22 :p they did the hovering today with the f35b! It was amazing. Edit. Another thing, it’s loud, ear protection is recommended.

Edit. It’s HOT out there, seriously. Yesterday caught me out. Was fairly cloudy and a bit rainy. And still got burnt a fair bit. The tarmac airstrip is a massive sun trap
 
Greebo said:
Ouch it’s a 4.5 hour drive for me so that would mean setting off at 3am. Hate early starts.
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Was about the same for me but took nearly 6hrs to get to cheltenham for an overnight stay then took 8hrs getting back

The m6 is has so many roadworks it’s ridiculous, and not just the short ones but the works that go on for miles and miles, and most have 50mph average speed limits too

It may have been quicker heading up towards Durham then over to the west
 
Tauren said:
We bought the coach ride with our tickets. Basically turn up at Swindon bus station, show them your RIAT ticket. And get on the coach. (There’s one every twenty minutes)

Had an amazing two days so far. Special guest fly over today of a B2 Spirit was one of the highlights for me ! Also the su27 flanker ! Beast of a plane ! Also, the f35a and f35b are incredible, even if they do look like an over fed f22 :p they did the hovering today with the f35b! It was amazing. Edit. Another thing, it’s loud, ear protection is recommended.

Edit. It’s HOT out there, seriously. Yesterday caught me out. Was fairly cloudy and a bit rainy. And still got burnt a fair bit. The tarmac airstrip is a massive sun trap
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I thought the f35a was a poor show , to quote someone behind me when the commentator said that the f35a was the ultimate in new stealth technology, "it’s so good you can’t even see the ******* thing"

It kept flying on for miles then out of sight after passing the show then when it reappeared it was a short pass over with no special manoeuvres, unlike the others where they tried to contain most of the performance in sight or near to the runway

The B1 and the su27 are amazing looking planes, it’s hard to believe theyre so old

The su27 display was awesome, the bit where they basically stall it in vertical then recover is breathtaking

One of the prop planes came in to land was rolled over a fair bit heading towards the ground, people around me were gasping thinking it was about to crash, although the commentary was saying at the time it was a manoeuvre designed to shake the crowd, which it did indeed


Shame the big fly past was cancelled, maybe a contingency plan would have been an idea seeing as they had an idea of the bad weather a few days in advance
 
NeilFawcett said:
So going to Fairfood airshow tomorrow (Sunday).

We've planned to use the Swindon park a ride.

Anyone had any experience of the park and ride there? A wise move or a waste of time? ie: Do you save a lot of time getting a bus out of the parking carnage there?
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I did the park and ride a few years ago, it’s ok but I’d rather drive and set off early, too many people etc and I took a load of stuff in the car in case I needed it, rather than lugging it about all day
 
JBuk said:
I thought the f35a was a poor show , to quote someone behind me when the commentator said that the f35a was the ultimate in new stealth technology, "it’s so good you can’t even see the ******* thing"

It kept flying on for miles then out of sight after passing the show then when it reappeared it was a short pass over with no special manoeuvres, unlike the others where they tried to contain most of the performance in sight or near to the runway

The B1 and the su27 are amazing looking planes, it’s hard to believe theyre so old

The su27 display was awesome, the bit where they basically stall it in vertical then recover is breathtaking

One of the prop planes came in to land was rolled over a fair bit heading towards the ground, people around me were gasping thinking it was about to crash, although the commentary was saying at the time it was a manoeuvre designed to shake the crowd, which it did indeed


Shame the big fly past was cancelled, maybe a contingency plan would have been an idea seeing as they had an idea of the bad weather a few days in advance
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True. The f35 could have shown off its thrust vectoring a little bit more than it did.. but, it was by far, the loudest aircraft at the show. (When it takes off, Christ, it’s the loudest thing I’ve ever heard haha)

B1 was parked up as static :p b2 did a fly past with 2xf15’s. in any case, incredible machines.

I definitely agree, the stall manuevre that the su27 can do is incredible, I just can’t believe how old that aircraft is. (And actually how large it is compared to the f16 for example)

This is my first air show, and I can definitely say I’m satisfied with what I’ve seen ! Although.. I really do want to see an f-14 tomcat in action. (Amongst other 80’s/90’s planes. ) (edit. Migs like the 21, 31 etc)
 
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Tauren said:
We bought the coach ride with our tickets. Basically turn up at Swindon bus station, show them your RIAT ticket. And get on the coach. (There’s one every twenty minutes)

Had an amazing two days so far. Special guest fly over today of a B2 Spirit was one of the highlights for me ! Also the su27 flanker ! Beast of a plane ! Also, the f35a and f35b are incredible, even if they do look like an over fed f22 :p they did the hovering today with the f35b! It was amazing. Edit. Another thing, it’s loud, ear protection is recommended.

Edit. It’s HOT out there, seriously. Yesterday caught me out. Was fairly cloudy and a bit rainy. And still got burnt a fair bit. The tarmac airstrip is a massive sun trap
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So makes more sense catching hte Swindon park and ride, than trying to park there itself? ie: The coaches don't have to fight through the 25,000 cars trying to leave?

PS: Tomorrow is suppose to ben very very hot with no cloud cover. We're even taking a golf umbrella for periodic cover :)
 
NeilFawcett said:
So makes more sense catching hte Swindon park and ride, than trying to park there itself? ie: The coaches don't have to fight through the 25,000 cars trying to leave?

PS: Tomorrow is suppose to ben very very hot with no cloud cover. We're even taking a golf umbrella for periodic cover :)
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The coach is definitely better than trying to park yourself. I mean. The amount of cars we just saw trying to leave were stuck in gridlock. Meanwhile, the coach got us back to the bus station in about half hour.

No cloud cover ?? I’m not usually a sun tan lotion sort of person. But yeah, it’ll definitely be needed :)
 
Tauren said:
The coach is definitely better than trying to park yourself. I mean. The amount of cars we just saw trying to leave were stuck in gridlock. Meanwhile, the coach got us back to the bus station in about half hour.

No cloud cover ?? I’m not usually a sun tan lotion sort of person. But yeah, it’ll definitely be needed :)
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Cool! Thanks for the info!

And you find parking at Swindon OK? ie: Plenty of spaces?

Yeh, tomorrow is going to be cooking! - https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/gcnwpkvps#?date=2018-07-15
 
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