Yeovilton Airshow

Location : Surrey Spotter Watch Member : No

Hi Digz

Ref the weather, yes heres hoping it blows through or out but soon! I suppose the most accurate we will get will be by midday tomorrow i.e. less than 12/24 hours forecast.

Re allowing time to get onsite, any feedback on that post???

Location : Surrey Spotter Watch Member : No

Forecast has not changed much so far Crying

Oh well, it was showers the day I chose for FIA 2008, showery during the Jersey airshow last year as well and I was hoping for a good weather airshow for the only major one I have arranged to go to for this year. If only light showers then OK but it does muck the day up especially if they manage to put the better/best 'up' during the showery period. Oh well, thats UK weather for you Opps

you never know it could be an "underpromise & overdeliver" situation ~ Thumbs Up

if it happens to be good on the day Wow

Subject: Yeovilton Airshow 2009-07-09, 13:25

I am arriving by Road from Herefordshire, what is the best route keep on M5 and come off at 25 or come off at Bristol and go through and down A37?

It is my first time at yeovilton so need to ensure my journey is nice and easy as going to be on the road for about 2 1/2 hours,

Location : Surrey Spotter Watch Member : No

From the pdf I downloaded off the site, does this help until any more in the 'locale' knowledge chip in. Thumbs Up

AIR DAY 2009 TRAFFIC PLAN SUMMARY
A303 Public from Exeter

Subject: Yeovilton Airshow 2009-07-09, 13:36

Thanks Box Brownie, i must have a closer look at the atlas to try and ascertain the best route, i had seen this on the web but i think best if i wait for the locale knowledge to filter through Embarassed

Location : Surrey Spotter Watch Member : No

Ref : more 'locale' knowledge. Yes, we are staying down near Sherborne and apparently the journey time is max 20 mins (I wish) across country but really would welcome some feedback as to actually how long it could take as thinking it would be good to get parked up by about 9am if possible?

Location : Bristol Spotter Watch Member : No

Hi Box Brownie, I missed the post about traffic. Im coming down from Bristol. Its about an hours drive. In the past, although the gates dont open until 9 we have aimed to get there for about 8 to queue (a great british past-time) Even at 8 the queue can be quite hefty. In order to get there for 8 I want to be away from home no later than about 7:00 ideally I want to leave about 6:45ish. In the past at this time the traffice has been ok with me picking up a trail of cars around Podington but its all been free flowing. I would seriously suggest thinking about getting there earlier than 9 espceically if you want a good position at the crowdline.

Subject: Re: Yeovilton Airshow 2009-07-10, 15:42

WELL DONE to Yeovilton for getting THREE Rafales (One displaying) which to be honest with turns like it did looked to put the Typhoon to shame, nearly stopping in mid air while turning hard and for approach, just basically dropping like a stone but keeping it in control by the air under those big wings.
Well Done by getting the Vulcan which came in and made everyone under the approach cack themselves...
Well Done for getting the Spanish AV8Bs
Well Done for the German Atlantic ELINT
Well Done for the 7 F-16s, yes, you heard it right.
Well Done for the Frecce's
hmm... and a rather special Assault Demo, something everyone was taken by surprise by... with two Lynx doing a show we haven't seen before along with two Harriers and two Hunters involved.

Pity it was crap weather (again)

Subject: Re: Yeovilton Airshow 2009-07-10, 15:50

Wonder if the Show Organiser at Waddo is watching!!!! Opps

hope you guys ahve a great day! Thumbs Up

Location : nottingham Spotter Watch Member : no

Razor61 wrote:: WELL DONE to Yeovilton for getting THREE Rafales (One displaying) which to be honest with turns like it did looked to put the Typhoon to shame, nearly stopping in mid air while turning hard and for approach, just basically dropping like a stone but keeping it in control by the air under those big wings.
Well Done by getting the Vulcan which came in and made everyone under the approach cack themselves...
Well Done for getting the Spanish AV8Bs
Well Done for the German Atlantic ELINT
Well Done for the 7 F-16s, yes, you heard it right.
Well Done for the Frecce's
hmm... and a rather special Assault Demo, something everyone was taken by surprise by... with two Lynx doing a show we haven't seen before along with two Harriers and two Hunters involved.

Pity it was crap weather (again)

I wasn`t there but from reports I have read I thought it was 8 !!! F16`s.....shame I dont need any of them Crying

Location : swansea Spotter Watch Member : no

Just got back from there and had a fantastic day.......Well done to all at Yeovilton Clap

Subject: Re: Yeovilton Airshow 2009-07-11, 04:43

Razor61 wrote:: Regarding the Assault Demo. They put on two rehearsals on Friday, one around midday and the other at 6pm and to be honest, it is something you would not forget in a hurry.
If you are at the 27 end like 99.9% of the people are (regardless of the wind direction) then you get all the helicopters come over your head at tree top height doing tactical assaults and underslung loads.
At some points you will get numerous Lynx coming at you from all directions, its a case of not knowing where to look...its like flies all over the place its that cool.
On the show day, for the assault demo, the front of the crowd line is the place to be if you want some fantastic opportunities as at the end there is an explosion, you really REALLY need your cameras ready as you could bag one of your best photos ever... if you catch it right.

The only issue for this years arrivals is going to be the parking....

As for the crowd line question.... you are facing the sun all day but that doesn't stop some brilliant photos being taken.
Atleast one or two hangars are open (with helicopters inside open to the public) and a large amount of based Lynx are on line-up.

It is (if nothing cancels) looking to be the best show in the UK (other than RIAT) considering last year Waddington took all the aircraft and barely anything turned up at Yeovilton. This year its the other way round, Waddington was sparse, Yeovilton is getting some great acts including a UK debut.

the assult demo very impressive
the event as a whole well worth a friday afternoon and 20£

well done to all the organisers
phil

Subject: Re: Yeovilton Airshow 2009-07-11, 04:45

the flares were quite a surprise

it was 8 F16 6 klu and 2 belguim

well done indeed

Razor61 wrote:: WELL DONE to Yeovilton for getting THREE Rafales (One displaying) which to be honest with turns like it did looked to put the Typhoon to shame, nearly stopping in mid air while turning hard and for approach, just basically dropping like a stone but keeping it in control by the air under those big wings.
Well Done by getting the Vulcan which came in and made everyone under the approach cack themselves...
Well Done for getting the Spanish AV8Bs
Well Done for the German Atlantic ELINT
Well Done for the 7 F-16s, yes, you heard it right.
Well Done for the Frecce's
hmm... and a rather special Assault Demo, something everyone was taken by surprise by... with two Lynx doing a show we haven't seen before along with two Harriers and two Hunters involved.

Pity it was crap weather (again)

Subject: Yeovilton 2009-07-11, 07:50

Got there at 0750, had a brilliant day luckily found a place to park almost straight away, Rafales' were awesome, F16s brilliant, Air Assault (1st time for me) was really enjoyable, great to see the Hunters and Harriers take part and of course the Lynx's shooting off their flares was unexpected, Frecce were great as usual damn that smoke was lingering and thick!, was going to leave at 5.30 until someone said the Vulcan was due and after Waddington i didnt believe it but decided to stay incase, then got a text saying the Vulcan was airborne out of Waddington, and surely enough it was gracing the skies around Somerset, it was a great sight, but has seemed to have lost that magnificent groan it used to make as it used to climb away from the crowd when it did its wingover, but never the less a treat to see. Great to see the Spanish AV8B Harriers turn up (didnt think they would) and of course the French Navy Rafale (which i think replaced the Super Etendard??) or did that arrive this morning? damn that was noisy i was right under it when it came in!, thanks to the Atlantique which was great to see doing a low flyby before the rain set it.

Overall awesome day which put RIAT arrivals last year to shame (i think anyway lol) roll on next year, only took us 1.45 to get there, which is good going.

Nice to meet quite a few locals which amazingly were not members of Fighter Control!!!!!

Thanks Yeovilton and see you next year!

Admin Location : Abu Dhabi

Good to see my old stomping ground pulling out all the stops for this 100th year of Naval Aviation - gutted I couldnt be there, Yeovilton arrivals is one of my favourite days of the year.

Shame about the weather - again!

Subject: weather 2009-07-11, 08:28

The weather wasnt as bad as Fairford last year!! lol, a few showers, but i think we escaped the worse of it, hope they are having a good day for the show, they deserve it.
I shouldnt forget the local teams, the Blue Eagles were good, damn they can throw that Lynx around!! very impressive.

Location : Sheffield Spotter Watch Member : no

er... you telling me the Etendards didn't arrive, the Vulcan didn't fly and it rained? Think I'm of the same opinion as last week's Waddington show then - glad I didn't bother!

Any shows actually gonna turn out good this year? I'm starting to wonder Roll Eyes

Subject: Re: Yeovilton Airshow 2009-07-11, 11:07

Blackcat1 wrote:: The weather wasnt as bad as Fairford last year!! lol, a few showers, but i think we escaped the worse of it, hope they are having a good day for the show, they deserve it.
I shouldnt forget the local teams, the Blue Eagles were good, damn they can throw that Lynx around!! very impressive.

The weather was great for RIAT last year,it was the amount of rain that fell earlier in the week that was the problem.Plenty of sun on the Saturday and Sunday.

Location : North Dorset Spotter Watch Member : no

I would be grateful if any one could tell me if the vulcan is night stopping at Yeovilton, and leaving Sunday morning ? I was at Yeovilton for the arrivals on Friday but left before the harriers, some of the F16s and vulcan arrived. As the forecast is good for tomorow I am thinking of going to have a look tomorow morning as I am only 35 mins away.

Regards
Rural Outpost

Subject: Re: Yeovilton Airshow 2009-07-11, 12:22

The Vulcan never displayed due to going tech so not sure when it's leaving...

Subject: Re: Yeovilton Airshow 2009-07-11, 12:45

Those who attented the arrivals day were treated to something not even in the airshow.
The Assault Demo was completely re-profiled this year.
Instead of the Navy Lynx taking part they did their own little show beforehand called the "Maritime Lynx Display" and although they did their usual slinging it around altogether, Yeovilton put in the Antarctic Lynx for viewing pleasure as well as the Arctic Camo Commando HC4 (and the Retro Seaking for the flypast). And at the end they had two Lynx do a pull up and fire off loads of Flares (in the arrivals) but they never did this in the show today. Nice to see it on the arrivals though!

Also the Blue Eagles Lynx didn't do its display, it peeled off from the Apache and sat down near th Tower... so again, the arrivals day had the full rehearsal.

What didn't display today due to weather?

Rafale (1/4 display)
Typhoon
Harriers
Hunters
Falcon 20s and Seahawks (did flypast)
Vulcan
Dutch F16 (orange one)
Chinook (it took off and buggered off!)
Plus a few others of course.

Rafale pilot really pulled out the stops to try and display for us all, he told Tower he was going up to see what he could do with the 500ft cloud base...sure enough, he pulled some high energy turns complete with fluff but the cloud was so low he had to call it off... Bravo for him getting airborne to TRY and please us all.... the Typhoon called it off way before (or was he scared Razz

).
To be honest, that Rafale is in my opinion the most manoevreable aircraft i have seen display at Yeovilton. The turns do look to be much tighter than the Typoon and the way they just cut off power and drop like a rock to finals but under full control due to the air under the wings is amazing. Also, i've never seen a conventional jet powered aircraft 'stop' like that does for finals... coming to approach speed from 400 kts in an unbelievable time. It's like it just got pulled to a slow speed by a magnet.

About the Vulcan, the good thing is, when it went tech, they pulled it from the old SHAR ramp to within the crowd line, in an enclosure for it, so it was surrounded by the people wanting to see..... some a little too close as its left wing went over the barriers and thus peoples heads but they all smiled.

What was a moment for me was a conversation i overheard by two very old gentleman with one who obviously only went there to see the Vulcan and for whatever his reasons got really emotional. He said to the other, with a tear in his eye.... "this might be the last time i ever see the Vulcan and i really wanted to see her fly".

Overall, today was marred badly by the weather, if it had been sunny, i think this years Yeovilton airshow would have been one of, if not the best airshows in the UK in 2009.
For FLY NAVY 100, Yeovilton really did pull out the stops to get what they managed to get. And the new assault demo was fantastic (so was the old one).

But, it is true that the Vulcan seems to be the most 'wanted' aircraft people go to see fly. When they announced it would not be flying, half the crowd did a *waddo* and left. Without seeing the Demo, of which unfortunately half way through the rain really did come down.

Cheers to all that made the arrivals a good day (Morley and co, Nige, Nick, Graham *pikey* and Alfa et al).
And thanks to Morley for the lift on Friday and Nick for Saturday... very much appreciated.

Location : Lincs Spotter Watch Member : no

Shes fixed now, I don't know for sure but I thought I heard at Waddington if all went according to plan [and she made Yeovilton] she was staying at there until she departs for RIAT next friday

Subject: Re: Yeovilton Airshow 2009-07-11, 12:51

someone on PPRUNE stated that she only had 5 landings left before a major repair job to replace one undercarriage leg.

so i hope that they are at least saving the remaining landings for Fairford if that is the case.

Geoff

Location : Valley Forge, Blandford Forum

I must endorse what Razor61 says and congratulate the organisers this year. The arrivals day and show beat my expectations (whereas Waddo didn't).
The FAF Rafale/s were the best but mention has to be made of the Freece who are able to display under any cloud base and give a whole new meaning to the phrase 'in your face'. At least to those of us Pyle Lane.
Roll on next year.

Freeman
Blandford Forum

Location : LHR Spotter Watch Member : No

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8146132.stm