Cosford celebrated the 90th Anniversary of British airshows and the 70th of the Battle of Britain. The Red arrows spring accident had delayed their training program and Cosford substituted the best civil display teams to compensate, including Aerostars, Yakoslevs and Blades. At the eleventh hour the Reds display was re-instated, making for a very full 6 hour flying program.

The day started off in brilliant sunsine, but by mid afternnon the rain started. The displays of the day were all in the worst weather – including the welcome return of the Harrier GR9, the BBMF Spitfire & Typhoon synchro-pair and a formation of Hunter and F-86 Sabre.

Pic by Paul Johnson

Pic by Paul Johnson

Pic by Paul Johnson

The flying program collapsed as the heaviest rain bands crossed Shropshire and the 45,000 strong crowds started a mass exodus from the airfield throwing crowd control in disarray. The UBAS crew bus took an age to negotiate the traffic and we reached the Twisters on the flightline as a tiny gap appeared in the storm clouds and briefly the rain stopped. Our offer to display was gratefully accepted and we made best use of the improved conditions. The UK Airshow Bible (CAA CAP 403) states a minimum cloudbase of 800ft for our type of display, but as we are permitted down to only 100ft above ground, we can comfortably perform our full display with a cloud base of around 900ft.

Pic by Paul Johnson

Pic by Paul Johnson

Pic by Paul Johnson

That said, it was particularly unpleasant displaying in the rain and the strong winds around the storm cells, but we kick started the last few display acts that could display in the low cloud base.

From Cosford we made the Transit to Long Crendon via Pershore for the Throckmorton airshow in aide of the Help for Heroes (H4H) charitiy. With the advancing weather, the 15,000 strong crowds had all but disappeared by the time we arrived, and the rain was not too far behind.

Thanks must go to Bill Hartree for Cosford and Brian Lewis for the invitation at Pershore.