The Twister Duo - Team Blog

RAF Lyneham Families Day and East Kirkby RAFBF Airshow

Guy Westgate — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:25:11 +0000

The Twister Duo were honoured to display at the very last Lyneham Families day before the RAF base closes, joining the Swift Team for a 15 minute combined display slot.

Andy Graham had organised an impressive line-up at Lyneham, included the Breitling Wingwalkers, Vulcan, The Blades and Aerostars.

Pic by Paul Johnson

The day started wet, but as the rain drifted northeast , the showers grew increasingly isolated and we kept a largely dry run to the second venue of the Day, East Kirkby. On landing after our East Kirkby display we were met by the same ground crew team that had looked after us at Pribram in May. They had brought some score cards so thanks for the ‘6’ Nige – still better than the ‘5’ in the Czech Republic!

Stars of the day were Gerard Cooper in his CAP 232, the Panton Brothers’ Lancaster which completed several ground runs and a magnificent trio of Mustangs; Janie, Big Beautiful Doll and Marinell.

Pic by Paul Johnson

Thanks has to go to Matt Robain for ferrying a Twister home, Adrian Hatton for crewing at East Kirkby and Paul Johnson for taking some unique photographs at Lyneham.

Elvington Wings and Wheels 2010

Guy Westgate — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:22:44 +0000

The Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington staged a ‘Wings and Wheels’ event, reminiscent of the very popular shows of a few years ago.

Pic by Pete Wells

As well as a two hour airshow, the show fully embraced the ‘Wheels’ content, with Monster trucks, motorcycle stuntmen and jet bikes. The evening entertainment was down to the petrol heads who were competing for the wheelie speed record, clocking speeds of over 130mph on one wheel and 200mph on two.

The airshow featured flying displays from a traditional mix of piston aircraft and taxi runs by the Museum’s active jet aircraft; Nimrod MR2, Victor K2 ‘Lusty Lindy’ and Blackburn Buccaneer. The Victor did a few high power accelerations and demonstrated the destructive power of jet engines by ripping up part of Elvingtons 3000m runway.

Pic by Pete Wells

Thanks must go to Barry Neal for the invitation, and letting us trial our new cameras over the runway to capture some unique pictures.

East Fortune, Sunderland, Windermere and Bray Airshows

Guy Westgate — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:06:53 +0000

The Twister Duo had a challenging schedule planned for the weekend, starting at East Fortune, home to East Lothian’s national Museum of Flight in Scotland.

Almost 10,000 spectators watched both our Swift Glider and Twister Duo displays under cloudy skies, and for the first time the Twisters were permitted to operate from the disused runway at East Fortune, now used as a go-cart track.

Pic by Guy Westgate

Thanks must go to Matt Robain, who ferried the G-RIOT north to Edinburgh, and then took the S1 Swift glider back to England.

From East Fortune we transited south, past RAF Boulmer for a quick flypast to help celebrate their Families Day, and then on to Newcastle for the 22nd Sunderland International Airshow.

Our schedule after Seaham was timed to the minute and thanks to a quick refuel at Fishburn Airfield we were ahead of schedule, but a weak warm front was causing misery in the Lake District and Bill Hartree, Windermere’s Flying Display Director reported that nothing had flown all day. Reluctantly we repositioned to Newcastle Airport, and conceded our Team’s first weather cancelation.

Pic by Guy Westgate

Pic by Pete Wells

Pic by Guy Westgate

The Sunday brought better weather and we started the day back at Sunderland. Previous years have seen poor weather with meagre crowd numbers, but with better forecasts this year, the press reported 1 Million spectators over the weekend along the Seaburn Seafront.

After another refuel at Fishurn, we headed for the Lakes and Windermere for the most spectacular setting of any show in UK. This year celebrated the 10th anniversary of Bowness show but the display area was even more constrained than previous years, with instruction not to overfly Belle Isle. The weather conditions overcast and grey but fortunately dry and the display fitted the display area perfectly.

Pic by Ian Nicol-Heap

Pic by Ian Nicol_heap

From the Lake District, we dropped into refresh our smoke oil at the Lakes Gliding club before striking out across the Irish Sea towards Dublin and the 2010 Bray Air Spectacular.

The Airshow featured local legends Eddie Goggins and Dave Bruton and headline act – the Su26 Matadors.

After the display we dropped into the grass strip at Newcastle, just south of Dublin for fuel and a cup of tea. We were treated like royalty, so thanks to Gerry Humphries and the gang for making us so welcome. Highlight of the stop however was the local pest control – a beautiful Harris Hawk kept at the airport to keep the sparrows out of the Hangars.

After our busiest weekend to date, with 5 Duo displays and another 3 Swift Glider displays completed, it was time to go home. A welcome 15kt tail wind helped us across the Irish Sea and Welsh mountains in record time.

RNAS Yeovilton International Air Day 2010

Guy Westgate — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:00:39 +0000

The Twister Duo were one of only three Civil teams invited to the Yeovilton Airday, marking the 70th Anniversary of RNAS Yeovilton. After 2 years of bad weather, the sun shone on the 28,000 strong crowd.

Pic by Paul Johnson

The Air Day lineup was truly impressive with the Vulcan giving possibly the most spirited display todate. There were several military formation teams, with the Red Arrows, Jordanian Falcons, the Spanish Patrulla Aguila and lots and lots of helicopters.

Firing of flares over land was banned for a few years but this year saw 3 teams indulge. The Danish and Danish F16s both released flares, as did the Lynx helicopter. Yeovilton was also significant for the scale of the pyrotechnics in the Navy’s role demo, the wall of fire burnt almost a ton of fuel in a second!

Pic by Paul Johnson

From Yeovilton the Duo rounded off the day with 2 private displays in Leicestershire and another in Essex.

Particular thanks must go to Matt Robain for ferrying a Twister, and Paul Johnson for crewing at Yeovilton.

Odyssey 2010 and Air League Day, Bicester

Guy Westgate — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:00:15 +0000

The Twister Duo had a busy weekend, starting at Windlesham House School in West Sussex for ‘Odyssey 2010’. The festival venue was a sheltered valley tucked into the South Downs and featured displays from the Vulcan, OFMC Mustang and the new Redhawk Duo RF4s, As well as hundreds of school children. In the evening there was music from the Bootleg Beetles, a laser show and fireworks.

The next venue was a private show in Leicestershire and finally back to Bicester airfield. The Air league provides sponsorships to get youngsters flying, and for the last few years have held a flying day at Bicester, with over 40 young members given the chance to take the controls of a glider, many of whom had little flying experience prior to the day.

Thanks must go first to Southdown Gliding Club for staging the Duo, also to Andy Perkins for the invite to the Air League day.

Luxembourg Airshow 2010 – Bitburg, Germany

Guy Westgate — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:15:11 +0000

The 2010 Luxemburg airshow was held across the boarder at Bitburg, Germany – a former front-line NATO base used during the Cold War. The line up was truly international, with most display aircraft coming from France, Germany and Switzerland including many types and teams that rarely make it across the Channel to UK, like the only flying PZL-106 Kruk ‘Raven’ Ag-plane in Europe, Junkers Ju52 and Noratlas Nord2501 transports.

Ian Gallacher traded Pawnee for Twister and ferried G-RIOT to Germany for his first ever flight across the Channel to allow Guy to aerotow the Swift Team’s glider to the show.

Pic by Ian Gallacher

Due to the tragic accident at Ramstein in 1988, German airshow restrictions are extremely restrictive with formation aerobatics limited to 500ft and distant display lines but despite the Twisters diminutive size, we filled the sky with movement and smoke in perfect blue skies, watched by Matthias Strieker, the Twister’s designer who brought his latest Twister #20 over from Paderborn-Haxterberg to enjoy the show.

Crowd numbers were down on Sunday, perhaps due to the scorching weather forecast but more likely the German-English football match of the World cup?

Weston Park Model Show, Cotswold Airshow and Babbacombe Sea Picnic

Guy Westgate — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:18:20 +0000

19/20th June gave both the Twister Duo and Swift Glider teams the biggest challenge yet, planning the logistics of 8 displays across the Fathers Day weekend.
Saturday started cool with a strong northerly wind at Weston Park for Wrekin Model Clubs annual show, now in its 20th year. The show surpassed even last year’s event with some awesome models and more than 8000 spectators over the weekend. The highlight of the show was yet again Ali Mashinchy, who flew several displays, including a vectored thrust Typhoon, a 175mph “Opus” jet capable of pulling 40’g’ square corners and an enormous half scale model of Team swift’s very own MDM-1 fox, complete with scale colour scheme.

Pic by Phil Allen

Pic by Mike Jorgensen

Pic by Karl Drage

The ‘Demolition Derby’ of a dozen warbirds models screaming around Weston Park’s mighty oaks was improved this year by pyrotechnics, bombs and AAA. It was a dual to the last one standing as in the 10 minute slot most of the fighters were lost to the pyros, trees, the ground or mid-air collisions.
After our first combined display with Twister Duo and Swift Team at Weston we took the transit down the Severn River to Kemble, and from the Cotswold Airshow, we continued south to the Charity Sea Picnic on the Babbacombe Bay cliffs at Torquay. The Trinity Sailing Trust takes hundreds of disadvantaged children to sea for a week’s personal development training in classic sailing trawlers.

Pic by Paul Johnson/Flightline UK

Sunday by comparison was a relaxing schedule with only 2 venues. We started Fathers day with separate displays at Weston and enjoyed perfect airshow weather, with deep blue skies and light breezes. Kemble was just the same, with Guy taking over flying of the S1 Swift for the displays.

Pic by Ian Gallacher

Huge thanks must to go to Mike Newman, who stepped up at the last moment to display and ferry the Swift, freeing up Guy to fly with the Twister Duo. Also to Steve Bishop at Weston Park, Glen Moreman at Kemble, Ralph Rayner in Torquay.

RAF Cosford and Throckmorton Airshows

Paul Johnson — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:12:33 +0000

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

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

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.

Heart of Scotland Airshow (Perth) and Killinkere Jamboree

Paul Johnson — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:11:50 +0000

The Heart of Scotland Airshow held at Perth commemorated the 100th anniversary of the first Scottish International Flight Meeting. The Red Arrows withdrew after a training accident earlier in the year, but whilst Punchestown in Ireland cancelled their centenary celebrations, Gill Howie and her team soldiered on to organise a varied flying program with a mix of RAF aircraft, vintage, home grown and display acts imported from across the boarder including the Brietling Wing Walkers and the Vacher Hurricane.

Pic by Paul Johnson

Peter Wells and Guy Westgate ferried the Twister Duo north on Friday evening and enjoyed the very best of the United Kingdom – taking in the Peak District, Pennines and Southern Uplands towards Edinborough and Perth.

Saturday’s display benefited from almost perfect flying conditions – sunshine and bubbly cumulous giving the photographers some great backdrops.

An occluded weather front hung along the spine of the Country on Sunday however, delaying the start of flying with low cloud and frequent showers. The Twister Duo kicked off proceedings with a flat display and then departed mid afternoon as cloudbase rose to the dizzy heights of 800ft.

Pic by Paul Johnson

Pic by Guy Westgate

The front caused only a few miles of careful flying, before the clouds parted to ease our transit past Prestwick and Stranraer on the way to Ireland, for our display at the Killinkere Jamboree.

We displayed at the festival site, nestled in the lush fields of Cavan County and then dropped into a farm strip at BallyBoy to refuel and take in the hospitality. It was all over too quickly before we had to cross the Irish Sea once more on the way home.

The weekend really showed the flexibility of the Twister. Two display venues in two counties on the same day! Thanks must go to Gill Howie and her team in Scotland, and also Pat Clarke, Gerry Humphreys, Eddie Goggins and Dave Bruton in Ireland.

Aero Expo 2010, Pribram

Paul Johnson — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:17:12 +0000

Pete and Guy chased a weather front through Germany into Eastern Europe on Thursday, landing at the former Soviet fighter station at dusk. Paddy and the GA Buyer staff reported that it had rained every day for the last month, with more bad weather forecast.

The AeroExpo was back to its original location, 50km from Prague with about 60-70 exhibiter aircraft. The Shark looked the most exciting new design, but top marks had to go to Mamba-Air who jammed 2 glamour models into its tiny CH-7 Compress helicopter – they must have been very good friends by the end of the 3 day event!
Philipp Steinbach, brains behind the Sbach 300 was exhibiting his new 2-seater Sbach 342, and gave Pete some advise on ducting air for oil coolers and shared some of the design detail of his amazing planes.

Pic by Christoph Holighaus

Pic By Christoph Holighaus

Pic By Guy Westgate

Several hundred aircraft arrived each day but the show was not without incident, a Mooney landing wheels up and weight-shift microlight crashing departing during a display. The impressive thing was the short time it took the fire service to pull the aircraft clear of the single runway.

The flying acts were surprisingly innovative, including an auto-towed vintage glider, Phillip in the awesome Sbach, gyrocopters, paragliders and microlights, an L39 Jet and father and son team with a formation act of SF-260 Marchetti and a radio controlled model.

Pic by Guy Westgate

Pic By Guy Westgate

We displayed 4 times but decided to beat the next active weather front with an early departure on the last day. 20 minutes out Pete suffered an engine failure due to an oil pump drive but safely landed at Plasy gliding club. He swapped planes and continued to Volkel for our afternoon display in Holland, arriving at home at the same time as Guy, who had hitched a ride back from the show site in a C182 into Stapleford Aerodrome. The next 50 hours was a 1700 mile driving marathon via Czech Republic and UL Power in Belgium for a replacement engine.

Pic by Guy Westgate

Pic By Guy Westgate

Huge thanks has to go to Paddy and Alex from GA Buyer, nothing was too much trouble. Also Lionel, Pascal and Patrick from UL Power for pulling the stops out to diagnose and fix the oil pump engine snag.