Air show chatter

The British weather was the cause of much frustration for air show pilots, crews, organisers and visitors today attempting to get to RAF Cosford and Redhill Air Shows. Low cloud, poor visibility and drizzle had display teams and visiting pilots stranded at home airfields and alternate landing strips.

My flying club display team were split between three locations with pilots either unable to take off or forced to abort flights due to heavy bands of rain. After 90 minutes sat at Headcorn Aerodrome, waiting for the cloudbase at Redhill to lift from 700ft to something sensible, my friend and I decided my only option was to drive.

As commentator for the Aviation Festival supporting Kent Surrey Sussex Air Ambulance I needed to get myself at the event to keep the crowd updated and engaged to avoid mass exodus before the weather was due to clear early afternoon.

Great communication between the show organisers, display pilots, air ambulance crew, volunteers, musicians, caterers, AV team and resident flying clubs meant I was able to keep the chatter going and (I hope) the enthusiasm.

In the end we had two aerobatic demos and a Spitfire display that was breathtaking. I respectfully introduced the pilot and aircraft on his 'run-in' to the display then allowed his graceful manoeuvres and the sound of the Rolls Royce engine to provide the narrative.

After the Spitfire landed an older gentleman came up to me to thank the aerodrome for putting on a great show. It's been almost a decade since Redhill's last show and hopefully this will be the first of an annual event.

The gentleman told me he was based at Redhill during World War Two as an engineer and recalled how they would watch the Spitfires fly over the ridge towards the aerodrome. He was so touched by the display he was holding back the tears. I was moved by his reaction.

A few minutes later a young girl called Coco, aged I guess around 4 or 5, came rushing up to me and said: "When can I meet the Spitfire pilot?" I dutifully took her over to Pete and introduced her as a VIP guest who insisted on meeting him. Her purple and blue glittery-painted face lit up.....another pilot or engineer is born I thought.

Air shows are great days for touching the lives of people of all ages from all walks of life and it's all the more satisfying when poor weather at the start of a day improves later on. Even better still when the show is in aid of a charity so deserving as the Air Ambulance.