| For the first time the Kemble Air Day became the Kemble Air Show with it being extended over the Saturday and Sunday rather than the one day of the past. What effect did this have? Well certainly it was much easier to move around on Saturday and entry and exit was totally hassle free. Sunday however was totally different, due possibly to “The Vulcan Effect”, with the big ‘tin triangle’ appearing on that day only. At 0815, when I arrived, getting was very easy. But by 1000, queues were stretching so far – talk was of as far as Cirencester in one direction and halfway to the M4 in the other – that the organisers had to open more gates to deal with the influx.
On with the show. Kemble can always be guaranteed to provide an excellent mix of displays but with the emphasis firmly on classic jets. Highlights? Well there were many. The first participation at the show by the USAF with several passes each day from one of Mildenhall’s KC135R tankers. The now traditional ‘special formations’ with Delta Jets black Hunter formatting with the Rolls-Royce owned PR.XIX Spitfire on both days and a separate flypast on the Sunday featuring the Hunter with the Meteor NF.11. The RAF as usual gave big support to the show with a VC10, Hercules C130J, A109 and Hawk on the ground and in the air with Typhoon (which treated the crowd to several departures and landings for displays at other venues, as well as the full display from Scott Loughran), Hawk in its stunning colour scheme and the Red Arrows on the Saturday, returning after missing last year whilst on their North American tour. A last minute addition was the display from the Beech King Air from RAF Cranwell which made an interesting comparison with Andrew Dixon’s Percival Pembroke. The Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight brought along a three-ship on Saturday with the Dakota, Spitfire Vb AB910 and Hurricane LF363. In addition to the Hunter and Meteor already mentioned, the classic jets included a pair of Venoms from the Air Atlantique Classic Flight and a pair of Jet Provosts (T4 and T5A) and Golden Apple’s rare F86A Sabre which is possibly in its last year of operation in the UK. On Sunday, the Avro Vulcan XH558 drew its usual avid attention from the massive crowd with what appears to be a more purposeful display in this its second year of operation. However, for many the undoubted star was the glorious De Havilland Sea Vixen. Flown by Matt Whitfield, CO of the naval Flying Standards Flight at Yeovilton, this display provides plenty of noise and nice tight turns to give the spectators a real feel for this wonderful aircraft. A lunchtime unannounced highlight which caught many on the hop was a taxi run by one of the three Canberra PR.9s currently located at Kemble. This was XH134 still carrying the special tail markings it wore when with 39Sqn. Apart from the RAF, other ‘service’ participation in the flying display included the Army Air Corps ‘Blue Eagles’ with Lynx and the menacing Apache, and in this the 100th Year Of Naval Aviation, the ‘Black Cats’ with their almost balletic show. They arrived in a flag waving formation with that bug like predecessor of the Lynx, the Westland Wasp HAS.1 flown by Don Beattie and this made for an interesting photograph as they overflew the Sea Vixen which was taxying in with wing folding. Away from the military or ex-military aircraft, civilian participation came from the locally based Ultimate High with a formation of two Bulldogs and two Extra 300s and an array of microlights which are also based at Kemble. Team Guinot were very busy with their pair of Stearmans as they were also displaying at Margate. The display at Kemble was handled by wingwalkers Danielle Hughes, from Malmesbury and ‘new girl’ Stella Guilding. After their show, Danielle jumped out to be replaced by Sarah ‘Sahara’ Tanner before flying off to Margate. Pilots for the weekend were chief pilot Martyn Carrington and Dave Barrell. It seems that no self respecting air show these days is complete without the amazing Team Swift with Guy Westgate flying a stunning routine in his glider – including rolling whilst still attached to the Piper Pawnee. Now a full part of the team is Pete Wells with his lovely little Silence Twister. Often with glider routines there is always that long gap between take off and the actual release, but not with this display with Pete showing of the ‘mini Spitfire’ to great effect in an excellent aerobatic display with this aircraft that is powered by only an 80hp engine. The Swift Team have become outright stars at many air shows and always receive rapturous applause from the public. So that was yet another hugely successful Kemble Air Show for another year. It was a shame about the weather which had been forecast to be good the whole weekend but ended up cloudy and windy, but this didn’t spoil the show, other than limiting many displays to ‘rolling’ rather than full. A delightful ending to the show came on the Sunday afternoon when at the Fly2Help stand, Jason Phelan handed over a cheque for a phenomenal £6904.18 which he raised over a weekend in April. He was piloted in a total of 15 aerobatic aircraft at Kemble, Compton Abbas, Goodwood, Shoreham, Headcorn, Halton and Sywell doing a full aerobatic routine in each. Jason is a non-pilot and this was the first time that he had done ‘aeros’. Now matter how hard the pilots from Ultimate High, Team Guinot, The Yakovlevs, Goodwood Aero Club, The Real Flying Company and The Blades tried, at no stage was a ‘bag’ even touched let alone used! The smiles on Jason;s face at each venue showed the thrill of it all. This amazing sum will go a long way to assisting Fly2Help in its aims of providing a ‘life boost’ to those who need it. For full details of the charity and Jason’s challenge, please click on the banner on this and every page of this website. Many congratulations to Ronan Harvey and Glen Moreman and their army of helpers and volunteers. It has already been announced that the 2010 show will again be over two days on 19th/20th June. See you there! |