The weather had held so far! - and although the ominous dark clouds had been passing overhead all morning, they had very kindly held on to any rain within. As the queue for lunch grew by the minute it provided a good opportunity for those of us more interested in aircraft than food - to get really close to the array of parked hardware and talk to some of their pilots and crew.

Adrian guides in the Lynx and Gazelle of   "The Blue Eagles." In fact, the entire display team had been due in but, that old enemy of  air shows large and small - Low cloud base - had ruled out the full team display. We knew however, that the two singletons would give an excellent account of themselves and indeed they did.

Lunch over and now to the flying displays - and yes - you've guessed it. Down came the rain in sufficient quantity to seriously curtail the planned flying program. I commandeered a parked Jeep which provided cover from above but virtually none from the left or the right.

 

The original plan at this point, was to have included a flying display by Robs Lamplough and Pete John in the Spitfire and Mustang, but by this time the cloud base was even lower and the rain was of the much more persistent variety. Needless to say - quite understandably, we had to fore-go this item.

The "Alouette" had taken rather a liking to Manor Farm airstrip and had refused to leave, requiring a little coaxing from its pilot and the ever present, hard working Adrian.

 

The flying program therefore moved onto the final item of the day.   One of the world's most successful and useful light turbine helicopters, the Hughes/McDonnell Douglas/MD Helicopters 500 series began life in response to a US Army requirement for a light observation helicopter. Ours would be flown by James.

Using a traffic Cone - James gave a display that demonstrated both the maneuverability of this little helicopter, and his own superb piloting skills.

The upright cone was placed on the grass, and James' task was to knock it over with the landing gear and then pick it up with the end of the ski - fly it around for a circuit or two and return it to the ground. This he did admirably. He then hovered carefully just inches off the ground and carefully stood the cone back on its base.

At 16.00 hours, tea and cakes were served to all by Mrs. Lamplough and her team of helpers and the opportunity was taken then to present a bouquet of flowers as a token of appreciation from the Ox & Bucks Branch of the AAC Association.

And so ended a truly marvelous day - in spite of all that the weather threw at us. My thanks to Robs for the invite and the freedom to roam. To James and Adrian for all their exceptional help in keeping me informed of what was to come. To the caterers for an excellent meal and to Alan, Eileen & Mark for guiding me in the direction of relevant information after the event. Thank you to all the pilots and crew that were kind enough to give me space and time to take so many photographs throughout the day. and last, but by means least - thank you to the Ox & Bucks Branch of the Army Air Corps Association.

 

 

 

Photos : Ken Tarbox

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