Sywell Airshow - on the ground

This was a new event to the air show scene effectively put together by Richard Grace of Air Leasing and it filled a gap created by the latest demise of Flying Legends. The line up looked quite promising and from what I had seen of the airfield in the past the venue looked OK as well. My main concern was the relatively minor roads around the airfield that needed to be used for access and, for this reason, I elected to travel up the day before and stop over in Wellingborough. Traffic on the day actually seemed to be well handled but as it had taken over 4 hours to do the journey the night before I was glad for a leisurely start. As an added bonus my good mate Gaz was at the show as well.

So, the show itself: The flight line was open to enable closer views of the aircraft and at £5 was reasonable. My only gripe here was what potentially seemed like a good idea of allowing access around both sides  of the aircraft meant that photo opportunities were limited unless you wanted hordes of people wandering around in the back of your shot. In many instances it was actually better to get some distant shots later in the day after the flying had finished.

The flying was very professional and the content good although not up to the level of Flying Legends in days gone by. There were a couple of no shows as is often the way and the 727 creeping up unannounced for its only pass was a shame but, after a grey start, the weather was grand and it turned in to an enjoyable day.

It remains to be seen if the event will happen again. Would I go if it does? Maybe! Having to stop over, and really this needs to be for a couple of nights, makes it expensive and whilst that is not strictly an issue I would need to consider the content and what other shows might be on elsewhere.

Anyway, to start off the visual side here are some shots of participants on the ground. Many of them flew of course and I will post up some of the flying action as well.