Patriotic Bronco!

 One of the aircraft able to take off and land at Ragley Hall was the OV10 Bronco of the Bronco display team. It was sporting platinum jubilee markings on the tail fins and, as was revealed once in the air, on the roof as well.

Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan

 This was a training aircraft in WWII fitted with a Norden bombsight and prepared crews for bombing missions in bigger aircraft such as the B17 and B24.

This is a fairly basic kit and although it has recessed panel lines some detail is not great and in my kit the decals were pretty awful but maybe they were older than I realised. Still, the end result bears a good resemblance to the real thing.

Red Arrows

Another popular attraction at the Midlands Air Festival was the the Red Arrows Team. For displays, as pilots are apparently needed elsewhere, the Reds are flying a 7 ship formation this year so we weren't sure what to expect. Cloud cover was also on the low side and even Red 10, the commentator who flew in by helicopter, was unsure what level of display would take place. In the event Red Leader called a full display and, apart from the initial loop that was briefly lost in the cloud, the display was as good, tight and professional as we have come to expect over the years.

The Red Arrows are now the only RAF operator of the T1 version of the Hawk but back up aircraft are still being prepared and converted for display so hopefully they will be about for a while yet.

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

Always good to see the BBMF and Friday was no exception. It was also a pleasant surprise as the pre-show schedule only ever referred to the Lanc so to have the Hurricane and MkII Spitfire along as well was great.

Army spotters

First display item at Ragley Hall was the Auster but before it went up we saw it's American 'cousin' arrive in the shape of a Piper Super Cub. It didn't display but was good to see in its Italian markings. I'm not sure that I have come across it previously although it is UK registered and, I believe, based Sywell.

Midland Air Festival

As I mentioned last week, this week's highlight was a visit to the Midlands Air Festival. This was my first visit to this event held at Ragley Hall and i was quite impressed. The flying line up, as noted below, was not bad at all and included the Red Arrows, Sally B, the BBMF, Roll Royce Spitfire and Mustang amongst others. We stopped over about 10 miles away but access was easy, with no queues and ample parking and we had no problems getting out either. There was a decent sized crowd but plenty of room to pitch your chair and the expected food and souvenir outlets were well represented. On top of that the setting was really nice giving the opportunity for some tree lined back drops to some of the displays. We got lucky with the weather as, despite some forecasts being unfavourable, the rain held off until right at the end of the day although the breeze was unfortunately a little too brisk for a planned balloon launch. Sadly the grey light we had for some of the day wasn't great for photography but that the way it goes. Overall though it was an event I would consider doing again. So as an indication of the backdrop I'll start with some shots of the Tiger 9 Team.