Leuchars - Scotland's Major Air Show

At last!  A Leuchars Air Show with good weather; in fact outstanding weather, warm with 8 octals of blue and definitely CAVOK.

Went with my mate Jim, who knows more than a thing or two about aviation in Scotland, and enjoyed a terrific programme.  By far and away the highlight was the Vulcan XH588.  After last year’s Vulcanic anticlimax when it didn’t fly but did two fast taxis it finally burst into the sky to give a most stately display.  The last time I saw XH558 was on its farewell tour at Biggin Hill about 18 years ago.  Then it made the Earth shake. Yesterday was far more elegiac and the sound track was perfect.  On take off they were playing the theme from the Bourne films, Moby’s Extreme Ways, which has the chorus “And then it fell apart”.  I said to Jim that I hoped it wasn’t an ominous sign but fortunately it was for the Gripen which took of next and landed safely.

Other highlights included four different airforces and BAE systems striving to show who had the best Fourth Generation Fighter: Gripen, Typhoon, Fulcrum, F-16 or Rafaele.  The Typhoon won with the Belgian F-16 and the Polish Fulcrum tied for second.  And who had the biggest balls? – definitely the Fulcrum driver.  It was disappointing that despite an F-15C Eagle from Lakenheath being there, the USAF didn’t take the opportunity (they never do) of showing the Johnny Come Lately’s who was top dog.

The Reds were there with a full nine-ship high display.  They were immaculate and must surely be one of the best in the World.  Despite the wind their formation discipline was as good as I’ve seen – must be the new female member spurring the rest on to give their utmost. New aircraft for me were the Metoer NF11, the Sea Hawk and a super A-1 Skyraider.  So all in all it was a great flying display.

But it was not all good news.  There are now far too many stalls and not enough loos.  And parking, despite promises of a new dawn was still an utter shambles.  It took 3 hours to reach the exit.  Now I know a lot of people come and Leuchars approaches are not designed for it but the RAF needs to do much better.  I hope the Station Commander thinks longer and harder about the problem for next year than he did for this year

So overall 8/10.  You can see some snaps on Flickr.

Back