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Southend Air Show
28th May 2006 |
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So, where to go in Essex on a rainy bank holiday weekend in May?
Well the Southend air show of course! It's free and there's ice-cream, oh and
lager. Independently, Shane, Nick and Rob headed south on the
Sunday. Nick and Shane joined forces for Shane's daughter's birthday (Happy
Birthday Sam!). Rob and Mrs. Rob headed for the pier, but got there too late and
spent the day wandering up and down the sea front narrowly missing Shane and
Nick's entourage several times. Still the rain held off and a spiffing show
was put on by the lucky chaps and chapesses in the air. |
The Kursaal |
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Sea King and stormy skies |
| The show kicked off and Rob and Mrs.
Rob realised they were the wrong side of the pier, so we up root and set off to the
other side. Bye bye Kursaal, hello Sea King. |
No programme, no idea! |
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Sally B |
| We soon realise the value of a
programme. "What's that airplane?", "No idea!". We recognise the Sally B though.
The following Saturday she is waiting to depart at Duxford as we touch down in
our Piper single. |
Mustang |
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Touch your toes |
| The Mustang flashes across the front.
"Want one" flashes across my brain. |
Stand on your head |
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All in a day's work... |
| The Utterley Butterly wing walkers do
their thing. Shane's Sam apparently wants to try wing walking. I try to sign
Mrs. Rob up at the promotion tent, but she is having none of it. |
...for the busy girl |
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Diving Yaks |
| The Yaks appear (sorry, no programme
so I don't know what they call themselves). They're pretty spectacular though I
can understand why Steve 'fuel-burn' likes the engine noise. |
Yak dropping |
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RV's |
| The RV aerobatic team appears (at
least I think they are RV's and I should know what they call themselves as it
was in last month's loop. I should have got Shane or Nick to write this up). |
Barrel rolls round the telegraph wires |
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Stall recovery |
| Anyway, the RV's equal the Yaks (my
opinion). |
Straight up |
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Sea Vixen heading east |
| The Sea Vixen roars by. There was a
time when the British made more than wings for aeroplanes (OK and engines). The
Vixen is a sleek beast. |
Sea Vixen heading west |
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You won't land that on there |
| The Harrier arrives. "Ooh, my
favourite" says Mrs Rob. I'll get the Mustang first. |
even if it is a Harrier |
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The Sukhoi goes up |
| The Harrier roars, forwards,
backwards, sideways and then takes a bow. There was a time when the British made
more than just aircraft wings - and engines. The Sukhoi struts it's stuff, and I
am totally amazed. |
and up |
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and then down |
| I never realised that you could do
that with an aircraft (and live). Thundering along the sea front, the nose goes
up the aircraft stops and hangs on the propeller for an age before dropping
away. Maybe there is something better than a Mustang... no, not quite. |
and down |
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and down |
| The Sukhoi does a number of tail
slides and I am determined to get some good pictures. However, following a
high-speed, highly agile aircraft through the lens of a camera is quite a task. |
A Sikorsky, rotors stationary! |
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Roll on, roll off |
| A Sikorsky rolls around the front.
Quite a change from all the high speed tricks, the Sikorsky takes it's time.
Interestingly the rotor rpm matches the camera shutter speed and the rotors
appear stationary in the photographs. I'll have to read the manual on this one,
there must be a button on the camera for Sikorsky pictures, there is for
everything else. |
Hurricane |
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Spitfire |
| The show rounds off with the
obligatory Merlin's. The Hurricane and then the Spitfire fling themselves around
the sky still looking good. We head for the station, only for the sky to split
open and the Eurofighter does it's thing. Impressive. Looks huge after the
Spitfire. How times and technology change in a lifetime (no not mine, my
parent's!). |
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| [Photos: Shane, Rob,
and Mrs Rob, click to view full size] |
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