Victory Show at Cosby

In the end, I didn't manage to attend any air shows this year except the victory show held at Cosby in Leicestershire. This was literally a 10 minute drive from me and when I saw that there was going to be a display by the Battle of Britain flight along with a couple of P51 mustangs, Boeing B17 'Sally B' AND not least a 'bombing run' by the Vulcan XH558, I couldn't resist.

I was not disappointed, a great day all in all and we enjoyed a flypast (not a display) by the Red Arrows but the Vulcan did a full display rather than just a single 'bombing run' as the advertising suggested (incidentally the associated pyrotechnics for the bombs going off were excellent as they were for the ground battle re-enactment).

I was surprised to find they had actually created a grass strip running north/south for visiting aircraft and there were a few light aircraft that arrived including wartime 'spotter' type planes and most noticeably a Hawker Hurricane - all of which you could get very close to on the parking line.

Altogether a thoroughly enjoyable day and one I will look forward to next year.

Btw - they were using one of the standard air show frequency allocations for the weekend of 130.625Mhz. Some pilots were having problems communicating with the air/ground operator as I believe he was only using a hand-held Icom transceiver.

RAF Waddington - What did you think?

Just interested to hear from any of our readers that attended Waddington air show this year. I must admit I didn't even consider going as the display lineup, (with the exception of Vulcan XH558) didn't look very enticing to me at all.

Last year I did attend, and I thought the RAF role demo was a fantastic routine, but this years event looked much the same as last years but without the role demo and to be honest, I've seen all the RAF stuff before.

I guess I was just spoilt during the 1980's/1990's as airshows seemed to have lots of interesting fast and noisy jet participation from nations far and wide.

Anyway if you would like to make a comment, please do so by hitting the 'comments' link.

RAF Waddington Sentinal R1

Has anybody else noticed a sentinal R1 flying a large rectangular pattern over different parts of the UK often for many hours at high altitude? I have noticed one (and heard it on the scanner) on a number of occasions over the central UK over the last month or two.

The callsign is always 'snapshot' followed by a number eg. 'snapshot 1' - appropriate I suppose for an airborne surveillance aircraft! Anyway, please get in touch if you have any further information to add about these flights. Thanks, Mark.

Vulcan XH558 - The End?

It is now critical that XH558 receives further donations or pledges to donate, in order to secure her flying career into 2009. After having seen her in the air again for the first time since her restoration at the Waddington show last summer it would be a great shame for her to be grounded after all the work that's gone into getting her airworthy again.

I appreciate the economic situation is very difficult at the moment but some things are worth saving aren't they?

If you think you can help in any way please visit www.vulcantothesky.org for further information.

Now, I appreciate I have not paid much attention to the site for a while, but if anyone has anything interesting to report then please click on the 'comments' link just below this message, it would be nice to hear from you.

Mark.

Airband News

An Apache attack helicopter (possibly more than one) has been operating over Leicester for quite some time today. If anyone has some information on what they are doing I would be interested to know! Thanks, Mark.

A Plea For Vulcan XH558

It's been a remarkable achievement to return such a large, complex 4 engine ex-RAF aircraft to the air, and this has been the culmination of years of effort and in some cases, thousands of volunteer hours by air and ground crews and incredible goodwill on the part of some individuals and companies.
She had some final flight tests last week at RAF Coningsby and I believe still needs to get her display routine passed by a CAA examiner before being allowed to fly at airshows.

I for one cannot wait to see (and feel!) the incredible power of this great delta taking to the skies.

It's looking like Waddington air show might be XH558's first confirmed appearance this season but following the AGM of the Vulcan Operating committee/Vulcan To The Sky Trust it was confirmed that at this time, there are sufficient funds for 2 months general maintenance and enough fuel for 4 more flights!

Without some major sponsership coming forward very soon, her return to the skies may be very short-lived.

In any case, I would like to ask all my readers to consider contributing what you can. Anything is appreciated and vital to keeping her airborne at this time. I believe, once she has had the opportunity to display her grace and power at a public airshow and it is seen how she alone can 'pull in the crowds' that major sponsorship might be more forthcoming.

It is possible to make an e-donation on the website or, if you have not done so already, consider joining the Vulcan To The Sky Club and receive all the latest news and info on XH558 as I have already done.

Thanks in advance to all my readers, you can visit the Vulcan Operating Committee website
HERE

My Apologies & Some Vulcan Gossip!

Firstly, I must apologise for not posting much recently, I seem to go through periods where I am just too busy to sit down and post but I am committed to trying to rectify this and I would like your help!
Please do contribute your comments if you have anything you would like to inform fellow enthusiasts about.

I have had a few days off work and have had the chance to 'listen in' much more on my Uniden UBC3500XLT. While working on my pc yesterday I was listening to 'central sector' (252.875Mhz) for much of the day and heard (and saw) about 8 overflights either westbound or eastbound to the south of Leicester of USAF C17 overflights. Interestingly, one of them called Lakenheath weathar info service (284.425Mhz) for the Spangdahlem weather report. So it would seem perhaps most of these overflights I can see from my location in Leicester are probably operating between the US and Germany.

And now to the Vulcan XH558 based here in Leicestershire at Bruntingthorpe:

Yesterday, Tuesday 6th May, I believe I heard Vulcan XH558 leave Bruntingthorpe around 1500hrs and call Cottesmore radar (UHF) using the callsign 'marshall 1' - she was en route to Cambridge (the home of marshall aerospace) - that's the first time I have picked her up on the scanner since her restoration but I'm still waiting for my first sighting of her in the air!

Perhaps you would like to share your experience of seeing (or hearing!) her again by posting here.
Thanks all, Mark.

Air Show Season Is Upon Us!

Well, it's that time of year again. I'm not a big airshow attender, I wish I had the time, but I do hope to attend the RAF Waddington airshow this year on 5-6th July.

The display lineup certainly looks better than last year according to their website and in particular it would be great to see Vulcan XH558 displaying once more (marked as provisional at the moment).

What airshows have you attended? perhaps you would like to leave a post and let us all know.

Thanks, Mark.

Airband Frequencies To Monitor

Dare I say, spring will be upon us soon so I thought I would just re-publish some airband frequencies that can be interesting to listen out for when the better weather conditions are upon us (although having said that, today has been a mild and beautifully sunny day here in the midlands).

Anyway I have mentioned these airband frequencies in a past posting but here they are again just in case you can't be bothered to search through all the posts:

Gliders:
129.975
130.1
130.125
130.4

Balloons:
122.475

Microlights:
129.825

Paradropping sites:
129.9

P.s. I have managed to put together a small online store in partnership with Amazon listing airband radios and aviation books - so please take a look and see what you think. You can visit the store HERE.

BA Boeing 777 Incident At Heathrow

I'm amazed there were no enthusiasts that caught this event on film, Angus Walker from ITN news has posted here requesting anybody with some footage of the event to contact him.

Interestingly I tried the same failure myself on Microsoft Flight Simulator (cut power completely with 500ft to go on the approach to 27L at Heathrow) and the result for me was identical to the incident. Without enough power to control your descent to hit the touchdown zone you have to trade off height to maintain speed and inevitably land short skidding to a halt somewhere near the touchdown end of the runway. Of course, the reality of that situation and the ability to remain calm and 'fly' the aircraft is a little different but then, what else can you do at 500ft?
It reminded me of the Kegworth incident all those years ago. That was a 'landing short' incident with much more tragic consequences as it came to a very abrupt halt on the western side of the M1 motorway embankment. It made me wonder if this had been at another airport that perhaps didn't have the same 'undershoot' area available, this might have been a similar tragedy, what do you think?