Sywell 2024

rochie · Jun 25, 2024

Terry and I attended Sywell Airshow on Sunday.
It was really great, well organised and well attended.

This was the first year for this airshow and hopefully it will be a regular event.

I have just got home from Terry's tin tent so haven't had time to go through my pictures but i did shoot a few videos on my phone, so will post these as a teaser of things to come.

rochie · Jun 25, 2024

rochie · Jun 25, 2024

Wurger · Jun 25, 2024

Snautzer01 · Jun 25, 2024

Wow what a display and weather. Very nice.
I must go there next time.

Sabrejet · Jun 25, 2024

Friends who went rated it highly too: let's hope it does indeed become a fixture!

Crimea_River · Jun 25, 2024

Oooo, I'm getting all tingly.

rochie · Jun 25, 2024

It was very good all round.

Only disappointment was the Fokker DXXI and Tempest II both being unable to display but these things happen !

All round organisation was excellent.

rochie · Jun 25, 2024

I didnt realise you can here me badly doing the Battle of Britain theme in the last video :lol:

special ed · Jun 25, 2024

Grown men acting like kids. Wait! I just crashed my model into the wall.

Jeff Hunt · Jun 25, 2024

Good stuff. Nice aircraft, nice weather. Can't ask for much more than that.

Cheers

Jeff

Snautzer01 · Jun 25, 2024

rochie said:
I didnt realise you can here me badly doing the Battle of Britain theme in the last video

When you hear a knock on your door... run.
It a bunch of lawyers.

Airframes · Jul 1, 2024

Wot, only nine Spitfires ??!!

Great job on the vids Red Two.
Amazing how technology has advanced, allowing WW2 aircraft to taxi without turning their props, thereby saving on prop hours !!

I'll sort and start posting my pics, and narrative, when I get home from Norfolk later this week.

Gnomey · Jul 1, 2024

Good stuff Karl!

Airframes · Jul 6, 2024

As Karl has already mentioned, we attended the Sywell air show on its second day, Sunday, 23rd June, ready for a good day out, and we certainly weren't disappointed. We travelled from the Tin Tent in south Norfolk, to stay overnight in a hotel nearer the venue and meet-up with our friends, Max and Barbara, who'd been to the show on Saturday, so that we could get to the field for gates open by 08.30 on the Sunday morning.
We were somewhat caught out, as the weather forecast predicted cloud cover and max temperatures at around 20-21c, but the cloud broke up, and moved away from the field to the north, exposing us to hot sun and around 28-29c for the whole day !
Consequently, we both ended up getting fairly severe sunburn and looking like cooked lobsters - first time I've been burned in over 50 years !
I'd left home on Thursday, 20th June, in cloudy, dull conditions and a temp of 14c, to travel to the Tin Tent in Norfolk, so the rise in temperatures, and the clear, sunny skies, was something of a shock to the system after nearly nine months of p*ssing rain and dull, cold conditions, resulting in me being rather lethargic and quite stiff and painful, especially in my arms and shoulders.
This affected my camera handling significantly, and the results of my photography are below my usual standard, for which I apologise in advance.

The overall organisation, access and exit, car parking and facilities were excellent, and the flying line-up superb, being, if anything, a step-up from the immensely popular, and now finished, "Flying Legends" shows at Duxford, in a more relaxed ad spacious atmosphere.
The available airspace at Sywell also allowed for a much better display "box" and, with the crowd line facing north west, the lighting was, most of the time, much better too.
The Flight Line Walk was very, very long, stretching virtually the whole length of the field, and access to the parked aircraft was much closer than at DX, within a couple of feet, with the added bonus of access at both front and rear of the line, a very nice touch.
Although we didn't venture to "explore" the ground attractions, we did note that some of the participating aircraft were on static display on the "crowd side" of the field, in authentic, period depictions with re-enactors and ground equipment, again with very close access.
Regrettably, there were a couple of "drops outs" due to technical problems etc, and two of these were the Tempest II and Fokker D.XXI, which we'd have loved to see, and the US Navy R4D, which was still stuck Stateside with an engine problem. The expected A-26 Invader (static display only) was also absent, but, these things happen, so have to be accepted.

The show was opened by B-17G "Sally B" and the P-47D "Nellie B", both Duxford-based, which took off and formed up for some formation passes before performing solo slots, and the first few (rather poor) pics show this, with much, much more to follow.

I'll sort and post more coverage over the next week or so, and no doubt Karl will add his pics when he's able.

Wurger · Jul 6, 2024

Crimea_River · Jul 6, 2024

Beauties Terry. It's a big compliment to say this show was better than Legends. That make me think that I'll need to consider popping over there for a meet up next year.

Airframes · Jul 7, 2024

It should be well worth it Andy.
Considering that this was the first attempt (Legends should have been at Sywell in 2022, but it fell through), and with the quality of acts and the enthusiastic spectator attendance from the UK and at least parts of Europe, I'm thinking that this will become a permanent fixture on the European air show calendar, and a very worthy successor to "Legends".
Near the very end of the show, a rolling roar of laughter travelled along the crowd line when Richard Grace, when asked how he felt after such as successful weekend, said "Duxford, eat your heart out" !!
Perhaps a hint at what may, or may not, have went on back in 2020 ......................

Anyway, I'm having a bit of hassle sorting pics at the moment, as my PC has decided to skip the image sequence, making it take longer to select and edit. For example, if I select images 1 to 10, and then want images 11 to 14, it'll jump from image 10 to image 100 - 110, and so on. Not a major problem, just irritating, so I'll edit and post more of the action once I've finished doing the latest GB scores.
Meanwhile the selection below gives some idea of the layout at Sywell, showing part of the flightline, how close to the crowd line everything was, particularly taxiing aircraft, and the very close access to the aircraft on the flightline walk.
Also included is a view to the rear of our location, showing the (participating) P-51 in a very close access static display right amongst the crowd, with C-47 D-Day veteran "Placid Lassie" in the background (this was due to display, but presumably had an issue, as it didn't fly on Sunday, although it was open to the public to see inside).
The aerial view of Sywell airfield shows the approximate locations of the crowd line, flightline walk and display axis, with our location being the red cross in a white square, the VIP & Disabled parking area is the white X, and the general parking area is the yellow X.

I'll be back soon with much more from this fantastic air show ..................