Indian Air Force IL-78 (RK-3452)
RAF Waddington International Airshow 2007
and Newark Air Museum
by Howard Heeley,
Down To Earth Promotions
Despite the early departure time [6am] my son and I were really looking forward to our planned day spent at the RAF Waddington International Airshow. Even the light rain that started just after we left Nottingham seemed unlikely to dampen our spirits, but as we moved east across Nottinghamshire towards Lincolnshire the rain became progressively heavier.
Even then we were undeterred because the forecast was for brighter weather to follow and everything looked set for a better day than the Saturday, which had been dull and overcast. During our approach towards Waddington along the A607 the rain became torrential, with many of the side roads starting to look more like rivers.
I must confess that because of the monsoon like conditions I approached the base with a degree of trepidation. However we were admitted at about 7.15am with a bedraggled member of the RAF taking our admission fee and directing us to a prime position right on the grass by the flight-line close to the old control tower.
F-16
689
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Falcon
G-FRAT
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Fokker 50
U-05
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The rain was still beating down so we decided to wait in the car for a short while to see if the weather was going to change. By 7.50am there was a chink of blue sky on the western horizon, so we waited a few more minutes before setting off in the now light rain to Alpha Dispersal at the far end of the airfield.
By the time we reached Alpha Dispersal the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to come out from behind the occasional cloud. However en-route we were aware of the problems that were starting to arise around the display site. Many of the stalls were inaccessible due to flooding, the base fire brigade were pumping out water in front of hangars 2 and 3 and countless bales of straw were being deployed to try and help the grass areas from cutting up.
Fokker
S-11174
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Griffin
ZJ708
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Griffin
ZJ708
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We started to photograph the static display around Alpha Dispersal, before moving back along the crowd-line towards our car, photographing as we went. The first sign of something not being right came when we realised that the cars had stopped from accessing the site from the Lincoln end of the base near Alpha Dispersal. This was very soon followed by an announcement over the public address system that the air display had been cancelled and everyone was asked to return to their cars and leave the base before another heavy rain storm arrived.
We continued our journey back to the car, hurriedly capturing what we could of the static display and carefully negotiating the now rapidly degenerating mud bath that had only recently been grass car parking areas. On arriving back at the car I carefully selected a ‘relatively green’ escape route back onto the concrete taxiway, which was only some 50 metres away but represented an icy skid pan that the cars in front had to negotiate.
We left the base by 9.15am and set off back towards Nottingham, but en-route we decided to call in at the Newark Air Museum to take a couple of pictures. Whilst disappointed at the Airshow being cancelled I do not hesitate in agreeing that the organisers made the correct decision to cancel the display in some very difficult circumstances. This view was firmly emphasised when I arrived at the museum only to find hundreds of people trying to get access. The situation that the museum faced is covered in part 2 of this article.
I would also like to thank the Airshow Organisers for their prompt response in refunding the fee from my son’s admission ticket. He was really looking forward to the flying display but at least we got the opportunity to photograph the aircraft on static display, unlike many thousands of disappointed visitors who did not even gain access to the base.
RAF Waddington International Air Show 2007 UAVs
All photograph copyright / credits: Howard Heeley – Down To Earth Promotions
Copies of all these photographs can be obtained from the Newark Air Museum Trading Company please request Photograph Lists via the museum website at www.newarkairmuseum.org
Click Here to continue to part 2 of this article.
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