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Chinook NewsThis page contains the news stories from the 2006 season. AirshowsThe Shoreham Air Display, 16-17 September 2006 The Royal Air Force Association’s Air Display at Shoreham on the south coast is a prestige event in a beautiful setting. It was the only air show held over the Battle of Britiain weekend this year, and all proceeds from the show go to support the RAFA. The valley the airfield lies in is a superb venue, and the airfield is overlooked by the grandiose buildings of Lancing college, which as you can see below really add a special something to many photographs taken at the show. The Chinook Team at Shoreham consisted of Rich, Adam and Sam flying the display, supported by a number of groundcrew from RAF Odiham, including SAC Lyndsey Freeman and Cpl Sarah Twiggs. Chris Middleton was also at the show, as was the Team’s Land Rover support vehicle. Below are some of the hightlights of the display, which was very well received, as well as a few of the crew at work in the static park. The Lydd Airshow, 09-10 September 2006 It was a long weekend for the Chinook Team, starting as it did with the RAF Leuchars Air Display. The Team then flew home to change aircraft, and proceeded to the London Ashford Airport at Lydd in Kent to take part in the Lydd Airshow. This was a terrific show, the sky being a clear blue with a light wind that only served to keep the capacity crowd cool! The Team of Ollie Whyatt, Chris Middleton and Stuart Logan performed a flawless and very exciting display, the incredible angles reached by the Chinook drawing gasps of amazement and applause from the crowd. Sadly, this was to be both Ollie’s last display in the Chinook, and the transit back to Odiham his last flight. Ollie is posted to Linton on Ouse to become an instructor on the Tucano, the RAF’s advanced flying trainer. Good luck Ollie, we all wish you the very best in your new role and many thanks for the thrills your displays have given us this season! A quick retrospective to RIAT- RAF Fairford from 15-16 July 2006 (16 August 2006) Many thanks to Darren Rumsey of Mulbarton, Norfolk, who has kindly sent in the pictures he took at RIAT of the Chinook display. Good job Darren, and thanks from the Chinook Team! Farnborough International Air Show (22-23 July 2006) Yes I know that Farnborough is longer than this but for the Chinook Team the event only comprised the 2 public days, well we hardly need to hard sell with the Chinook. For the team this weekend had one big bonus point, namely the 15 minute drive to the show from our houses!. So against that backdrop we arrived on Saturday only to be parked in the wrong area and miss the brief because we had to taxy and park next to the Omega Tanker (thanks to those guys for the shelter from the weather!). The show gave us the chance to see some of the newer pieces of hardware, namely the massive A380 and a chance to get a look inside the V-22. Like most of the public we got a damn thorough soaking on Saturday but fortunately the storm cleared in time to leave the family drying and us ready for a challenging display. Farnborough presents a series of unique circumstances to the crews, firstly the base height is raised to 200ft. This throws all your usual visual cues out of the window, but fortunately Chris was on top form to keep me honest and Jamie was spot on with the cuing for the hover work. All this helped to keep the display as true as possible whilst under this restriction and the need to stay inside the airfield boundary or be forced to climb. It was a wet display for us on Saturday, not that we change our routine it`s just that if you leave the window open on the parked aircraft then the seat gets totally soaked!!. For those lucky enough to come on Sunday the weather held all day and there was no loss of flying. We got a chance to meet a fair few people as they arrived and we managed to clear out our supply of posters, pins, leaflets and stickers in no time. Again the day proved good for us and having watched the Apache and Lynx display all I can say is bring on the new Chinook rotor heads and then we can really give it some stick!!. Thanks again for all the positive comments from all those people whom we met and hope to see some more of you at the next event. RIAT- RAF Fairford (15-16 July 2006) Well what a weekend the team had, we had the best of weather but events
conspired against and we were limited to only 1 display (more to follow). As
I said the team arrived on Friday and the weather looked set fair for
a fantastic weekend, but no sooner had we landed than we were on
our way back to Odiham. This was to release our aircraft for the Operation
that we all came to hear about over the following days. After some negotiation
the engineers were able to provide us with a replacement aircraft which
we could take on Saturday morning. Notwithstanding the engineers heroic
efforts, RIAT we not aware of our return and despite the best effort
of the Display Director we were unable to resurrect our slot on Saturday.
It was with some reluctance that we stood down at lunchtime. A big
sorry to those people waiting to see us, but that is the nature of the
beast. Having found ourselves at a loose end we bravely stood in to cover
the ‘static’ aircraft as the crew were elsewhere. This proved a fun,
if hot,
pursuit and left us in the unusual position of being able to see most
of the displays we traditionally miss. This was a fantastic change and
I must say just to be able to witness the MiG-29 OVT almost made it all
worthwhile. Having had a day off we returned to the fray on Sunday and
this time
we had
no problems with the slot or the aircraft. The glorious weather,
with cloudless skies, may have hindered the ‘snappers’ but gave us a
brilliant back-drop to display against. Hopefully the crowd got a good
display, it certainly felt alright from where I sat. Having spent the
remainder of the day at the static aircraft I decided not to miss-out
on my family’s stomach bug and the only ‘liquid’ refreshment I managed
came from the Medical Staff via my hand!!! (a big thanks to all those
who looked after me) So, frustrations aside, we still had a good weekend
and bring on Farnborough. RNAS Yeovilton International Air Day (8 July 2006) The Royal Navy was host to service and civilian aircraft from all over Europe on Saturday 8 July when Royal Naval Air Station held its annual air show. The display included a massive battle demonstration as the finale, combining massed helicopters and fixed wing aircraft in a role demonstration accompanied by huge pyrotechnics explosions. The weather didn’t help the flying display at all, as although it remained dry and sunny, the wind grew in strength until it was gusting 30 knots, and of course, straight across the runway! Into this arena, enter Olly, Chris and Jamie, and what a display they flew! The Chinook was an amazing spectacle, as the strong wind seemed to compress the display and increase the already steep angles of climb and bank the huge helicopter reaches. Some of the hightlights are captured below: RAF Waddington (Saturday 1 st and Sunday 2nd July) The historic airfield of RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire baked in the heat of the weekend while it hosted the annual international air display. Olly, Chris and Stuart flew a display that brought the crowd to a standstill on both days. The sheer power and majesty of a hard-flown Chinook display cannot be denied, and prompted the Sunday show commentator to state "these guys are amazing, they make a house dance!" The attitudes the Chinook reaches during the display are genuinely amazing, some of the highlights are captured in the images below. Kent Air Show – Margate– Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th June The Chinook flew both days at the Margate show, one of the newest on the UK airshow calendar. As the crowd are on a cliff top, and the aircraft display over the sea in the natural ampitheatre of Palm Bay, the aircraft can really show their paces as they have a lot of restriction free-room to manoeuvre in. Olly and the crew did exactly that, earning a loud and long round of applause from the astounded and delighted seaside crowd. Many thanks to J Harker and C Redgrave for capturing the images below on Saturday and Sunday respectively, as the webmaster was busy commentating the airshow! |
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