Day 6 – Saturday 7th September

The first public day dawned grey and overcast. Luckily, this broke at around 11 o’clock, and gave the 90,000+ crowd broken cloud at about 4,000 feet, a fine background for a very well balanced flying display. The first half of the show began at 10.50 with the An-2 and Crunchie team, followed by Mark Jefferies in the Yak-52 before a cavalcade of classic aircraft began. First up was a group of reproductions of First War aircraft, the Avro 504, Fokker Eindecker, Morane-Saulnier Bullet and the Sopwith Camel. Their slow and graceful display was followed by the Bristol Blenheim and the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

The display broke for lunch, re-opening with the Breitling sponsored Su-31, flown by Xavier de Lapparent, who showed just what a 400 hp Vedenyev radial can do when attached to such a light airframe in the hands of the current World Aerobatic Champion. Carolyn Grace then flew her polished and distinctive routine in the Spitfire T Mk IX, ML407 – still the most lyrical Spitfire display on the UK airshow scene. The Red Arrows were forced by a bank of low cloud, but were as thrilling as ever as the immaculate formations hurtled across the Hampshire sky. A British Airways Concorde then arrived with passengers on a special charter, and made a stark contrast with the A340 display that followed.

During the British Aerospace section of the display the crowds were treated to the remarkable sight of the Eurofighter EF2000 DA2 prototype flying past in formation with a Sptifire Mk IX. This caused a ripple of spontaneous applause throughout the vast crowd, such was the emotional impact of seeing these two very different and evocative shapes together.

The great air pageants of the 1930’s were recalled in a group display simply called Cobham, after Sir Alan Cobham, one of the greatest British aviation pioneers who brought flying to millions with his air circuses which toured the country during the 30’s. The display consisted of an original rotary-engined Avro 504K, a DH60G Gipsy Moth and a Tiger Moth indulging in a series of gentle aerobatic routines very reminiscent of the time. Bringing the art of aerobatics up to date were the Extra 300s of the Rover Group Aerobatic Team, and the Microlease Extra 300L presented by Firebird Aerobatics.

During the day, the majority of the aircraft that had taken part in the week’s trade shows also flew, providing a real day of contrast as vintage and modern designs entertained the vast, in fact almost record, crowd.

Sadly, the last item scheduled for on the display, the Sukhoi Su-37, was unable to perform owing to a technical problem, but this was more than made up for by the photocall that happened out on the runway after the flying display finished. The Vickers Vimy replica taxied out in glorious golden sunset light to park next to the Concorde, giving all who witnessed the occasion a real impression of the huge strides aviation has made in the last 78 years. The theme continues tomorrow, and we will be bringing you a report and a final look at the whole event.

In the exhibition halls, some stands were battened down for the influx of enthusiastic children of all ages, with minimum staff and fragile models safely behind glass or removed from display, but the product videos and a host of ingenious ‘gizzits’ kept most visitors entertained. Among the most popular venues were the Eurofighter simulator dome with its perpetual long queue, and the British Aerospace audiovisual display, complete with real smoke which was occasionally vented out over visitors to the Gripen and Eurofighter mockups! It was late evening before the last spectators left, having wisely delayed their departure to take in all the sights and to avoid the monumental traffic queues which effectively shut down the counties of Surrey and Hampshire.