Crazy Critters, Waddington International Airshow 2010.

This weeks Camera Critters photo was taken amongst the noise and bustle of the Waddington International Airshow in Lincolnshire.

The bird flew down and landed on one of the lights at the edge of the taxi way during the middle of the air displays. He seemed completely oblivious to the crowds, noise and general commotion going on around him. It shows just what nature really thinks of our human endeavours. We as humans often think we are the centre of life on Earth, but, when we see creatures such as this bird completely ignoring us, it puts us back in our place well it certainly does to me. The world is ours to share not to dominate.

This was the fly past that this little bird chose to ignore, or maybe he didn't maybe he stopped to watch, who knows!

Head over to Camera Critters for more exciting animal pictures, just click on the Camera Critters Logo at the top of this post to link to the site.

The Red Arrows Display Team at RAF Waddington's International Airshow 2010.

 The Red Arrows are the Royal Air Force's premium display team. They are renowned throughout the world as ambassadors for both Britain and the RAF.

Founded in 1965 they have taken part in over 4,000 displays in 53 countries. 

The pilots are all fully trained RAF combat pilots with a minimum of 1,500 flying hours and have to have completed at least one front line tour.

The aeroplanes they use for their displays are the BAE Systems Hawk T1. This dual controlled trainer aircraft has been the aeroplane of choice for the Red Arrows since 1979. The high manoeuvrability of this aircraft allow the team to do the fantastic coordinated display flying they are world famous for.

On the day of the display one of the pilots had been taken ill with chronic food poisoning which meant the display had to be done with only eight planes.

 They use white, blue and red smoke which trails behind the aircraft adding an extra dimension to their display.

The planes screaming by at 400+ mph are only feet apart. The pilots don't use computers to keep the tight formations, instead they line up simple reference points using trigonometry to line up nose to wing, or wing to tail, thus keeping the planes a safe distance apart throughout the manoeuvres.

Sweeping in towards the crowd line.

Roaring past the crowd smoke trailing.

T-formation.

The bright red of the planes makes sure you can see them for the whole display.

You can't even notice one plane is missing as they have tweaked their positioning to compensate. Not an easy thing to do when you are flying so close together at high speeds.

Precision flying!

Red and Blue smoke trailing as they loop around one another whilst flying straight for the crowd line.

Climbing straight up!

Followed by one of the big fan breaks of the display high overhead on the way down.

The display by the Red Arrows at RAF Waddington was fantastic even with one plane missing. If you want to find out more details about this team then you can visit their web site at:

 http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds/

Chinook Display, RAF Waddington International Airshow 2010.

The RAF operates the largest fleet of Chinook helicopters after the US Army. They are used for troop carrying and internal and external slung loads. They are capable of carrying 55 troops or ten tonnes of freight at a time. This is their main role but they are also used for search and rescue and casualty evacuation roles too.

The Chinook in this display flew in with a Land Rover and trailer slung beneath it showing just some of its role.

Once it had dropped off the Land Rover and trailer it landed quickly and deposited two more Land Rovers stored inside it.

Then as it took off it dropped off the last of its troops via abseil onto the runway.

Then back in the air it was able to show off just some of the great manoeuvrability capabilities of this wonderful helicopter.

The twin engines operating the tandem rotor blades give the Chinook its versatility in the air and allow for its large cargo capacity.

The Chinook is currently used across the World in many front line operations.

Battle of Britain Scenario, Waddington International Airshow 2010.

RAF Waddington put on a Battle of Britain Scenario display that included Spitfires, Hurricanes, ground troops, vehicles, large guns and an Messerschmitt Me109 at their 2010 International Airshow.

All around the airfield there were people taking part in the action in some form or another.

Being on the runway line I got to see the aeroplane part of the display, but, I heard reports of action happening all over the base in one of their biggest displays yet.

We were introduced via a report from the control tower that a lone Messerschmitt Me109 had been spotted approaching the airfield.

The command to scramble was given and the Spitfires and Hurricanes took to the skies.

The Me109 veers off after strafing the runway.

 The Spitfires give chase and it retreats from the battle.

A call is put out that a high level bomber has been spotted over the airfield just before the runway explodes in a ball of fire as bombs rain down.

The runway seems to be engulfed in a curtain of flames. Did any of the Spitfires refuelling on the ground make it out in time?

The flames clear, the smoke rises...

and yes we see the spitfires all made it of the ground in time.

As they climb back into the sky above the airfield another Messerschmitt Me109 is spotted over head.

Three of the Spitfires give chase and a dogfight forms overhead.

The Messerschmitt is seen off and the Spitfires are clear to return back to the airfield.

The re-enactment was a spectacular display of  World War II engineering and expertise.

Thanks to the brave exploits of our pilots and ground support staff the aerial Battle of Britain was won.

A great display I'm sure you will agree!

Come back tomorrow for more fun from RAF Waddington's International Airshow 2010.

The Army Historic Aircraft Flight at the Waddington International Airshow 2010.

One of the displays at the Waddington 2010 International Airshow in Lincolnshire was provided by The Army Historic Aircraft Flight (AHAF).

The Army Historic flight, like its counterparts in the other services, is charged with maintaining the service's flying heritage.

Their aim as highlighted on their website at http://www.army.mod.uk/aviation/7089.aspx states: 

The aim is of AHAF to maintain out-of-service Army fixed and rotary wing aircraft in flying condition for publicity, posterity, the promotion of esprit de corps and recruiting purposes.

Unfortunately they were only able to bring three of their aircraft to RAF Waddington.

They were:

the Westland Scout AH Mk I - XT626

the The Alouette II - XR379

and the De Havilland Chipmunk T10 - WD325.

It was great to see the Chipmunk, as when I was in the Air Training Corps many years ago, I had the opportunity to fly one and it was great fun.