Thursday 4 September 2014

28th June 2014: Scarborough Airshow

Large numbers of people came to see XH558 at
Scarborough Armed Forces Day.
Armed Forces Day at Scarborough proved to be another successful air show on Saturday. Although cloudy, the weather was comfortably warm, and crowds quickly formed along the promenade for the event.

The day was opened with a march from the Royal Corps of Signals and 1Bn Yorkshire Regiment Freedom Parade and a beautiful speech from the Mayor of the Borough Scarborough, Cllr Patricia Marsburg, commemorating all those who sacrificed their lives for their country. This was then punctuated by a lovely flypast from the Lancaster bomber and two Spitfires, followed by a flight and landing from the Sea King.

The crowds grew bigger as the time crept closer to XH558’s display. The air was thick with anticipation as it finally came to 2:15pm. Flown by Jonathan Lazzari, Bill Ramsay and Phill O’Dell – and with a commentary from Martin Withers – 558 performed a breathtaking display, leaving spectators amazed and wild with excitement.

XH558 flies over the lighthouse at Scarborough Airshow.

After the display I went to the Vulcan to the Sky Trust mini-village, which was already packed with people chattering about the display. I asked a few to give me a word or phrase to describe what they thought about the display; here are some of them:

“Amazing.”

“Loud.”

“Noisy.”

“Breathtaking.”

“Awesome.”

“Bloody brilliant.”

“Fantastic.”

“A beautiful display.”

It never ceases to amaze me how adored this machine is. Apparently the numbers who attended this year’s air show were about the same as they were last year when the Typhoon and the Red Arrows had flown, showing that the love for our lady Vulcan is timeless. She is an old aircraft, and yet at every air show the same question is asked over and over again: “When is the Vulcan flying?”

Our next air show is at Waddington this weekend, where I’m sure she will give another amazing display.



This article was published in the Vulcan To The Sky Newsbytes on the 1st July 2014.

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