The 2009 annual Abingdon Air & Country Show was held on Sunday 3rd May and Checksix were invited to attend. The show supports the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance and opens the UK display season this year sharing the date with the first Shuttleworth 2009 display as it did last year. The show has plenty for the general public, in addition to the air display, with many classic car and bike clubs attending, military vehicles, armoured vehicles available for rides, the fun fair, Crafts, Daleks and Star Wars storm troopers. The display is held at Abingdon Airfield / Dalton Barracks near Oxford. Originally opened as RAF Abingdon in 1932, the station has a distinguished war record and post war record with its runways launching the first aircraft of the Berlin Airlift. The station was handed over to the British Army in 1992 but the RAF still have a presence with 612 Volunteer Gliding Squadron (VGS) operating the Grob 109B Vigilante Motorglider. Pumas and Merlins are seen at the airfield quite often on exercise from RAF Benson near by. Apaches can also be seen visiting from time to time.

The Show has been an annual event since 2000 and has a growing reputation in the UK aviation community. The 2008 show raised £5000 for the Air Ambulance and with a good forecast the team were set do even this year. One real coup gained by Neil Porter the event organiser was the attendance of  an RAF C-17 from near by Brize Norton, the huge aircraft literally overshadowed everything else and was a big draw for the public as it was open for a walk through. Although not in the flying display there was some anticipation of a memorable departure at the end of the show. Also in the static park and welcoming visitors was a new RAF Merlin HC3A, one of the Danish aircraft purchased by the UK Ministry of Defence as and emergency operational requirement. Unfortunately there will not be a RAF Merlin display again this year due to operational commitments commented Gareth Attridge the Merlin Force Display Manager. Leaving the Merlin display once again in the hands of the Royal Navy for another year.

The RAF Chinook display team made a welcome return to Abingdon this year, last year the teams aircraft suffered a technical problem on rout to Abingdon and had to return to RAF Odiham leaving a big hole in the event. No problem this year though with ZA677 sporting new engines and a new secure Benic/Bowman communication system, one of only two RAF Chinooks to have these upgrades in service. The extra power supplied by the Two Textron Lycoming T55-L714A turboshaft engines give the Chinook even more agility as seen during the actual display, the new engines have greater fuel efficiency too. The exhaust on these engines are directed away from the fuselage due to the much higher temperatures created and the potential for damage to the aircraft. The flying display got off to a good start with a regular attendee at Abingdon, the Hunting Percival Pembroke based in Bournemouth, we have commented before on the not so graceful aircraft and the excellent display she provides. This year was no exception, a sound display well worth seeing and hearing.

The sound of jets was provided by two RAF trainers of differing eras and a cold war survivor. The first to display was the Jet Provost T3A of Newcastle Jet Provost Group and flown today by Neil McCarthy, this aircraft has attended at Abingdon before but today was its first flying display at the show. The Jet Provost was the RAF basic trainer when all training was done on jet aircraft. The second jet to display was the current advanced trainer for the RAF the Hawk T1/1A sporting the 2009 livery to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the RAF benevolent fund. Piloted by Flt Lt Matt Barker from No208(R) Squadron at RAF Valley. The last of the Jet displays was from the cold war survivor the de Havilland Vampire T11 owned by the Vampire Preservation Group at North Weald. Believed to be the only Vampire T11 in flying condition in the world this aircraft was built in 1952! The training theme was taken up by the current RAF elementary trainer the Grob Tutor, flown by Flt Lt Bill Ramsey from No1 EFTS of the Central Flying School at RAF Cranwell.

A precise display of flying skill and control was enjoyed by all showing that the elementary trainer can do far more than elemental flying. Some light relief came from the frantic flying of the Dukes of Cassutt, Richard Grace, Dave Puleston and Aiden Brown flying variants of the Cassutt IIIM Racer. Tight formations and tail chases with opposition passes thrown in, these very small aircraft but up a great show. The war bird element of the show was provided by regular supporters of the Abingdon event Rob Davies with his Mustang P51-D “Big Beautiful Doll” and Peter Teichman with the Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk. The Kittyhawk looked rather different, gone was the snarling tiger artwork and the aircraft appeared rather worse for ware? defiantly not the norm for a Hangar 11 aircraft. Peter Teichman explained the new image, he and Rob Davies have been filming on an upcoming movie about the famous Tuskegee Airman and his P-40 has been made to look like the work horse would have been. He decided that the new scheme looks right and he intends to keep it, although it looks in need of a good service it is in fact spotless as usual.

The Yak-52 of Nigel Wilson provided a solo display showing the aerobatic ability of this 1970’s cold war trainer, a good display and the sound of the radial engine adding a different engine growl to the Abingdon sky’s. Another solo display came via the C-47 Dakota “Drag-em-oot” built in 1943 this aircraft took part in operations on D-Day with the USAAF and later with the RAF in Operation Market Garden the operation was brought to mass recognition in the film “A Bridge Too Far”. Now owned by Paddy Green she fly in tribute to the Airborne Forces that fought in Europe in 1944 sporting the D-DAY stripes that she had then. The most unusual display of the day was the Swift Glider Display Team, Piper PA-25 Pawnee tug pulling the S-1 Swift Glider with the Silence SA180 Twister in close formation, two engines three aircraft and an outstanding display. The display is in three acts, act 1 has all three aircraft in close formation, act 2 has the Twister in solo display as the tug and glider gain altitude, act 3 is all for the solo glider display that never fails to surprise as Guy Westgate squeezes out one last manoeuvre at very low level.

The final display slot was left for the return to Abington of the RAF Chinook Display Team lead by their manager Sergeant Vince Bartlett. As mentioned earlier the extra power delivered by the newTwo Textron Lycoming T55 -L714A turboshaft engines is put to work in short order by the big helicopter. No matter how many times we see this display it always leaves you wondering how an aircraft with all the aerodynamics of a house brick can undertake such manoeuvres. The controls are not the modern glass cockpit that most expect to see like in the Merlin, no this is all analogue controls from the 1970’s, so how does the big machine manage these outrageous manoeuvres?. Its all down to power from the two new Two Textron Lycoming T55-L714A turboshaft engines and the skill of the crew, today’s pilot was Flt Lt Russ Norman. The unofficial big finish to the day was of course the departure of the RAF C-17 Globe Master ZZ174 – A Block 15+ aircraft purchased last year along with the other 3 that were leased to the RAF.  One reason that the RAF sent its big bird along to Abingdon was to mark the 50,000 flying hour for the RAF C-17 fleet. This huge flexible heavy lifter can carry

• Up to 131 Passengers
• 1 x CH47 Chinook
• 2 x AH-1 Apache
• 4 x Lynx
• 1 x Main Battle Tank (the original concept of the design was to carry the Abrahams tank)
• 14 x Land Rovers
• Various Heavy Plant (Fork-lift, Diggers, movements equipment)
• Main aircraft firefighting tender
• 2 x MLRS (multi-Launch Rocket System)
• Normally up to 31 Stretchers with full Critical Care AeroMedical Support Teams
• ….and anything else that fits!

The usual flight crew is 3, the two pilots and the loadmaster but ground crew and servicing assistants also accompany the aircraft to act as lookouts in a tactical environment. Todays crew is  Flt Lt Marcus Eyers – Marcus has flown the C17 for 5 years straight from his training on the King Air and will shortly return to 45 Sqn at RAF Cranwell as a flying instructor. Flt Lt Chris Knight – Chris joined the RAF in 1998. He has joined 99 Sqn in 2007 after tours on the VC10 and as a flying instructor on the Grob Tutor which he displayed at Abingdon in 2006…a slight change of scale! Sgt Trev Wilson – the Air Loadmaster, Trev recently joined the C17 fleet having served many years in the RAF’s busy rotary world. The crew had promised to show the aircraft short take off ability and they did not let the audience down, the C -17 does not look like it has the speed to get off the ground but it does and them banks away from the airfield with what would have to be described as grace. Then the big transport returns for a run and break that takes the aircraft to 75-80 deg of bank! Unfortunately many of the audience had already started to leave and missed the biggest aircraft in the RAF making its departure with great flare.

This was another good show and credit is due to the organizers and ground team who last year raised £5000 for the Air Ambulance,  the numbers attending looked even better than last year perhaps due to the good weather report. The team can be content that their reputation was once again enhanced by the delivery of a great show, but how will Neil Porter top the attendance of a C-17 next year?

We at Checksix look forward to finding out in May 2010, many thanks to Neil Porter, Colin Smith and the whole Abingdon team for their help on the day.

Will Moore, CHK6 UK