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Post by oldspotter on May 6, 2018 3:09:25 GMT 12
Last year after returning from the UK and the excellent RIAT i read a thread about UK airshows and this years RAF 100 anniversary, a seed was sown! I've been inspired and now have a fantastic 3 weeks planned, 5 airshows, 14 air museums, spotting at various airports/airfields and a few preserved steam railways thrown in for a bit of variety! I thought other members might be interested as to how easy it is to get around in a hire car and see all this great stuff. Most of my accom i've picked up relatively cheap on Booking.com and theres a bit of sightseeing as well as 2 nights camping at the Air Tattoo, which'll be top class!This is what i've put together; Day 1 Heathrow, Day 2 Middle Wallop AAC museum, RAF Odiham, Southampton a/p, Day 3 Solent sky museum, Tangmere, Goodwood, Day 4 Bournemouth a/m & Hurn a/p, Yeovil Westland, Day 5 RNAS Yeovilton air show, Day 6 Exeter a/p & railways, Day 7 Railways, Day 8 Bristol aerospace Filton, Bristol a/p and docks, Day 9 Weston heli museum, Old Sarum, Boscombe Down, Day 10 Boscombe, Brize Norton, RIAT arrivals, Day 11 RIAT, Day 12 RIAT, Day 13 Duxford a/s, Cambridge a/p, Day 14 Mildenhall, Lakenheath, North Weald, Hornchurch, Stansted a/p, Day 15 Raf museum Hendon, Elstree, London Colney, Northolt, Rochester a/p, Day 16 Manston a/m, Hawkinge a/m, Capel-le-ferne B.o.B, Lydd, Day 17 Dymchurch railway, Lydd, Gatwick Day 18 Gatwick, Biggin Hill, Southend, Day 19 Stow Maries a/s, North Weald a/m, Southend Vulcan, Day 20 Farnborough a/s, Day 21 Vickers Weybridge, Heathrow then home again jiggety jig!
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Post by baz62 on May 6, 2018 13:42:09 GMT 12
Yes I would love to hear and see (hope you know how to post photos on here.....) your experiences in the UK. Sounds like you have the best shows lined up and even steam engine interest us on here (eh Mr Marshall?)
Baz
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Post by typerated on May 6, 2018 14:32:09 GMT 12
It depends of course what you want to see. But you will spend more time driving than watching.
Traffic can be so slow in the UK!
Mildenhall and Lakenheath deserve a full day each too!
Also some of the places are not that flash to spot at - Stanstead, Northolt and Odiham spring to mind!
I'd suggest less is more!
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Post by kevsmith on May 6, 2018 16:49:39 GMT 12
I'll add to the comment re needing to spend a full day.
RAF Hendon deserves a full day. I traveled by train from London and spent the whole day apart from the travel, at the Museum.
Good luck with Biggin Hill. You will find that you need an airline ticket to get in the main gate to the terminal area. However the Heritage Hangar is probably worth a look. Tried the entrance to the GA terminal/Flying School and it was most unfriendly.
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Post by flyinkiwi on May 7, 2018 8:42:35 GMT 12
This opinion may be unpopular but I liked the RAF museum at Cosford more than Hendon. Their hangar full of rare and unique prototypes has to be seen to be believed!
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Post by corsair5517 on May 7, 2018 10:30:58 GMT 12
Driving around the UK is fine.... but; on busy days and at busy times the traffic is a bloody nightmare with carparks on all major arterial routes and you're planning on visiting airshows!!
I solved that problem by using public transport, especially around London and the southeast - easy peasy! The trains in England are great and go everywhere you want to be!
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Post by planecrazy on May 8, 2018 19:24:39 GMT 12
This opinion may be unpopular but I liked the RAF museum at Cosford more than Hendon. Their hangar full of rare and unique prototypes has to be seen to be believed! Sorry if a little off topic so if you had a choice of Old Warden or Hendon which would you chose? Thank you...... |
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Post by typerated on May 8, 2018 20:01:04 GMT 12
Depends what you have previously seen and want to see - and also on the weather.
But Old Warden on a beautiful summers evening is wonderful - a friend described it as whatever problems you have in your life they vanish while you are there.
Like being in a old world bubble.
Museums - however good don't tend to affect your emotions that much!
I can see what you mean about Cosford - Certainly no 2nd best - just different to Hendon or Duxford.
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Post by flyinkiwi on May 9, 2018 12:32:09 GMT 12
I solved that problem by using public transport, especially around London and the southeast - easy peasy! The trains in England are great and go everywhere you want to be! Not to mention really cheap if you find a sale. We managed to buy return fares from London to Southampton (about 90-120 minutes by train), £37 total for two adults! |
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Post by oldspotter on May 11, 2018 21:56:48 GMT 12
This opinion may be unpopular but I liked the RAF museum at Cosford more than Hendon. Their hangar full of rare and unique prototypes has to be seen to be believed! Aye i visited Cosford last year and didnt see everything in one day, returning for the air show the following week was great and yes some excellent old British birds to see as well as Jaguars parked all over the base. Going without the long suffering wife this year, i just cant get enough, Aviation that is! Thanks will be good to compare the two museums. |
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Post by oldspotter on May 11, 2018 22:04:40 GMT 12
Depends what you have previously seen and want to see - and also on the weather. But Old Warden on a beautiful summers evening is wonderful - a friend described it as whatever problems you have in your life they vanish while you are there. Like being in a old world bubble. Museums - however good don't tend to affect your emotions that much! I can see what you mean about Cosford - Certainly no 2nd best - just different to Hendon or Duxford. Agree with you totally about Old Warden mate, i'm saving that for a more relaxed pace another trip over, the wife parachuted from a Rapide back in her army days 1970, turns out its now in the Shuttleworth collection, so we'll take a trip down memory lane sometime! Hope to get that old world bubble when i return to Stow Maries this year for their show, full agreement about 'flying museums' being more evocative, cant wait! |
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Post by oldspotter on May 11, 2018 22:09:18 GMT 12
Driving around the UK is fine.... but; on busy days and at busy times the traffic is a bloody nightmare with carparks on all major arterial routes and you're planning on visiting airshows!! I solved that problem by using public transport, especially around London and the southeast - easy peasy! The trains in England are great and go everywhere you want to be! Cheers man, aye i used to be a delivery driver over there-and i thought it busy then! Hope to have my routes/times all sussed, definately need to be the early bird! |
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Post by 11SQNLDR on May 12, 2018 11:35:04 GMT 12
looks like you have a great trip planned mate. I'm doing something similar in July - fly out on the 4th and back home on the 24th taking in Yeovilton Air Day, Legends, evening pageant at Shuttleworth, RIAT and Farnborough. The old trout isn't coming along, just my oldest son and two aviation nutter mates  Like you we'll be picking up a stack of museums and places of interest from as far north as Edinburgh down to Dover. We have a rental car so we can duck in and out to places of interest. If you have not already seen this web page it's worth a look - many a pint planned in a few of these watering holes!! www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1FtMW5v1xH_l8EBAFGBvlAq09IJo&ll=51.84501531846641%2C0.3902881723090559&z=9 |
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Post by nuuumannn on May 13, 2018 14:44:03 GMT 12
Looks like there could be a WONZ forum meet at Legends or such location...
I used to think that even when I worked at Hendon. Even more so now many of the great WW2 aircraft that used to live at Hendon are now at Cosford, the Bf 109 Black 6, the Defiant, the Fw 190 that used to hang from the roof at IWM Lambeth, the Ki-100, Ju 88 and more join the Me 410, Ki-46, Me 163, Storch etc already there.
11sqnldr, when are you going to be in Edinburgh? I'll be up that way briefly, too. I used to work at East Fortune and will be going back to do some archaeology round some local airfields. Nice to see that link has The Jackdaw in Kent near Hawkinge. A scene was shot there in the Battle of Britain movie with Christopher Plummer and Suzannah York. Will be resting there for a bit.
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Post by planecrazy on May 13, 2018 22:19:06 GMT 12
Planecrazy off to UK on a bit of a bucket list trip, arrive 27/6/18 4 days in
Kent couple of museums and hopefully the Battle of Britain memorial.
Attending one of the two day Battle of Britain show at Headcorn 31/6/18,
across to the Cotwalds up to Cosford. The rest of the trip is the wife's
adventures. Up the the Cumbria, like to check out the Blue bird's history
at Coniston, on to Scotland then back to Legends for both days before
back to Oz 16/7/18.
Be keen to say hello to anyone who will be attending Legends and must
admit I am pretty excited, been keen on warbird and vintage aeroplanes
since I was a young lad so Legends will be a bit of a pinnicale!
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Post by flyinkiwi on May 14, 2018 11:17:32 GMT 12
Sorry if a little off topic so if you had a choice of Old Warden or Hendon which would you chose? Thank you...... Due to a lack of time and available brownie points with the missus I had to choose between Old Warden and Duxford and Duxford won. Not an easy decision but helped tremendously by Duxfords proximity to rail (as we didn't have a car at that stage) and the fact it was open when I was there. |
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