RAF
Cranwell - 17th July 2008
A
last minute invitation to
attend the Central Flying
School Association Reunion,
saw Skippy
and myself heading up the
A1 and across to Cranwell,
where we met Mikey Hind and
our host Flt Lt Leon Creese,
2008 King Air Display pilot.
Following
a session in the sim which
included Leon flying us through
the display routine, and putting
a completely different slant
on how it looks, we headed
over to the 45(R)Sqn crewroom,
where we were introduced to
Flt Lt "Seb" Coe,
who'd be looking after us
and commentating on Leon's
display. By
now it was raining - quite
a bit.
Opening
the programme was the Tucano,
from 1 FTS at Linton-on-Ouse.
In the conditions it wasn't
pretty. Quite how there was
any flying at all was something
of a mystery!
The
low cloud base wasn't an issue
for Alan Wade in the Slingsby
Firefly, however. As always
an exemplary display of low-level,
high energy flying.
Flt
Lt David Davies commenced
his display in the 4 FTS Hawk
before aborting early as conditions
deteriorated further.
Flt
Lt Andy Preece sat on the
ground for some time waiting
for the worst of it to push
through, before commencing
his display.
By
now we were soaked to the
skin, but finally it was Leon's
turn. Conditions rendered
any shots of the display useless.
It
was great to see the BBMF
Spitfire Mk IX sporting its
new livery and Flt Lt Charlie
Matthews in the 29(R)Sqn Typhoon
T1 together for a couple of
passes, before Charlie moved
the leavers through the gate
and accelerated skywards,
leaving the Spitfire to perform
a lovely solo routine.
 
Closing
the show were the Red Arrows
in comfortably the best conditions
of the day - in fact, the
skies were rather lovely!
With
the show over Leon offered
to take us out onto the ramp
to get some static shots before
everything was put away for
the night.
It
was the first time I'd seen
one of the new "Bling
Airs", as Mikey's affectionately
christened them. They're Beechcraft
King Air 200GT models and
are much more advanced that
their elder brothers.
Finally,
a couple of visitors in conjunction
with the reunion were these
Valley Hawks.
Sincere
thanks go to Flt Lts Leon
Creese and "Seb"
Coe for looking after us so
well.
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