Gothenburg-Save, Sweden - 31/08/2008

Unlike the previous day we were well prepared for an earlyish start and hit the airfield perimeter before the airshow traffic had been allowed to build-up. We spoke to one of the guys dishing out the press passes and explained our situation the previous day. In his words the traffic situation had been a 'disaster', with delays of more than two hours for those arriving from the north.

We were issued with our passes and headed off for the walk down the road to the entrance. The first item of interest that we came upon was the infamous 'Aeroseum', a Cold War Swedish Air Force subterranean hangar carved, incredibly, out of solid rock.

Now declassified, the bunker plays home to a rather impressive collection of aircraft and helicopters, charting the history and development of the Flygvapnet.

There were many other aircraft in evidence that were, frustratingly, out of bounds to the public, including several Viggens and parts thereof, and other assorted relics.

It must've been one hell of an experience to have been there operationally. The sound and smell must've been phenomenal!

Having shot what we could we headed outside to shoot the static. We had assumed that our press passes would give us access to the other side of the rope, but evidently this was not the case - something which seemed slightly surprising given the fact that we could see groups from the 'spotters package' who had been granted exactly that! Oh well...

With the flying scheduled to start, we found our way to the front of a (at that time) sparsely populated crowdline. Conditions were as forecast, some cloud and some sunshine, typically more the former rather than the latter. That said, it did allow for some different shots to those which had come our way the previous day.

The cloud seemingly continued to build, and by now almost no sunshine was falling onto the aircraft in the sky - a real shame as some of the sights would've looked fantastic in some better light.

Noon came and signalled our need to leave the showground. Rach, Steve, Ian and baby Catalina had a mid-afternoon return flight booked, and given that we only had one vehicle between us, we all headed out. This wasn't a problem as by now what little light there was was starting to go against us.

On the way out it it struck us about just how busy the place had become in a relatively short time. There were people everywhere! Queues for the food stalls were tens deep (a real shame as the hot dog we'd partaken for breakfast was rather lovely, and a second one for lunch wouldn't have been turned down!), but we eventually battled our way back to the car park, where hordes were still arriving.

With the others dropped off at the terminal, Clarky, the boy and myself set up camp in a field next to the threshold, along with a whole host of others.

After a luncheon interval the flying display recommenced, but the light was still pretty poor.

As our friends taxied out, the sky in the distance started to look more promising.

The conditions hadn't had time to improve for the solo Lansen display....

.... but by the time the Mustang got airborne, the battle was starting to be won.

The Hunter displayed against a gin clear sky and looked amazing.

Once again the Gripen brought the show to a close, although that wasn't the end of the flying.

The Tunnan, Hunter and the Lansen all headed for home.

As did several Safirs and other light aircraft.

Jet engines could be heard starting again. It was the three Gripens that had been present. After departure I noted that they stayed low, and I'd hoped we may be in for a flypast of some description. I wasn't disappointed!

And that was that. We headed off to get some food - a HUGE pizza each (I don't think any of us thought a 'grande' would be as big as it was. We sat under the approach as we ate them, well, ate as much as we could manage - no-one got beyond the halfway point!

The Coast Guard Dash 8 and Casa 212 departed, away from where we were. Some shots of them in the air would've topped the trip off nicely.

The return Ryanair flight was on time, they managed to bring my luggage, and there weren't even any queues at passport control! It's not often the words 'joy' and 'Stansted' appear in the same sentence, in my experience, but this was one such occasion!

After posting some pictures on UKAR someone suggested that it had been a long way to go for a not hugely inspiring line-up. I'd disagree. For what it cost us to do, and despite all of the frustrations, it was still a great trip. The Tunnan and Lansens made it worth it on their own. Yes, it was disappointing that the Draken was unable to attend, but we knew that well before we travelled. Would I return? Definitely!

Sincere thanks go to my travelling companions, and in particular to Rach for sorting out the accomodation, and to Steve and Clarky for doing the driving.