Royal Jordanian Falcons in their Extras - Air Force pilots, logistics by the national airline. Great fun, and they've obviously learned a thing or two from the Blades. They do a great "threading the needle" where one flies head on through the other three in a tight triangle...
USAF Thunderbirds doing their thing. I'm sorry to say, I found them rather underwhelming (other than the noise!). They may have had problems with crowd restrictions, but they spent FAR too much time "off stage" with nothing to watch as they turned around for the next manouevre - I don't think the F-16 is actually a very good display aircraft, They seem to me to be two-trick ponies: flying very close together, and flying towards each other very fast, and that's it. They need a better choreographer, and a better commentator (she could learn a lot from the funny, informative and self-deprecating guy from last years Turkish Stars!)
The Blades doing THEIR things. I think this is some of the best display flying in the world. Skilful, varied and ALWAYS something to watch and go "Oh, wow!" at...
...something I've never seen before: an actual B-17 in the air. Very impressive even in the gentle routine she flew.
Need I say more...?
A rare combination of pilots and aircraft meant the BBMF pair were cleared for a "synchro" display, which was great to watch, if hard to photograph.
To rather cheekily borrow a phrase from the Thunderbirds' commentator, HERE we see "the worlds finest precision aerobatic display team" in action...
Need I say more (part 2)? The double spiral climb was new, and awesome, even if she did do it with the airbrakes out so she didn't end up out of sight at 12,000 feet. One day...
Talk about "dancing the sky on laughter-silvered wings..." Team Viper were having fun.
So, overall I'd say it wasn't a _classic_ Waddington, but it was a Grand Day Out, and that's what counts. And I didn't even add anything to the stash...
bestest,
M.
...........my old home base too
