You can if you fancy getting up close and personal with XH558 pay a few quid for a tour of the Vulcan when she is parked up and again a good idea to help keep her where she belongs. I did buy a VTTS mug for my eldest son who wasn’t with me on the day. Turning back the way I came a stroll through the many stalls and static displays one of which was the Tigermeet F16 of the Belgian Air Force, imagine my disappointment that this was for static display only, why do the display teams send a fantasticly painted fighter and display the standard grey one, surely it would be better to send up the special paint jobs and leave the grey ones for static display, or even better send 2 special paint scheme fighters, one for the ground and one in the air, anyway I digress, the F16 has such a striking paint scheme which looks like quite a few man hours went into that job, top marks to the designers and artists who done it.

The first aircraft to fly for the show were the Boeing E3 Sentry and RC135 Rivet Joint, sadly for me neither of these aircraft have the appeal of the Nimrod which are being or indeed some already have been phased out, I meant to get a shot of the few remaining Nimrods but time constraints meant I couldn’t get to where they were.

The USAF Thunderbirds display team was an eagerly anticipated first for me, based at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nevada. The squadron tours the United States and much of the world, performing aerobatic formation and solo flying in specially-marked McDonnell Douglas F16’s. and the build up to the take off was long and intense, I have to say the suspense was a bit too much, with the team commentator announcing their readiness with “ladies and Gentlemen, the words you have been waiting for… Thunderbirds run em up” now that took a lot of us by surprise and caused much mirth amongst a group of togs who where expecting “Thunderbirds are go!!”

A first class display of tight manoeuvres and precision formations mixed with a few sneaky fast passes ensured an enjoyable team display all the while listening to the commentary from the PA system, which brings me on to a very minor point that had a couple of people nearby commenting about said PA system, the speaker by the media enclosure was placed on the ground but nearby they were mounted up on poles? Why cant they all be placed on the ground so the public don’t have to have them obscuring the view of aircraft or getting a snapshot of the Vulcan taxiing back with a speaker sticking out of it?

BBMF Avro Lancaster Phantom of the Ruhr (PA474) was out in view at the A15 end of the runway while she was being checked over prior to her usual graceful flight and she was looking resplendent in the sunshine, the camouflage livery looked quite colourful from where I was stood so a few snaps of her on terra firma were bagged for the record. Ditto for the Vulcan but I got a shot her with the BBMF flying over too. The RAF red Arrows were on song for their display at Waddo which includes a new manoeuvre called the whirlwind, not an easy move to capture a descriptive photo like for example the other moves which represent shapes like the Typhoon, Diamond 9 etc but an impressive addition to the repertoire.

During one of my walkabouts I was visiting the display team stall of one of the participating F16’s and heard bagpipes getting louder and closer so I quickly went out to see where it was, marching up alongside the trade stalls and static displays were the Royal Air Force pipes and drums playing the bagpipes and of course the drums, this was enjoyed immensely by all the spectators who were parting to allow the band to continue pretty much unhindered, some very good playing from the guys at Waddo, well done lads!

What about aviation enthusiasts who come with families and lets say a member of that family isn’t really into the aerial ballet itself? Well there are a few offerings to keep them amused one of which we found adjacent to the English Electric Lightning cockpit tour, Great British Sportscars LTD had there Zero on display, and Roadrunner Racing’s SR2, these small two seater open top sports cars which are available in kit form or go the easy route and have them build one to your spec, You could have a blast with a qualified racer in the arena opposite the Lightning tour for the sum of 10 pounds and most of that ride will be spent sideways and doing doughnuts in a pall of tyre smoke with amazing precision round the traffic cones, I had to have a go and couldn’t stop grinning about it for hours!

As always at the end of an airshow you have to get out and make your way home, usually through horrendous traffic jams, so we decided to stay for a while longer and let the ashphalt gladiators battle it out and grabbed a bite and a cuppa near to the media enclosure, upon leaving we encountered no traffic problems at all and the journey home passed by quicker than the journey to the event. All things considered with the current defence cuts, which is a worldwide occurrence with defence spending under review pretty much everywhere and not just affecting us here in Blighty, I personally think that the organisers at RAF Waddington managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat this year, well done ladies and gents, give yourselves a pat on the back for this years show.