Apaches Explosive Display Confirmed at Wings & Wheels

Apache

The Apache Attack Helicopter Display Team will be exploding onto the aerodrome this August Bank Holiday when they join the Wings & Wheels line-up on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th August at Dunsfold Aerodrome in, Guildford, Surrey.

Whilst treating visitors to heart stopping acrobatic manoeuvres, the team will also be demonstrating the might of the helicopter’s fire power. In a series of simulated air to ground missile attacks using the aptly named Hellfire missiles, rockets and a 30mm chain gun, this display is not for the faint hearted as it culminates in fire balls and explosions!

Jamie McAllister, Event Director comments: “The skill of the pilots in demonstrating the agility of these helicopters is just one of the Show’s many highlights. The added excitement of explosions and fire to the Apache team’s display not only provides a fantastic insight into the work that the British Army do while out on operations but showcases the astonishing capabilities of the aircraft which are in service.”

The Apache team performs manoeuvres in the helicopter, including high hovers, twists, pedal turns, wingovers and flypasts. Drawn from a pool of suitably qualified and experienced, operationally ready, Apache aircrew and ground crew, the team is not on permanent assignment like other display teams and uses aircraft drawn from the operational Apache Squadrons.

Visitors to Wings & Wheels can also enjoy the world famous Red Arrows, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (Lancaster, Spitfire & Hurricane), Vulcan, Chinook, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s (CWHM) prized Avro Lancaster and a host of other modern and historic aircraft during the five hour flying displays. For four and two wheeled fans, supercars and classic and vintage icons put on an awe inspiring display of power and speed on the Top Gear track in a two hour auto spectacular from Brooklands Museum.

The show also includes over 25 fixed-price catering outlets, 2 bars, hospitality facilities, free on-site parking, public camping, lost children point, disabled access, informative show commentary, opportunities to meet the pilots, official show merchandise and grandstand seating.

Tickets start from £20 for adults, £45 for a family (2 adults and 3 children aged 5 – 15yrs), £6 for children aged between 5 and 15yrs and under 5s are free. Hospitality packages start from £150 per person, weekend passes, grandstand tickets and camping are also available. For more information visit www.wingsandwheels.net or to book standard tickets call 08712 305 572.

Wings & Wheels is promoted by Dunsfold Park Limited and in 2014 will be assisting the fundraising efforts of Brooklands Museum Trust and Help for Heroes.

Flypast planned for Armed Forces Day guests

Armed Forces Day

Saturday 28th June 2014

11.00am – 2.30pm

Veterans and their guests must pre-register

Dakota flypast 1:25pm (weather permitting)

On Saturday 28th June, events across the country will celebrate the contributions made by those who serve and have served in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. The annual Armed Forces Day is an opportunity to reflect and pay tribute to our heroes past and present, including current serving personnel, service families, veterans and cadets.

The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford will once again participate in this annual event by hosting veterans young and old from all three services. During this special reunion, hosted by Museum Staff, all Veterans will be treated to a full day’s programme. There will be free refreshments for guests, on arrival at 11.00am, followed by behind the scenes access to the Museum’s Conservation Centre and a talk from Darren Priday our Conservation Centre Manager about the Dornier Do17 Project. For lunch, veterans will have the rare opportunity of dining with other guests amongst the aircraft and artefacts on display in the Museum’s Hangar 1.

During the afternoon, guests will be treated to musical performances from The Jays, a 1940s Singing Quintet who love nothing more than resurrecting the wonderful hits of the Second World War made famous by The Andrews Sisters and The Glenn Miller Orchestra. Their toe tapping, memory jogging 1940s vocal harmonies will have Armed Forces Day Guests singing along to every song.

A highlight for Armed Forces Day guests and visitors to the Museum will be a spectacular flypast from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Dakota, scheduled for 1:25pm (weather permitting). All-in-all this promises to be an exciting day which will enable Veterans to meet up with old friends, reminisce over shared experiences, and enjoy themselves in the authentic atmosphere and setting of the Royal Air Force Museum. The day will conclude at 2.30pm where guests are free to wander round the Museum.

Event organiser, Louise Hammond says:

“It is an honour for the RAF Museum to be able to host so many Veterans and Serving Personnel for the annual Armed Forces Day. We have a fantastic day planned for guests and we look forward to welcoming new faces, as well as regular attendees to the event”

Attendance to the event is free of charge and by advance registration only. Any Veterans who would like to attend the event, are asked to book their place now by calling 01902 376 200 or for more information visit www.rafmuseum.org/cosford.

Hunter T7 goes on loan to Newark Air Museum

Hawker Hunter T7

In early May 2014 news emerged in the aviation world about the possible scrapping of Hawker Hunter T7, XL618, which was displayed at Caernarfon airfield in North Wales.

Heather Graham of Lakes Lightnings made strenuous efforts to ensure that the airframe was not scrapped and then set about finding a suitable location to display the airframe. Following an approach to the trustees of the Newark Air Museum, an agreement was secured for Hawker Hunter T7, XL618 to be placed on long-term loan at the museum’s site in eastern Nottinghamshire, close to the border with Lincolnshire.

Hawker Hunter T7, XL618 was dismantled by a team provided by Lakes Lightnings and then moved to Newark Air Museum on the evening of Thursday 19th June, where it was reassembled the following day in an area on the museum’s Southfield Site.

The Hunter T7 fits a gap in the museum’s themed display of RAF training airframes and will help tell the story of RAF fast jet training. Following a detailed condition survey, which will be completed jointly by Lakes Lightnings and Newark Air Museum, the airframe will be restored back to its former glory in as yet to be confirmed colour scheme.

http://www.newarkairmuseum.org

RAF Museum wins PR award for Dornier Campaign

RAF Museum awards

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations has awarded the RAF Museum an Excellence Award for its ‘Raising the Dornier’ campaign.

The Awards Night, at London’s Old Billingsgate on Tuesday 17th June, saw approximately 800 guests gather to celebrate over 150 leading Public Relations consultancies, teams and individuals competing to win 30 prestigious CIPR Excellence Awards.

The Museum won its award in the ‘Not-For-Profit’ category for the ‘Raising the Dornier’ campaign. Headed up by the Museum’s PR Manager – Ajay Srivastava, the Dornier story garnered front page coverage across the globe and included live broadcasts of the aircraft being lifted from the waters of the Dover Straits.

Citation from the CIPR:

“Changing the culture of an organisation to work positively with the media is central to any PR operation and a major reason for this entry winning. This excellent campaign, with its detailed planning and using limited staff and budget resources, carefully managed internal and external expectations. Successfully planning for weather interruptions when lifting an aeroplane from the bottom of the sea and keeping the media on side lifted the image of the RAF Museum not only in public but also among the museum community. PR that prompts a donation from across the Atlantic when funds are running out due to the weather is good PR.”

RAF Museum PR Manager, Ajay Srivastava:

“The Dornier campaign was an exhilarating, once in a life time experience which ultimately led to phenomenal worldwide coverage. It’s wonderful for the Museum to receive this accolade from the CIPR as staff across the board gave their time and efforts to make this a successful campaign. . We now look forward to our future campaigns with even more passion.”

www.rafmuseum.org.uk

First World War Aircraft Moved Into Place

Sopwith Camel RAF Museum

This week, staff at the RAF Museum London rolled the First World War Sopwith Camel into the exhibition space dedicated to telling the story of the ‘First World War In The Air.’

The Sopwith Camel is perhaps the most famous and iconic aircraft to take to the skies during the First World War. It was also made famous as the aircraft of choice by the fictional hero Biggles.

This aircraft is to be exhibited in major new exhibition, opening in December 2014 which will allow museum audiences to discover and explore the unique and often overlooked role of air power during the First World War through the incredible stories of the men and women who took part. The exhibition ‘First World War In The Air’, was made possible with a grant of £898,558 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

More info on the aircraft here: http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/collections/sopwith-f1-camel/

And here: http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/collections/74-A-18-Camel-F6314.pdf

Biggles and Chums

Biggles and chums

First World War watercolours and works on paper by Captain W.E. Johns and his contemporaries

Exhibition dates: Open now – 4th January 2015

Location: RAF Museum London

Admission: FREE

The Flying Services – Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service – played a very significant part in the Great War.

For the first time the fighting extended into the air above the battlefield, and this space became vital for reconnaissance of the enemy’s positions and intentions.

At sea, aeroplanes and airships were able to see far over the horizon visible from a warship, as well as spotting for submarine raiders around Great Britain’s coasts. Both sides tried to stop each other taking advantage of this over-view, and hence aerial fighting developed.

The Museum’s art exhibition will feature works on paper never exhibited before, all of them produced during or immediately after the First World War.

Aeroplanes, heroic actions, the new operational procedures of air warfare and portraits of the young men who flew, will be on display alongside parts of Richthofen’s Fokker Triplane and memorials to heroic airmen.

Andrew Cormack, the Keeper of Fine Art said ” … the exhibition has provided an opportunity to show some wonderful paintings, drawings, prints and watercolours which show the aeroplanes and the personnel of the Air Services at work, as well as some remarkable sculpture, all of it from the Museum’s own collection …”

Biggles and Chums is supported by BAE Systems and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

http://www.rafmuseum.org

Great War Commemorative Exhibition heads to Cosford

Great War Exhibition

On display 15th June until 18th July 2014

FREE admission

The Great War Commemorative Touring Exhibition will be heading to the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford this month as part of a year-long tour of the country.

The exhibition consists of two bodies of work of various media in which the artist’s hope to slow the clouding memories of World War One and in this way, pay their respect to those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.

This collection of work is brought to you by the Cheshire Artist Network, an organisation of over fifty professional visual artists who live and work in Cheshire. The network was founded over 10 years ago and their aim is to expand the opportunities for artists to develop their practice, as well as encouraging greater public appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts.

During the opening week, there will be a lecture on the Art of War taking place on Thursday 19th June between 7.00-9.00pm. The lecture is free of charge and anyone wishing to attend is asked to register their interest in advance as places are limited, please email: cosford@rafmuseum.org or call the Museum on 01902 376200.

The Great War Commemorative Exhibition will travel the country during 2014 and will be on display at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford from Sunday 15th June to Friday 18th July 2014 in the Museum’s temporary exhibition gallery in Hangar 1. Entry to the Museum and to view the exhibition is free of charge.

For more information on The Great War Commemorative Exhibition and the wide range of exhibits on display at the Museum please visit www.rafmuseum.org or call 01902 376200.

Sea Vixen Boosts Air Days Carrier Aviation Celebrations

Sea Vixen

The world’s only flying de Havilland Sea Vixen post-war naval strike fighter will be a special part of RNAS Yeovilton Air Day 2014’s ‘Carrier Aviation’ theme. Its appearance in this year’s flying display will be one of the most eagerly anticipated performances in recent years.

Closely following HMS Queen Elizabeth’s 4 July naming ceremony, Air Day 2014 celebrates the role played by airborne assets deployed at sea since aviation’s inception. The Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers will redefine this capability when, from 2017 onwards, they start to enter service but, more than 50 years ago, it was the mighty Sea Vixen which spearheaded the Royal Navy’s sea-deployed airpower.

An all-weather fleet air defence fighter, the twin-engine, twin-boomed de Havilland Sea Vixen entered Royal Navy service in 1959. It was the biggest and heaviest British designed type to operate from aircraft carriers but, now, the uniquely airworthy Sea Vixen FAW2 XP924 is the largest and weightiest classic jet fighter flying anywhere in Europe.

Restored to flight in the late-1990s, with its futuristic lines and thunderous displays, the aircraft has been thrilling Air Day’s audiences for many years, recalling the times when Sea Vixens were based at RNAS Yeovilton. XP924 currently wears the colours of 899 Naval Air Squadron, replicating its exact look when it was based here during its former Fleet Air Arm service days.

Tickets for Air Day can be booked online at www.royalnavy.mod.uk/yeovilton-airday at the discounted advance rates or by calling 08445 781 781.

Sir Peter Jackson Curates Film Season at RAF Museum

Peter Jackson at RAF museum

Sir Peter Jackson, the Oscar TM winning director, responsible for Hollywood Blockbusters ‘King Kong’, ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ has curated a First World War film season of films for the Royal Air Force Museum London. This season will run from 10th to 13th of July with the Museum showing a classic First World War film each evening.

Each film will be screened against the backdrop of the museum’s Historic Hangars, with members of the public able to explore the venue before each screening.

Museum doors open at 6:30 pm which each film starting at either 7:30pm or 8:00pm.

‘Crossing the Line’

Before each main feature, the Museum will be screening a new short film by Sir Peter Jackson ‘Crossing the Line’, which has never been screened in the United Kingdom. A short film with no dialogue written and directed by Sir Peter Jackson. The story centres, a young infantryman and a pilot about to go into battle. Both have comforting reminders of home. As the battle unfolds, the story follows their fate and that of their personal mementoes.

10th July – ‘Beneath Hill 60′: The extraordinary true story of Oliver Woodward. It’s 1916 and Woodward must tear himself from his new young love to go to the mud and carnage of the Western Front. Deep beneath the German lines. Woodward and his secret platoon of Australian tunnellers fight to defend a leaking, labyrinthine tunnel system packed with enough high explosives to change the course of the War.

11th July – ‘Lawrence of Arabia’: Sir David Lean’s emotive epic. The story opens with the death of Lawrence in a motorcycle accident in Dorset at the age of 46, then flashbacks to recount his adventures: as a young intelligence officer in Cairo in 1916, he is given leave to investigate the progress of the Arab revolt against the Turks in World War I.

12th July – ‘Paths of Glory’: Stanley Kubrick in top form. The futility and irony of the war in the trenches in the First World War is shown as a unit commander in the French army must deal with the mutiny of his men and a glory-seeking general after part of his force falls back under fire in an impossible attack.

13th July – ‘The Blue Max’: Starring George Peppard and Ursula Andress. The tactics of a German fighter pilot offend his aristocratic comrades but win him his country’s most honoured medal, the Blue Max. The General finds him useful as a hero even though his wife also finds him useful as a love object. In the end the General arranges for him to test-fly an untried fighter.

For each film he has also written a short critique, explaining how each film has influenced his own love of film-making and epic storytelling. Tickets for each film retail at £15.00 each, plus 50p booking fee, and are strictly limited to 149 people per show. They may be purchased now through the museum’s website, www.rafmuseum.org. Like all best cinematic experiences a selection of alcoholic beverages and snacks will also be able to be purchased on each night from the museum’s Wessex Café.

Lucy Woodbridge, RAF Museum Events Manager:
“The museum’s film screenings are a unique experience for any film lover – can you ever say that you’d sat underneath a WW2 bomber and watched your favourite film? This experience will be even more special thanks to Sir Peter Jackson’s contributions – I am confident that all participants will enjoy their evening and don’t forget all the profits from each evening go to the upkeep of our world beating aircraft collection.”

So if you love film and would like to enjoy one of your favourites in a unique venue why not spend an evening sipping a Spitfire Beer or cold drink whilst watching one of the Greats play out on a silver screen surrounded by historic aircraft. We’ll even throw in the car-parking for free.

Vulcan In Full Effect At Bournemouth

It’s the news everyone has been waiting to hear – Air Festival organisers have confirmed the Avro Vulcan XH558 will be bringing its awesome roar to Bournemouth this August. 

Thanks to a collective effort by Merley House, Vulcan to Bournemouth and Vulcan enthusiast Stephen Young Lord of Westbury and Waxham, the only airworthy example of the classic Cold War bomber has been funded for a single appearance on Saturday 30th August.

Maggie Keet, Bournemouth Vulcan to the Sky Trust said: ‘Seeing the magnificent Vulcan fly is a unique experience. As a representative of Vulcan to Bournemouth I’m so pleased it can now be enjoyed by spectators at the Bournemouth Air Festival once again.’

Councillor Lawrence Williams, Tourism Portfolio Holder, commented: ‘We’re extremely grateful to all those who helped to raise the funds to showcase the spectacular Vulcan XH558 at this year’s Air Festival. It’s an exceptional aircraft and I know many people, like me, will be looking forward to seeing it gracefully glide through Bournemouth’s skies.’

The iconic Vulcan has been a much-loved regular aircraft at the Air Festival since its first appearance in 2009, amazing the hundreds of thousands of people along the packed event arena with its size, roar and sheer presence.

Dr Robert Pleming, Chief Executive of the Vulcan to the Sky Trust said; “We are absolutely delighted that the Vulcan is returning once again to the beautiful venue of Bournemouth, particularly so because it is one of the premier seaside resorts in the UK, in addition to being one of our favourite display venues and an excellent backdrop for an appearance by this iconic aircraft. In the past we have experienced some technical difficulties which have sadly precluded us appearing in the Festival so we are really looking forward to having the opportunity to thrill and inspire the huge crowds that will undoubtedly come along to this superb event.”

For more information visit www.bournemouthair.co.uk