Kim Fedds' Excellent Adventure !: Battle of Britain Air Display

Hi All :)

I've just returned home from a really cool event which happens annually here in Jersey - the Jersey International Air Display. Celebrating it's 50th year this year, there is both a static and an aerial display of warbirds, modern military aircraft, helicopters and the famous RAF aerial acrobatics team The Red Arrows.
I didn't really know what to expect at the display, having never been to an airshow before (with the exception of the Redbull Air Race which totally doesn't count) but I was really, really impressed with the way it was run and the displays that they had. I was most interested in the and they had a Lancaster bomber and a Spitfire which were absolutely wonderful - you really can't understand what they're like until you see them in action and the pilots did a fantastic job.
Personally, I thought it was incredible to see them flying over the bay and Elizabeth Castle and it really helped me to viualise what it could have been like during the war to hear the sound of those planes going past and to know what they meant. They had speakers set up all along the bay with commentary and just before they came out they played the famous wartime speech by Winston Churchill and explained that while more German planes were actually shot down by Hurricanes than by Spitfires the Spitfire became a symbol of hope to the British people and made them believe that with the weapons and the soliders that they had that it was possible to win the war.

The RAF Spitfire

The Avro Lancaster - the most numerous and successful bomber of those used in WW2 and the only one still flying today.

The display also featured newer planes including the RAF Hawk, flown by the Red Arrows, which also did a solo display, and the Saab Viggen, Saab Tunnan and Saab 105, all new planes from the Swedish Airforce. While these aircraft aren't exactly my cup of tea there was no denying the skill involved in flying them and the pilots did some amazing things which made me nervous just watching them! The Saab planes all flew into the main display area in formation - which apparently has never been done before at an airshow and is very impressive - I guess since they're all different aircraft that's particularly difficult? or something? I don't know I'm not an expert but everyone sounded super impressed by it and it looked pretty darn cool :)

The Viggen on the left, the 105 on top and the Tunnan in front

The Hawk

The other super awesome display they had was a Broussard aircraft - a large french utility plane, which had a tiny electric plane, called a Cri Cri, attached to the top of it. The planes flew together for a couple of loops around the bay and then the smaller plane took off from on top of the other one! crazy! It was the first time this has been done in Britain since 1939. Awesome.

The Broussard and the Cri Cri still attached (the little line at the top the Cri Cri's tail

Be free !!!

And finally, the moment most people had been waiting for The Red Arrows closed the show with some of the best flying I have ever seen in my life, including that which I've seen on TV. The Red Arrows are the Acrobatic Squad of the RAF and are used for fly-overs and displays in almost all major ceremonies in Great Britain including the Jubilee celebrations and the Olympic Ceremony. They normally fly in a formation with 9 aircraft however last year, sadly, they lost two members of the team in two unrelated accidents and have been flying with seven aircraft for this season.

I was only there for a couple of hours but it was definitely worth going to and I really enjoyed it - it's really impossible to understand the skill of those pilots until you see them in action cause you just can't comprehend how fast, loud and high they are until you see it. So I'm gonna go watch Topgun but I'll leave you with the obligatory adorable animal pictures I know you all want to see :)