Airshow

I've just realised that I never typed this up. I went to Sunderland International Air Show on July 25th and wrote a 'blog' post immediately afterwards in my notebook. So, here it is:

Where can I possibly start? Okay: my favorites were: Breitling display team (a pair of biplanes, doing aerobatics around each other, whilst an acrobatic wing walker did a routine of handstands etc in a special harness on the top wing), the Harrier (gotta be the most awesome aircraft ever invented. It bowed!!! And hovered and then slid slowly sideways off the 'stage' area, which was incredibly spectacular to watch, I thought it was gonna fall out the sky), and of course, the Red Arrows. Wow! The Victory Roll formation was incredible, the aircraft got into a formation to look like a Spitfire, and then the whole formation rolled together, and then the spectacular breaks with coloured smoke and they looked at times like they were going to hit each other. Also, the Typhoon was fantastic. Rocket impersonater or what! And its agility too, it was incredible. The Spitfires were also fantastic to see (although I'm not entirely sure which was which mark, it was a bit too noisy to hear the commentator properly). The Dakota was also impressive--especially as the version I've built has the exact same markings. Was also rather impressed by the 8 engined bomber, and the warship sat out on the edge which launched its Merlin. Speaking of helicopters, the Black Cat display helicopter was absolutely stunning in its agility. If teh Harrier was flown like a helicopter, this Lynx was flown practically like a jet, swooping and twizzling all over hte place. The Avro Tutor displayed absolutely stunning acrobatics, particularly the stall turns. The F16 from the Netherlands as ace too. Oh! The pair of aircraft that opened. Very impressive. And a live demonstration (complete with some poor soul chucked in the water) of air sea rescue. Can you tell I was impressed? I would've liked to have seen a few WWI era aircraft (or at least, replicas of WWI era aircraft) and a Lancaster would've been nice. But I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed my first ever air show. And oh! How could I forget? The Falcons parachute display team was very impressive indeed, though it was a shame I couldn't actually see the beach where they landed.