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Hello all, This weekend was the annual NATO Days public show at Ostrava, in the north east of the Czech Republic. The show is a broad ranging exhibition of military and civilian security forces of both air and land nature. The weather this year was wet and overcast, so a lot of the flying acts were shortened or cancelled when I attended on Saturday. Here's the most presentable of my pics on the day: We'll start with Slovakia, as they were the special co-host nation this year. Among the many things they brought was their newest air asset, the Sikorsky UH-60M Blackhawk: Parked next to the Blackhawk was a veteran Mil Mi-17 of the Slovak Government Flying Service: This Fokker 100 was also part of the Slovak exhibition: As part of the flying display, they threw their A319 Airbus around a bit: As usual, they also furnished the MiG-29 flying display for the event: Canada made their first NATO Days appearance with this CF-18 Hornet: F-16 Vipers came courtesy of Belgium and the Netherlands. Here's the Dutch pair: Lithuania brought three aircraft including this Eurocopter AS365: The German navy brought this aerial survey and monitoring Dornier Do-228NG: This year's USAF KC-135 came courtesy of the Nebraska ANG: Standard at any Czech airshow of prominence is the Saab Gripen: A view of the static park from the tail side: This Hawk in the statics was as much as anyone saw of the Saudi Hawks on Saturday as they ultimately cancelled their performance due low visibility and safety concerns: The Yakovlev Yak-40 is an increasingly rare bird in European skies. The Czech air force maintains two, but plans to replace them in the next year or two: One of the few flying machines on Saturday was the Czech police Bell 412: Adding a bit of vintage feel to the show was this restored two seat MiG-15 that flies on the Czech civil register:

Hello all, Yesterday, I was in Pardubice in the central part of the Czech Republic for their annual air show. It's a largely civilian affair that features a civil fly-in, vintage aircraft of various eras and a bit of modern military aviation. There is also a display of vintage military land vehicles and historical groups reenacting ground battles in which some of the vintage aircraft participate. Yesterday was very hot and sunny. The sun was directly overhead and a bit behind the action most of the day; there was also a ton of heat haze lower down to shoot through. As such, my shots of flying action are nothing to write home about. That said, here's a few images from the day: This OV-10 Bronco is a former Luftwaffe machine that now flies on the French civil register: This was one of a pair of T-28 Trojans at the show: I'd never seen a PC-7 at the Pardubice show before: A pair of Yakovlev Yak-3 fighters: Spitfire TE184 is a regular at Pardubice and seems to have different markings every time: The Mustang "Excalibur" is also a regular at Pardubice: This Stinson Reliant is a relative newcomer to European skies. It was brought to the Czech Republic in June of 2016: Red Bull is a regular participant in the event. This year they brought their B-25 Mitchell, T-28 Trojan, Alpha Jet and Douglas DC-6: Some vintage homegrown Czech GA types in the form of and Aero Ae-145, Orličan L-40 Meta Sokol and a Let L-200 Morava: The flying started with this Beech C-45: This Let L-410 Turbolet was part of the official show opening flypast made up of the various training types based at Pardubice: This Beriot XI replica was enjoyable to watch: The Red Bull DC-6 put on an incredibly nimble performance for a larger aircraft. Initially it was not scheduled to be at the show, but was a last minute replacement for a Lockheed Constellation which had to cancel for technical reasons. A fair substitute, I'd say: This was one of a pair of Czech based Harvards in SAAF markings that put on a great performance: A couple of the locally based training helicopters in the statics:

Hello all, Yesterday, I went out to the central part of the Czech Republic to attend the biannual open day of Čáslav air base. The weather was slightly better than forecast, but still far less than optimal. I have to say this event has changed a lot since I first attended it in 2011. Year on year it gets bigger, but they need to work on the logistics to make the event fit the larger size of crowds. With a single runway and three or four aprons spread out along it with a fair distance between them, I'm not sure the base is making the best use of the available space. large chunks of the static display line were set up between the crowd and the dynamic show line. As such, it was quite difficult getting close to some parts of the static line for people standing there to watch the dynamic show. There were large empty areas of the aprons that would have been much better for placement of static displays and would not have obstructed views of the dynamic show. Transportation arrangements to and from the base to the Čáslav rail station also were not optimal for the increased volume of people this year's event saw. Hopefully these matters will be better dealt with at the next one. At that, here's a few of my more presentable shots on the day: This is an Aero L-159 ALCA in a special scheme reflecting a Spitfire. This event was the public premier of it: Another member of the Čáslav home team, the Gripen: A veteran of the Cold War and stalwart of the Czech air force, this is one of two Yak-40 aircraft still in Czech service. They will be replaced soon: A look down part of the static display line shows a bit of the international flavour of the event. Military Participants came from Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and Switzerland: Belgium brought both their F-16 solo and Agusta A-109 display to the show: The Patroille Suisse brought six jets, but opted for a four plane display. It was no less impressive with four: I'm putting this pair of civil machines into the mix not only to show the broader flavour of the show, but also out of respect for their pilots. While the forecast rain stayed away, the early part of the show had some strong winds and both these guys displayed in them: Thanks for looking. Any and all comments are welcome

Hi Guys, last weekend was the Classic Fighters Airshow at Omaka, Blenheim, New Zealand. Despite the worst weather to hit New Zealand, swamping some towns under water, the airshow went ahead and was blessed with blue skies at times. The organisers were very lucky and its a credit to them and everyone involved that it went off as smoothly as it did. Here are a few images and a link to an album. Link to my Flickr album. https://flic.kr/s/aHskTnQduh Enjoy.

Morning all, With the airshow season now in full swing, I thought I'd share a handful of images from a busy month. Abingdon_2015_06 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Abingdon_2015_12 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Abingdon_2015_30 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Abingdon_2015_31 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Aries-Tor_2015_003 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Aries-Tor_2015_002 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Aries-Tor_2015_027 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Aries-Tor_2015_058 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Aries-Tor_2015_005 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Duxford_VE-Day_001 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Duxford_VE-Day_117 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Duxford_VE-Day_108 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Duxford_VE-Day_056 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Duxford_VE-Day_023 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Duxford_VE-Day_093 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr CWJOD_MAY15_100 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr FFD_070615_03 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr FFD_070615_07 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr VL_100615_100 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Merryfield_2015_099 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Merryfield_2015_100 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Beginning to get a bit of a back log of editing, so new shots will slowly be appearing on Flickr for those interested in seeing more Cheers, Shaun

Wonderland Models will be attending Scotland's National Airshow at East Fortune tomorrow, Saturday 23rd July. Book your tickets by 5pm today, 22 July, for a thrilling family day out. Head to East Fortune Airfield for an afternoon of breathtaking aerial displays where the RAF Red Arrows display team, plus a host of aircraft old and new, take to the skies. The Red Arrows will be supported by two other RAF displays including the Typhoon. Also brand new to the line up are the Swiss Air Force PC-7 TEAM in nine Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainers, and the Norwegian Air Force Historic Squadron in a MiG 15 UTI and two de Havilland Vampires. The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight brings the iconic Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane. Other aircraft making an appearance are the Black Cats helicopter display team, a Catalina flying boat and three bi-planes; a Fairey Swordfish, a Stolp Starduster and a Bucker Jungmann. Watch out for our distinctive yellow and blue marquee, we hope you can all attend and look forward to seeing you there.

Throckmorton 6th June: http://throckmortonairshow.co.uk/ Defford Air Day 13th June: http://www.defford-croftfarm.co.uk/deffordairday.htm See you there! Rick.

Hello all, Yesterday was the biannual open day of the Czech air base at Caslav, which is in the central part of the Czech Republic. It was a good mix of military, civilian, modern and vintage, but generally poor weather for photography. The forecast rain held off, but it was cloud and diffused light for the bulk of the time. This year also marked the tenth anniversary of the Saab Gripen in Czech service. The first thing that greeted visitors after entering the base was three preserved aircraft from the history of the base: Special tenth anniversary of Czech Gripen service tail art plus a couple of a Swedish two hole Gripen: The Polish contingent made up of a CASA 295, F-16D and a PZL SW-4 helicopter: A Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter replica in the vintage and civil end of things: A Beech T-34 Mentor and DeHavilland DHC-2 Beaver: A Pilatus P.2, Beech C-45 and a T-28 Trojan: A Stearman freshly repainted for the 2015 season and a Z-37T AgroTurbo: