Leuchars Airshow

[JohnT]

Here are a few comments on the airshow on Saturday from a post I added the Dave Flemings post on his photos - well worth a look, nice ones Dave.

This is not a mump following a frustrating day in the car as really a good day was had by all despite the horrendous wait to get through Cupar and on to the park and ride area. It is a reflection on whether its sensible to have an airshow at Leuchars in mid September when the weather is likely to be unkind. I know that there are obvious historical reasons for it being in September but would it not be better to move it to earlier in the year.

Also perhaps some thought need to go towards the quality of the static dispay which seems to shrink each year. Perhaps thats inevitable in these days of shrinking budgets?

I just wonder if we need to consider fewer but bigger and better shows? Then again we can run into the RIAT problem where the show size becomes a victim of its own success! Lots of questions and not that many answers when one comes to think of it !!

anyway here is what I said to Dave:-

"Hi Dave

thanks for posting those pics.

I was at Leuchars too and and missed most of the day due to the car parking fiasco. Sadly we missed the most of the flying display arriving on the enforced park and ride bus just as the red arrows finished up. So no Arrows (which my wife and son wanted to see really), Vulcan or Saab etc. really just saw the later part which had its interesting moments certainly.

Still had to pay the full £22 admission fee per skull even though it was after 2 pm and had been stationary in the car South of Cupar a dozen miles out for over three hours.

I gather the problem was the red car park had turned into a quagmire from rain earlier in the week and was u/s and that there was no alternative contingency plan. Can't blame them for that. Who would have expected the well known Scottish Summer drought to end with an early monsoon after all. Rain? In Scotland, in September? Never. Or that it might have been apparent earlier. I can't quite repeat here what a cop said to the chap behind me about the lack of planning for contingencies though in fairness the exit planning was the best I have seen anywhere.

All the same the sunny weather (rather contrary to forecasts for poor viz and heavy rain) made the rest of the day fun. I enjoyed the Spitfire display as had a good vantage point to watch it bank and turn right over the parked Vulcan. What with the sun and sky background it was quite memorable.

Anyway not sure I will hurry back. Its pricey now, access is poor due to the Cupar bottleneck from the South and frankly the static dislay seems to get smaller every year with fewer esoteric a/c to see. Even the trade stands seemed fewer than the last time.

I think I'd rather forgo the chances of a soggy wet September day and spend my cash in an English show down South in the middle of summer - or what passes for it

Sorry - didn't mean this to ramble on or look like a thread hijack so I'll post a copy else where with a new thread in case anyone wants to comment !

regards"

JohnT

Edited September 13, 2010 by JohnT

[John]

I wouldn't dream of traveling to Leuchars by road - I've done it once and arrived at the end of the queue just past the Scottish Deer Centre outside Cupar. From there it took hours to get onto the base.

If you live anywhere with a rail connection the train is far and away the best method of getting to the airshow. It can be crowded but in general it's better organised than the car parking and vastly quicker, especially if you're coming from the south.

We decided not to go this year and went to the Bo'ness Hill Climb instead. That was great fun!

John

[ursa_major]

John, a few points to consider:

1) Size of static displays - this is affecting all airshows, even RIAT at the moment as foreign forces just don't have the budget to participate, nor do the home team. RIAT this year was the thinnest static that a mate on the ground eng side can remember. Waddington this year was a pleasant surprise after the very sparse statics of the last few years. if you look at the amount of mil flying that happens day to day, it's decreased dramatically over the past couple of years. If the forces can't afford to keep their pilots in hours for training, where does putting them & aircrews on display for a weekend fit into the squadrons' budgets?

2) Fewer but bigger airshows - in terms of military shows there's RIAT, Waddington, Cosford, Yeovilton, Culdrose & Leuchars to the best of my memory. Hardly an overload compared to years gone by when almost every station would have an 'at home' or BoB day. yet still the participation at the shows continues to shrink in terms of aircraft.

3) Weather - not sure that moving the show to earlier in the year is going to make much difference - in the past few years both Waddington & RIAT in July have been cancelled due to the weather causing problems on the showground & car parks. And a couple of years back IIRC Leuchars was a scorcher of a show,, best weather of any show that year.

4) Leuchars car parks - possibly a lesson not learned from Waddington & RIAT regarding contingency measures and provision of PSP roadways into the carparks to stop them getting churned up? Both of the above shows have learned from the problems of the past and now have these across the carparks.

5) Traffic - not much you can do regarding this apart from careful planning for normality & also cases such as roads being shut off due to accidents, carparks being shut due to being full or unusable. RIAT have learned lessons on this as have Waddington after problems in the past few years. IIRC RIAT '97 or '98 was particularly bad as one of the roads into the red end was closed due to an accident. We didn't get in until around midday that day, despite setting off relatively early from my friend's house nearby. I'd guess that this year the Leuchars team had pretty much a worst-case scenario with a carpark unusable, and at least one accident closing a road. If you have a limited road infrastructure, there's only so much contingency planning you can do realistically. RIAT has the same problem.

[Stephen]

I went up by train and then home by car with fellow BM'er Eng.We were in the car park for an hour before getting out and fortunately the ground had dried a little. I don't agree with an event too far as Leuchars is the only major airshow in Scotland and certainly the only accessible one bearing in mind that the other bases are Kinloss and Lossiemouth and at the other end of the country if you're travelling from Glasgow/Edinburgh etc.The weather is the weather, I've said frequently that there might be better weather if the event was brought forward a month but then you would lose the Battle of Britain signifigence and there's absolutely no guarantee of good weather regardless of when its held.As for the static display, the organisers do the best with what can be had as a lot of countrys won't want to spend money/flight hours from the training budget to send aircraft to sit on the ground for a day.The flying display was great this year with the SAAB J29,Sabre and Hunter fourship fantastic and the organisers are to be commended for getting them as well as the Vulcan and BBMF.

The parking situation could be sorted out with better planning/preparation but on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Stephen

[andym]

We went up by car from Edinburgh. Left early as we always do but did got stuck between Dairsie and Guardbridge for about an hour (but have been worse in past). We had pre-booked on airfield tickets as we were aware that there were no airfield parking tickets availible in day, I assume everyone knew that? We got to car to leave at 5.50 and were off the airfield within 10 minutes, a huge improvment over previous years. As for paucity of static display etc. I'm afraid that's a product of the recession.

I enjoyed it, was especially pleased to see Tunnan as had never seen that before.

Andy

[Dave Fleming]

I hate to sound smug about this, but I'd advise anyone coming from the South/Edinburgh not to go via Cupar.

Sign post for White route traffic from the M90s was routed via the A92, Leven and Upper Largo to St Andrews onto the White Park and Ride just outside St Andrews. I left Dunfermline at 8.15 am and got onto the P&R bus at 9.10. Then took an hour to get into the base by bus due to the congestion at Guardbridge (One area they could look at again, traffic flow around the base could be improved - we were eventually rescued by the motorbike cops and given an escort to thr drop off point) Coming out, we left the base at 4.15, were held up for a few minutes due to the accident on the ST Andrews road, but were in the car at 4.45 and home by 6.00.

I'd prebooked the White P&R, and it was only £2.

I'd advise anyone coming from Edinburgh to go that way - it's been my route of choice for years, this year was the first it's been an official, signposted route.

Edited September 13, 2010 by Dave Fleming

[Pilgrim_UK]

 I actually thought this year was better than last year. Enjoyed all the events and couldnt believe it when my watch showed 4pm. Nice to see the Spitfire at the end of the day just dance around the sky. 

We left at 7.15am from renfrew got in at 9.30am went up the A92 down past St Micheals (with only a 20 minute wait in get in). Left at 5.45pm got home at 8pm when up to the Tay onto A9. We had on base parking and they actually wanted to see our pass (last year they didnt). Prior planning before leaving to go to leuchars cures any car issues.

Edited September 13, 2010 by Pilgrim_UK

[Okdoky]

Well folks. Our family are seasoned Leuchars show goers and we are pleased we went this year again.

To compair two experiences. Our own trip starting at 6:30 from Stirling and my Brother in Law's starting in Grangemouth at 9:00,

We were through Cuper and at the base main gate by 8:30 with rain thundering down on the car. Had a slight delay getting onto the base yellow parking but we were walking on the runway by 9:15 when God had turned off the taps.

Brother in Law was held up in Cuper, held up by the Park and Ride bus ride and got on base by 15:00.

We saw the whole fabulous show and walked slowly to our car on the edge of the runway to have something to eat there before leaving. We were out of the base at 18:15 and directed up to Tayport to head back down the A92. Home by 20:15

Brother in Law made sure he got on the bus back to the Park and Ride early this year (they missed the last bus last year and had to walk back to Seggies field). They got home about the same time as us.

We did say to him that he should be on the road for 6:30 at the latest but he did not listen and missed so much of the show by arriving late again and leaving early this time.

We will be booking on base parking again and leavingafter 6:00 next year to beat all you folks that read this.

Nige

[eng]

Not having been for 5 years and it being the "Finale for the F.3" I just had to go this year. However I've always left the decision to the Friday nite and monitored the weather closely all week, I've had a few years at Leuchars when "the Big chap" hasn't played ball and it's not a nice day at all.

Left Erskine at 0545 and was pulling into the Blue PnR at Seggies at 0735 with the rain still on. Got on the bus and off we went only to have a traffic cop turn the bus back yards from the main gate, the driver, thinking he'd gone wrong, then went up into 2 different side streets and had to do a 3 pointer. By the time he'd been re-directed back towards the main gate the rain really was hoofing down and we were now in traffic gridlock, I gave it 20 mins then asked him to let me off as the worst of the rain passed, and after donning my waterproofs walked onto the base at 0820.

After a stroll round the static display which, I agree was quite sparse, but as already discussed is without a doubt down to recession and deployments, the cloud started to break and by 0945 I'd gone from Nanuk of the North to just a t-shirt!! The light static was more than made up for by a jam packed flying display which was almost constant and certainly varied. I'd have paid £22 just to see the Spit, F.3 and Typhoon depart for the Past, Present and Future display, that had a tear in my eye immediately, and the Typhoon take-off was genius. Highlights for me - the Czech Gripen in the static, and watching the "driver" of the DHFS Huey do a bit of breakin' and entering as he'd obviously mislaid the keys!! In the flying display - the Typhoon, all of them, absolutely awesome bit of kit; any of the Tornado's; the 4 Hunters; the Vulcan; the 2 F-16's which, as always do a cracking display routine, and the Spit, F.3, Tiffie routine.

Getting out, we jumped back on the PnR bus at 1830, and got back to the car at Seggies at 1850 just as thing's were turning to s**t, there were cars pointing in every direction and nowt moving. I've been going to Leuchars since I was about 4 and getting stuck on the way out has always been "just part of the day",as youngsters my mates Dad, who was ex-RAF, used to know alot of the Phantom guy's there and was always able to bribe our way out of the base with stuff from our picnic!! As soon as the RAF/Police turned up and sorted out chaos and got some flow going it was OK and we got out the field just before 2000, and I was home at 2150.

Was it worth it? For the flying display - undoubtably YES; the weather - YES; the static display - maybe not; the transport arrangements - well it's got natural bottlenecks and as such some problems will occur (accidents, weather induced problems) these can't all be foreseen unfortunately. Leaving from home early has always been my secret, I know it doesn't suit everyone and makes for a very long day but if the weathers good it pays off.

Can't wait til next year, and I've promised the kids I'll take them this time too.

Well done to the organisers for a great flying display.

Eng

[Dave Fleming]

I have to admit I didn't use the onbase parking as I wasn't prepared to pay an extra £15 for me and a six year old just to park

[mtd350]

I never had a problem with traffic, got to Leuchars at 0600 and left about 2015.

Parked in one of the hangers and went to work, it was a bloody long day.

[DCRanger]

A few years since I've been but as it is a long trip I have always camped near Perth for the weekend. Never had any problems getting in or out on show day.

I do find it a little ironic that the last BoB air show is about as far away from the actual battle as you can get but it would be a shame for it to end.

[eng]

I never had a problem with traffic, got to Leuchars at 0600 and left about 2015.

Parked in one of the hangers and went to work, it was a bloody long day.

LOL, Perk of the job!! Or is it? Must be a nightmare for staff on show day.

Eng

[Westie7]

I live just north of Aberdeen and as usual went by Choo-Choo.

The 0752 out of Aberdeen is the nine coach Kings Cross train so tons of seats. arrived in time to still bag a freebie tshirt. Left after the Harrier and was in the Takeaway back home by 1900. We passed all the traffic, and the mob at Dundee station and would still never dream of driving.

Must give ScotRail and EastCoast their credit, they had on plenty of staff and extra trains even if it was like something out of the subcontinent at times.

I thought they did well with the flow of the air element to make best use of the good parts of the weather, and although the static was a bit thin and spread out there were some changes. First time my son has seen a VC10 and I've discovered he has taste... he thought it was the best aircraft there.

Long may it continue, with a bit more thought maybe?

Mark