During a walk through the New Forest, I came across this fallen tree. When a large tree falls, it is always somewhat surprising because the scale of large trees gives them an impression of imperviousness. Of course, they will all fall eventually. When they do, it seems like it is a big shock. The roots are still bound tight with earth and standing beside this gives you an impression of the scale. I stuck myself in there just for reference!
When I went to the military air show at Shuttleworth earlier in the year, I had a really good time. I then saw a bunch of advertising for the Festival of Flight which they described as their biggest show of the year. Having had a really good time previously, I didn’t feel a strong need to go back. I was quite happy to skip this one until… On the Friday, I saw some images from people that were there of the planes arriving. There was a lot of stuff there including all sorts of unusual old types. One plane in particular caught my attention and that was the Dassault Flamant.
Now I was thinking about going. Saturday we already had plans, and I wasn’t going to mess with those. Sunday was a bit more open, and the forecast was certainly looking better. When Nancy said she didn’t have anything specific she wanted to do, I made the decision to go. This was absolutely the right call. The show turned out to be an absolute blast. The afternoon displays were excellent and then, after the pause, the evening display was started a little early. I will talk about the rest of the show during other posts, but this one is all about the Flamant. A transport aircraft that Dassault built for the French military, a few of these are apparently still around. It is such an interesting looking plane and seeing it operate at close quarters in such a nice location was great.
2025 is 200 years after the Stockton and Darlington Railway first operated. While some might debate what the first true railway was, the UK industry is celebrating this year as Rail200. There are events taking place across the country throughout the year. One of these was held at the Severn Valley Railway at Kidderminster and we took one of our trains to be part of the display. This was our HydroFLEX unit, and I went along to support the visitor tours.
HydroFLEX is the first UK hydrogen fuel cell powered unit that is cleared for mainline running. We use it to test the technology and learn what is involved in a hydrogen fuel cell train. There are multiple technologies that will be needed to decarbonise the railway, and this is one of the ways forward that is being explored. We had it open to view at Kidderminster and had a steady stream of visitors coming to look at it. They had lots of interesting questions and some interesting opinions on all sorts of things – many not to do with hydrogen power!
The train is a converted Class 319 – a type I used to ride frequently when Thameslink operated them, and we lived along the Brighton mainline. Three of the vehicles are basically unchanged other than interior changes including a boardroom configuration. The fourth car is the one where everything is different. It has four fuel cells that provide power along with a battery under the vehicle. These fuel cells generate a lot of heat along with the electricity, so large cooling fans are incorporated.
The fuel cells are supplied by high pressure hydrogen tanks. There are 36 of these tanks made from spun aluminium wrapped in Kevlar. We would take visitors through this vehicle to see the changes that make it a hydrogen powered unit along with all of the safety systems. It is a cramped space, so we had to pre-book visitors five at a time. We could have shown many more people if we could have fitted them in because demand was high.
It is really interesting to be involved in a technology demonstrator of this sort. Our team has worked so hard on creating and developing this unit and we have learned so much that will hopefully be taken forward to trial operations and will then feed into the design of a production train. The train regularly goes out on the mainline so you can see it if you are in the right place at the right time.
Mesa Gateway airport in Arizona does get some airline visitors. Allegiant was bringing some jets in while we were visiting early last year. GlobalX also had some coming in. Judging by how many of their jets I saw off to one side not looking too active, I assume they undertake some maintenance work there too. Not a ton of variety with these two but here are some shots of their planes. Makes a change to not show a GlobalX jet at Boeing Field!
We got some tickets to an event at Marwell Zoological Gardens that took place after normal hours. Having done some after hours events at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, we were interested to try this. It was a different format from what we had done before. Instead of lots of people being free to roam the zoo with various food outlets around the zoo, this was a more compact group of people. We were escorted by zoo staff including some of the keepers and they took us to specific parts of the zoo and were able to give us answers to any questions we might have while telling us about the animals and what they need/like.
While they wanted to try and keep everyone together, they were very accommodating if you wanted to linger a bit at one area. There was also a buffet mid way through the visit so we could all have a break and some food. The CEO was one of the people taking us around so you could ask any questions of how a zoo operates if you wanted to.
Zoo animals can always be a bit tricky. They do like to spend time in parts of their enclosures that are the least visible. Also, since this was later in the day, some of them were already getting ready to bed down for the night. However, we did pretty well with what we saw. The servals were the most elusive, but we did see one of them from a distance.
The rhinos were the trickiest. They have a large field that they wander around, and it didn’t seem to matter where around the enclosure I was, they were always far away. It almost seemed like they were following us around and making sure they stayed as far away as possible! I had not come with my bigger cameras and lenses and so the photos were a bit distant.
Whether it was smiling while watching the ring-tail lemurs, enjoying the giraffes as they lick everything with their massive tongues, seeing the tiger stretched out and dozing or debating whether the Dorcas gazelle where more interested in me than I was in them, I had a ton of fun. There was one enclosure that was particularly fun but that will get its own post. I would certainly recommend this if you are interested.
During RIAT, the RAF undertook a role demo with the Chinook. As part of the display, they picked up an underslung load to fly around a bit. The crew under the helicopter were ready to hook on the load and then let out the cables to make sure it was picked up properly. As I watched this happening through a long lens, I realised that they weren’t alone under there. There was a photographer recording their activities. He appeared to have a stills camera and probably a video camera mounted above it. I thought it quite amusing that I was photographing someone photographing the display.
Nancy and I were out walking through the countryside not too far from home. As we came along one of the little lanes, I thought it seemed familiar from a previous bike ride I had done. On that ride, I was surprised to see some pigs rummaging under the trees alongside the road just the other side of a fence. I mentioned this to her at the time and, as we walked on this day, I wondered aloud whether they would be there again. Sure enough, there were a pair of porkers snuffling in the ground for food. One was closer to the fence, so I took her picture before we continued on our way.
In the late ‘80s, I got to go to my first serious air shows. The Air Fete at Mildenhall was the first one I did that was a specific trip and it became a regular feature for me. One of the regular displays at that time was the Lockheed TR-1 from USAFE. The designation was a bit of a feeble effort to pretend that they weren’t U-2R airframes and that they were a tactical asset. I don’t think anyone bought that. A few years later, they were re-designated as U-2R so I guess there wasn’t much to distinguish them. With later upgrades and a new engine, these then became U-2S airframes.
We lived for a while in Huntingdon which was close to RAF Alconbury where they were based. If you want to see the widest HAS structures, Alconbury had them because the TR-1s lived in their own HAS. One would launch at 7am every morning to go and have a look at the neighbours to the east and you could use it as an alarm clock! Very regular. They were withdrawn to the US after the wall came down and so the only way to see them was with deployed aircraft operating from locations like Fairford.
Their presence there combined with the Eyes in the Skies theme of RIAT this year meant that there was the potential for a display of one of the aircraft. It wasn’t long after Beale AFB had held their show where a jet was also displayed so two displays in short order. A U-2 is not going to be ripping up the sky. However, it will climb rapidly – particularly as it won’t be fully fuelled – and you do get to see the approach and landing. We were also treated to a low pass along the runway followed by a steep climb away which was great because the original take of was a bit far off and didn’t result in any shots I was too happy with.
While one airframe was on display in the static lineup, the display aircraft was a bit more interesting because it was fitted with the Senior Span satellite communications mount on the spine of the aircraft. This is a big fairing and makes the plane look very different. There was also a shark mouth painted on the nose. All in all, a great addition to a show that already has a ton of cool performers.
A Georgian post box got a “post” a while back. That one was a regular post box on a road in Winchester. This post box is a lot older as it is Victorian. The fact it is located at a vintage railway leads me to think it hasn’t always been there, but it is still a legitimate post box with collections by Royal Mail. The ornate design is very appropriate for its time.
I had been able to photograph the B-17, Ye Olde Pub, when it appeared at the show down at Klamath Falls in Oregon. That was a bit of a hike to get to. In 2024 it put in an appearance at a show a lot nearer to our then home – the Olympic Air Show at Olympia. That made for a far shorter trip to see it – its home in Madras OR is also a fair trek. Olympia is only about 1:45 away if the roads are good.
The put on a good flying display for the show. The light was surprisingly good for Olympia! It is held on a weekend in June that has a remarkable track record of delivering substandard weather. The local photographers constantly wish for it to be moved to a different time of year without any success. The plane was operating from the main ramp area which meant it was very close to you when it taxied in and out.
I wasn’t the first to spot this so I can’t claim to be the inspired person, but there is a taxiway marker board at Olympia that says B17. That made it quite easy to get a shot of the plane taxiing out with the B17 board in frame. A bit cutesy but I don’t think anyone was objecting. It seems like a lot of the airworthy B-17s are having major maintenance undertaken at the moment so having Ye Olde Pub active is great. I won’t even get upset about the use of the words “ye olde”!
