Propellerheading

So, the Indians. Got 'em in the end. GLC was up on blocks, having it's minor tweaks hammered out, so the fun stuff was loaded onto the fun transport, two wheels the order of the day. Not as smart a departure as I'd have liked timewise, but a departure none the less. Thursday's the start of the arrivals for the airshow at Waddington; I'd not normally bother until the Friday but this promises something rather groovy.

So, an enjoyable blat down to and through Lincoln, a mental wave to my mates there, and out the other side. Looking at the watch, the program for arrivals put me about half an hour late for the first wave of jets... had to accept that they're probably already down, but I'll settle for the second wave; when with about a mile to go before the airfield car park I saw a distinctive jet in the airfield circuit cross over the road right to left. One thing about the Sukhoi Flanker, you know it if you see it. Distinctive it certainly is. And also, one of the few things known to man that's faster than Milo the Mile Eater, my beloved Kwakker. Racing jets is neither big nor clever; last time I did it I pranged my Mini something wicked; but when you're keyed up from the ride, you can't resist the bite, and damnit, nothing ventured nothing gained, right? Gave the engine a certain amount of the beans in the 40 limit and I know I was going WAY too fast when I passed the Police car going the other way; filtering all the way past anybody who had the cheek to be slower than me, pretty balls out by my standards. And it paid off. Coming up to the traffic lights at the approach where the jets cross the road, they're lit red... turn right into the airfield carpark, pay booth up ahead, no time for that; sidestand down, engine off, gloves off, glance up the approach - first jet's coming in - topbox unlocked and opened, camera out already set up, front of helmet flipped up and just in time to clickclickclickclickclick. It really doesn't get any closer than that. Who says plane spotters can't be adrenaline junkies.

A serious time budget was the order of the day here, and the jets were clearly running late... what I saw turned out to be the first jet of the first wave, half an hour behind schedule, which was nice. The other two fighters, and the accompanying tanker came in; I had to be away for a leaving do for a chap at work but balanced it out and figured I could get away with sticking around to catch the second wave, they turned up about an hour later in a nice formation with their own tanker keeping them company, a big Ilyushin 78... these things are not make to keep the environmental mob happy, they are LOUD! Spotters being big kids at heart, bikers doubly so; there was a certain amount of grinning when that big lad dug into the Lincolnshire air with his thrust reversers, boom boom shake the room.

So what of the rest of the day... well, a little time spent watching the first of the arrivals for the show; not much to speak of at this point in time, but it's early days. A nice early highlight, a Hawker Hunter beating up the 'field before breaking to land; for the 'planesmart, one of the prettiest fighters ever built. Always a pleasure to watch. Must be even nicer to fly. Oh lottery gods, be nice to me... Then back on the beasty and a blat back up to Hellville to quickly get turned around into something more presentable and jump into a taxi, join my team in the pub for a bite to eat and a bit to drink, to see our lad Chunky off after many many disreputable years in the job; a declining generation of more interesting people this fella represents; public schoolboy, former draftsman in the aviation (worked on TSR2 for gods sake) and car industry, bon viveur and he ends up in our cursed trade and stays there. Anyway, a whole bunch of folks turned up, cards, balloons and presents were the order of the day and I got ver' ver' drunk but that's alright because so did everybody else.