Countdown to London Skydrive 2021

Many events claim to be the best.  Who really knows?  And who really tabulates the information?  I've never been asked about ranking events.  Well, that's not really true.  I never answer anything.

All that being said, the London air show, on paper, looks to be really good.  London Skydrive 2021.  I bought a ticket last year, but that didn't work out so well.  I bought my ticket for the 2021 show in April, long before the border was open.  Have to have a little faith.

Well, the border is open.  Not just drive though open though.  There are still a few hurdles to clear.  First is to determine the requirements for border crossing.  From what I've read, you have to (maybe should?) register your trip or crossing.  There is an app for this.  So I've created an account.  My trip can't be registered until 72 hours prior.  And I can't register the trip until I have proof of a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of my border crossing.  And there different Covid tests.   And not all of them are recognized for border crossings.

The pre-trip has been an interesting learning journey.

As to the show, there is a photo pit.  And there are still tickets.  But.....  From what I can see, there isn't much benefit from the location.  You're not by your car, there is no shade provided.  You're on the tarmac.  On a possibly sunny day.  Been there, done that enough times, it can/will get HOT.  I need to see this before I invest.

As to the show, part II:  Line up looks fantastic.  Headliners are the Canadian Snowbirds and the Blue Angels.  Supporting cast include CF-18 Hornet Demo Team, F-16 Viper Demo Team, E-2C Hawkeye, C-2 Greyhound, KC-135 Stratotanker, P-8 Posiden, Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin and HC-144 Sentry.  And a E-3 Sentry (AWACS).

Lots of first timers for me.  The CF-18 Demo team should be great.  They can decal up an aircraft.  And the Snowbirds are supposed to put on an excellent show.

This may sound odd, but the aircraft I want to see most is the AWACS.  The AWACS takes me back to Okinawa.  The AWACS had a detachment there.  This is a memory lane trip for me.

This is from the early 80's.  Yes. they had color film back then.  I would sit on a hill overlooking the runways to take shots with my Minolta XG-1.  And the film would be developed by a local Japanese firm.  I spent a lot of Yen on bad photos.  Hopefully another item off the memory lane bucket list.

So the airshow, for me, will begin Wednesday.  I'll get the Covid test.  I should test negative.  And that might be the easy part.  Then the pressure starts.  The hard part will be to capture the props and helicopters as always.

And then be able to cross back.

SR-71 - 1982 Kadena

This is one of the shots of the SR-71 I took just prior to my leaving Kadena.  (Story below).  Out of all the shots, this is the best with combination of technicality and and subject.  What I didn't notice at the time of the shot was the flight controls.  I took the shot at the time when the crew was performing the pre-flight flight control check.  If only there were digital cameras then...........

Kadena Girl - 1982

This is a fun photo.  This was taken in the fall of 1982 at Kadena.  Really, I can really remember the day.  Just off base at one end of the runway there was a photo stand run by a local guy - we affectionately called Habu Charlie.  He'd take photos of the airplanes and try to sell them.  He also took personal photos with props for any people who wandered by.  And in this case, this young lady and her friend showed up - and Charlie put her in a cammo shirt, helmet and a wood rifle.  This isn't the reason I remember the day - but it helps.

The reason I remember the day is it was getting close to my leaving the island.  I had been to Charlie's stand enough times that he knew me and we had plenty of bad English conversations about planes and photo equipment.  Up to that time, I had never been able to catch the SR-71 taxi and take off in a photo.  I had been trying to get some of these photos for over a year.  Well, on this day, my luck changed - and Charlie kept me in the game.  I had been sitting out at the photo stand for an hours just enjoying the day and catching some of the people such as the girl above and just people watching.  I told Charlie that this was probably my last day.  I was getting ready to leave - and he tells me "Habu - 10 min".   Habu is the local name for snake - but is also what we called the SR-71.  I could not believe this.  How did Charlie know?  I still don't know to this day - but I stuck around and got some great Habu shots.  (Side note - I had a local Okinawan shop do the developing and printing.  I was paranoid thinking that the BX would confiscate the shots!)  Rush of memories.