Weston Park 2019

[DDH]

Ventured to the Weston Park air show yesterday (Saturday). Mistake. Cold, dark, pricey (£14 entry fee - no BMFA member discount either), muddy and quite windy. I left after about 2½ hours – got bored stiff. Turned out Friday weather was OK after all and today (Sunday) reportedly not a lot better expected than yesterday. Should have stuck to my original plan and gone on Friday for the ‘best’ of the weather. Bummer.

Last time I went to Weston was 10 years ago. It was all a thrill then and I’d join the queues of buyers and purchase about £200 of stuff, spending the whole day there (wasn’t always sunny, warm and mud free). Now a victim of its own success me thinks. Soooo many people – and cars (maybe not far away from having to become a ticket only event to ‘limit’ numbers). Car parks filled up very early (plus those already there from the many campers and caravaners), so about a 10 minute walk from the car to the action.

More than double the trade stands (and chuck wagons) than 10 years ago. But get this, unlike then, I saw very few people buying things – not a queue in sight. I bought nothing – apart from fish and chips for £8 (quite nice too). I’d guess the internet is having the same effect as with the high street – there again I’m now blessed with Wheelspin Models and Mike’s Models not being far away.

I understand there’s an overabundance of the now-must-have sport type models doing repetitive prop hanging and often generating smokescreens Zzzzzzz...

All look-a-like stubby clipped wings with big petrol engines and an absence of ‘character’. Heck, with a big enough engine, you could fly a brick. Hence my getting clinically bored early on – the cold, wind and mud (and lack lustre trade stands) certainly didn’t help. So overall, 1/10. Others, of course, will have found things to the contrary. Hope they did.

Trust I'll find the LMA show at Cosford in July is better. At least I can have a wander around the RAF museum for free if serial ‘boredom’ and/or rain and cold wind sets in.

PS. A display flyer doing impressive things with a large bi-plane inexplicably left the display zone to perform various aerobatic feats over a car parking area to the rear of the front stalls. Not a warning word from the commentary box. Baroness Vere and Dame Deirdre Hutton, plus their quango mates, would have loved to have seen that one! Astonishing.

[Ron Gray]

Not sure if I went to the same Weston show. Got there at 10.15, a queue to park but it moved quite quickly. Lots of people already there but did the usual of walking the trade stands and saw lots of buying activity, especially in the Nexus and Rapid tents. Rain came down forcing a lot of people into the tents but the sun did come out later on. Lots of mud but anticipated that so had appropriate footwear. Watched some very good flying displays, not just 3D and jets but electric sports and scale. Having made a shopping list went back to various tents and found a lot of stock had gone And also saw a lot of people with bags and boxes of purchases. Left the show at about 5 and no problem getting off the fields! All in all a great day out.

[Colin Bernard]

Have to agree with Ron, we enjoyed it. As Billy Connolly says, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes!", so when the rain came we just hunkered down under our bellies. For me I would have liked to see more club type planes displaying though.

As to the fish and chips I have to disagree - worst I've had. Not used to floppy batter I guess. Not worth £8. Should have used the noodle bar next door!

[KiwiKid]

A regular gripe I have seen people making is the number of bods on the wrong side of t'fence, blocking the view of the paying punters.

[Steve Jones 2]

Don’t know what you mean ... I could perfectly stood at the front .. lol

[Tim Ballinger]

I went today (Sunday), had a great day some excellent flying skills in a 20 knot x wind. Few showers, some sunshine ground been worked hard ( or is that soft) butter better than I anticipated. Full size grob duo were magnificent . full size spit replaced the hurricane for a little cameo. Oh and never forget the LMA Lancaster’s .they were awesome. Trade looked good if not crowded out and I bought the last Cambrian 55 inch Spit on their stand so I am set fair.

tim

Edited By Tim Ballinger on 16/06/2019 17:57:54

[alan barnstable]

Went Saturday, weather fine apart from showers lunchtime. Thought it was it was a great show. with good variety of models, plus full size Spitfire; glider; Pitts; and tow plane.

[dave parnham]

Went Saturday arrived about 10 am, there was a heavy shower around 1pm lasted about 20mins, my brother and I both spent big on bits and bobs and both brought kits from Rapid RC.

Stayed for the night display which was the best ive ever seen in the 3 shows ive been too.

Left at 11.15pm very happy indeed.

shame about the endless 50mph motorway limits got home at TWO am!!!

Would do it all again tomorrow.

[Guvnor]

Went today (Sunday). Two gripes, stupid number of bodies standing around in front of the fence blocking the view, and secondly, by 1:00pm today, most of the pilots and their interesting models had departed, leaving us with endless 3D aerobatic displays.

[Devcon1]

First visit for me, always clashed with other events even though I've been going to the odd show since Sandown and Sywell.

Have to say I was very impressed. Went today and although the weather wasn't quite June it didn't hamper the flying and apart from one short sharp shower it was OK. Conditions underfoot were no problem.

The Grobs and spit were a bonus. Hugely impressed by the Quad racing setup with the split screen showing the action. Will take my goggles next year for the full experience. The Heli section was fun with the commentator really helping to make the connections between crowd and pilots, enjoyed the little bit with Iron Man and the lady pilot. Car racing also fun.

Blown away by, apologies can't remember the name, the young 11 year old Israeli pilot and Jace the Ace. They put on a duo slot which was the best flying I've ever seen.

Enjoyed the mass fly with the PB models and watching Jace, I think, rifle roll his model very low, very fast and very straight.

Well done Mr Bishop and the team for a very slick event.

Great to see proper beer being available and a note to myself to take bike next year to make it quicker to make it around the site.

✈😀

[Dom (Essential RC)]

Gallery of stills from 4K video shot from the flight line for the 'Essential RC' YouTube channel here **LINK** and starting to upload videos already from what was a fantastic show

[Tim Ballinger]

... and was anyone else blown away by those small, incredibly fast ‘prop’ driven Italian jets of the Tortuga(?) team. Made all the more memorable by a highly excited Italian team members commentary?

Tim

[Andy Meade]

Tim - yep, very reminiscent of some of the keen full size commentators that get a bit carried away! SAB I think the manufacturer is, also flew those large canards - "Arctic" and "Havoc" I think?

Agree with the flightline hangers-on. Looks like if you're the pilots daughter / dad / nan / gran / next door neighbour / dog / cat, you get better seats than Joe public. Not only is it bad for those paying for the show,sure it's bad from a flight line safety point of view? Should only be a pilot, spotter and the flight director on that side imho.

Oh, and arrived Friday morning, came back home Sunday afternoon, great time had. Shame the bring and buy was a bit lack lustre.

[Devcon1]

That reminded me, I was also going to say the two quality SAB pilots and models were memorable for the excitable and great to listen to, hugely enthusiastic Italian commentator who was quite unique in his delivery and all the better for it..

The pyro show was a spectacle but I did note, after the impact, a black model end it's useful life by spearing itself into the pits area which was quite some distance from the pyro flight line so clearly something went wrong but also shows the impact was still away from the crowd demarcation line.

Will definitely attend for the Saturday and evening flying next year.

[Richard Marklew 1]

Went Friday (cant be doing with crowds ) and enjoyed the short time I spent there (not the fault of the show, just not well). I do agree with the OP about the prop hanging and the smoke, which did seem to be in the ascendance over the flying I like, which is more of the scale stuff. However, each to their own and as I was there for only a short while (as the OP says he was) I assume that over the day the balance would have been OK. I also think that the flight discipline could have been better. I did not see any flights over the crowd, but I did see some directly at the crowd, quite low and quite close. Not impressed by that!

I do try and go to WP as I live less than 10 minutes away, I like the Friday atmosphere and the flying has always been impressive. The modelling trade stands seemed to be down on two years ago, but still plenty there. All in all, very enjoyable despite feeling totally rubbish, glad I made the effort.

Richard.

[Martyn K]

First time for me. I went Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Yes - rain and mud was a problem but it didn't dampen my enthusiasm too much. I an not usually a voyeur, I prefer to fly rather than watch but it was nice to nip down on the bike and spend the day with friends.

I stayed until the close so also watched the fireworks and the full size glider evening displays. (with lights and fireworks). This IMHO was the best part - absolutely loved it.

The mass prop hang wag good to watch. We also had a Spitfire and Pitts special displays (full sized). I bought a couple of rolls of film plus food.. Burger for lunch and noodles for tea - both very tasty.. Expensive - yes, but probably than the NEC,

Yes there was probably too much 3D for my taste, I was expecting the Dawn patrol but they were absent, I would have liked to have seen more displays from other types of models as well but the paying public apparently prefer 3D.

Don't forget, there were also cars and boats on display elsewhere as well.

It was a great day. Apparently attendance numbers were down, probably due to the weather.

Martyn

[Lima Hotel Foxtrot]

Posted by DavidH on 16/06/2019 10:27:10:

pricey (£14 entry fee - no BMFA member discount either),

I suspect that the cost of organising this is pretty hefty, and if every BMFA member (or, LMA, or FPVUK etc) member who went wanted a discount then the organisers simply would not be able to afford the show.

They could ameliorate this by putting the ticket prices up to cover the disparity, but that would defeat the point and fewer non BMFA members would go because of high ticket prices.

Or the organisers could charge more for the retail stand patches, for which the retailers pay a lot, so their prices would either go up or they wouldn't bother going at all.

[Concorde Speedbird]

I attended with my Dad and Grandparents for Saturday and Sunday, with camping. It was probably the best show I have been to, the full size Pitts and Spitfire were excellent and the night show was incredible. Lots of traders and the swap meet was excellent, particularly on Saturday, and the model displays were very enjoyable, especially the funfighters!

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Posted by KiwiKid on 16/06/2019 15:21:15:

A regular gripe I have seen people making is the number of bods on the wrong side of t'fence, blocking the view of the paying punters.

While I can see that the pilots and helpers need access to their models for preparation/repairs etc. the simple way to control this would be to ban all chairs from the area. I didn't go this year for the first time in several years but if this is typical, I don't think I would have been happy and it may well influence the decision to go next year when choosing which events to attend.

[Nigel R]

It's a bit cheesy to have the "plus one" group right in front of the spectator line. Why not off to one side a bit? Everyone wins that way.

[Denis Watkins]

At most shows the " groupies " sit just along the fence, with none standing unless, flyer, spotter or Marshall

I am sure this was a over site this time, as at previous shows at Weston, the pilots could clearly be seen during there spot

[Denis Watkins]

At most shows the " groupies " sit just along the fence, with none standing unless, flyer, spotter or Marshall

I am sure this was a over site this time, as at previous shows at Weston, the pilots could clearly be seen during there spot

[Paul Marsh]

A good weekend. Get annoyed with people moaning about the dark, wet weather- we are in the UK after all. Where's the great british spirit?

Nothing you can do about it, but 95% of the flying took place, and not affected it too much. Bought 3 models and loads of other bits.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Geoff Parkes]

Only living some 15 mins. from Weston i have attended the show for more than 15 years, never been disapointed, regarding the weather the average club field is affected by the U.K.weather, we all moan about mud, rain wind etc but we done our boots, wellys and bad weather clothing and turn out to enjoy our hobby ( for how much longer is another story ) after the shock of the £14 pound entry fee i was amazed to see what a large turn out on such an iffy day weather wise. I went on Sat. only one big shower about 1.00,just as i got back to my car for lunch, My visit to SLEC to stock up with wood was my first visit, you cant beat their show prices for balsa and they have an endless quantity to select from. i think the trade was about the usual size for this show, not certain about prices as i only buy wood from shows now. Good old Dave. Bishop was co-handling the mike for the comentary , i thought he had retired ? when the Lancaster did a no show on Sat. afternoon he filled in the time as only he could, but it was a nice surprise when a griffon ?engined Spitfire turned up and did an impressive display, yes i agree that Jase "the ace"Desuza was very good but the young Israili pilot stole the show for me , maybe because we had seen Jase. before we knew what to expect, but nor seeing the israili lad was all new. all in all i enjoyed the show and will be looking forward to next year.