Great Vintage Flying Weekend - 15th-16th May 2004

G-VFWE moved this year from two successful years at Kemble to a new venue at Abingdon. It is a very british event. It's a very laid back weekend with the gentler end of aviation providing the action. Paul Johnson/Flightline UK reports from what is now a mammoth event.

Last year (2003) departures from Kemble overloaded Lyneham Radar control. If the event wanted to expand (something it had to do to keep up with demand from the pilots) a new venue was needed. The big underused airfield at Abingdon seemed ideal, and the increase in aircraft numbers proved that.  With over two hundred aircraft appearing it day, this is one of the biggest events on the calendar in terms of aircraft numbers. Standing out amongst the pack was a highly unused and beatifully restored swiss registered Potez and an equally stunning Miles Hawk restoration making their UK debuts.  There were simply all to be mention here, so we'll let the pictures do the talking.

Despite being so successful aircraft wise, one minor headache for photographers was the layout of the show site. It really wasn't possibly to get as close to the runways to get those airbourne shots without the use of a high powered telephoto lens. Another worrying incident occurred when two families managed to walk across the active hard runway on Saturday from the Dalton Barracks side.

Despite these relatively minor niggles, the show was again another relaxed and ionformative day out. We hope the trend continues next year.

 copyright Flightline UK 2004