Redhill Airshow 2004 - 15th August 2004

One of the hidden gems in the airshow calendar is a delightful small show at the picturesque Surrey grass aerodrome just outside Redhill. As well as a small afternoon flying display, the show also has a very good fly-in full of rare types, an aerojumble and a garden party style marquee and jazz band. It really has one of the best atmospheres on the circuit and is well attended by people form the local area. Paul Johnson/Flightline UK hops over the M23 to report. All Photographs Paul Johnson.

While Eastbourne was having weather problems on the Sunday, Redhill thankfully escaped the bad visibility allowing a full day's entertainment. The fly-in 2004 was particularly good with some rare types arriving throughout the day including an ex Luftwaffe Piaggio P149D trainer aircraft.

For once, Redhill didn't clash with the De Havilland Moth Rally at Woburn abbey. Tiger Moths are a regular sight at Redhill Aerodrome so it was particular good to see a strong showing from de Havilland types from the De Havilland Hornet Moth thorough to the De Havilland Chipmunk right on to the De Havilland Dove. Two examples of the latter were present at the show. While the Mayfair Dove was giving pleasure flights over the Surrey countryside another example was on static display. This is an example wearing it's RAF Transport Command markings and has slowly been restored at Redhill over the last few months. Another large type (for Redhill!) in the static park was Andrew Dixon's Percival Pembroke allowing the public a chance of get up close and personal with the aircraft. Another walk through exhibt was a C-47 fuselage which has recently been acquired by Acebell Aviation at Redhill. This fuselage was used in the filming of the epic TV series "Band of Brothers" and retains a very well worn look. Along with the C-47, there was a strong D-Day flavour with a sizable military vehicle meet.

The flying display at Redhill is somewhat shorter than many venues offer, but the quality is very high often offering a few displays that you simply don't see elsewhere and some with local connections. Before the main flying display commenced, Duncan Freehold gave a graceful display in his glider over the Surrey hills as a prelude to the later displays.

The display opened with something unusual for Redhill; a full display from an RAF fast jet aircraft. This was the 208(sqn) BAE Systems Hawk T1 solo flown by Flt Lt Jon "Killers" Killerby. Killers is a local to the area having been involved with a number of airfields in the area prior to his RAF days. The congested nature of the Redhill area with Gatwick to the south and North Downs to the north meant Jon kept his display very tight in to the airfield to great effect. We thinks it's been his best display of the year. The RAF infact put in quite an appearance this year with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster B1 buzzing the crowd at low level (after all, this was not a full display!) and flypasts by the Tornado GR4, Jaguar GR3 and Nimrod MR2 all en route to and from Eastbourne from Biggin Hill and Gatwick. More noise came from the two warbirds in the display. Rob Davies once again put on a magnificent display in his P-51 Mustang Big Beautiful Doll and was joined by B-25D Mitchell Grumpy which is due to head to the US very soon. The two North American veterans formated before their solo slots and along with the Lancaster formed the aerial part of the D-Day tribute at Redhill.

A much later ex military aircraft making a rare appearance was the Shoreham based Percival Provost T51 in Irish Air Corps markings. In the capable hands of Rod Dean, the Provost put on an excellent display. The Provost is actually for sale at the moment and the display is certainly a great advert for the aircraft.

The Tiger Club has a long association with Redhill which was their base for almost 30 years. Therefore, it's unsurprising that many of the performers are members of the Tiger Club. A typical aircraft of Tiger Club fame in the Bucker Jungmann put through an excellent aerobatic routine in it's 1938 Olympic Games colours. Perhaps the Tiger Club's most well known display through is the Turbulent Team with the usual flamboyant barnstorming display of formations, limbo flying, flour bombing and balloon bursting. Flying the red Turbulent was Justyn Gorman, a locally based pilot who usually flies a Vans RV4 at displays as he did last year at Redhill. To keep variety in the series of shows at Redhill, he displayed his Pitts Special in 2004. Like his RV4 display, the show was well polished and kept the little biplane well within the crowds view.

Redhill once more delivered one of the most pleasant and entertaining shows of the year. The ground entertainment is perfectly suited to the size of the event and is complimented by an excellent well suited flying display. The natural amphitheatre which the showground makes provides excellent views of the flying display and keeps the crowd feeling they are close to action. Redhill really does prove small is beautiful.

 copyright Flightline UK 2004