The Boswells at Farnborough!The summer holidays have started in England and what better way to celebrate our first holidays than to spend the day at the Farnborough International Airshow 2004! It was a typical English day, no not overcast but warm with a slight wind and lots of sun around that saw the Boswell whanau heading off to their first airshow since going to Ohakea in New Zealand together 5 years ago. So armed with our thermos, snacks and bags we headed off by driving through central London, over the Tower Bridge and then down the A3 in what was a surprisingly short time of 1 hour 30 minutes (surprisingly short because as anyone can attest driving through London can be a nightmare! ) |
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Eimi and the Red Arrows.Well if you ask Eimi she will tell you that the best part of the airshow was the Red Arrows. Frankly she isnt wrong! They are an awesome sight and can only be truely appreciated when seen in real life! On show was a varied selection of aircraft, from the latest British fighter (the Eurofighter Typhoon) right through to helocoptors and small aerobatic GA aircraft. However, for Eimi this was all too much and about half way through the day she fell asleep, with her fingers in her ears to keep the noise out!
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Brick bats? No, I dont think so! Over all it was a great day enjoyed by the whole family, which is something (seeing as Michelle and Eimi arent great aviation enthusiasts!). What was really good though was how easy the airshow was to drive to. It took us all of 5 minutes to get in to our car park (admittedly we did hit traffic just as we got to Farnborough township) and took us even less time to get out of Farnborough (some friends from work left Farnborough at 7pm and didnt get back home in London until after 11pm!). There a couple things I thought were surprising: the lack of the big military heavies (in Iraq perhaps?) and no real GA area. On the other hand, the variety of aircraft on display was pretty cool and most amazingly of all, the trade area's were still open and people could stroll in and collect all the free posters and trinkets they could find! As I said before, Farnborough is a great family day out! Pitty it only comes around every 2 years! |
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Click here - The Red Arrows