Cosford Air Show 2011 – in pictures
Monday 13th June 2011, 11:20AM BST.
Crowds braved the heaving rain and strong winds at the Cosford Air Show as organisers were forced to cancel displays.
Hundreds of visitors left the event only two hours in as the cold and wet weather saw large parts of the programme called off and other displays less dramatic than originally planned. About 38,000 people were at yesterday’s show, down on last year’s figure of about 50,000.
The historic Battle of Britain Memorial Flight featuring the iconic Lancaster bomber, Hurricane and Spitfire was dropped from the programme, as was the The Falcon parachute display team and the Avro Vulcan.
Crowd favourites the Red Arrows did manage to take to the skies, delighting visitors to the event, although they were only able to perform half of their normal display because of low cloud.
A decision was made to end the air displays at about 3.30pm, despite the original programme expecting to go on until after 5pm.
Nicky Thomas, 25, from Telford, was there with her son Conor Thomas-Jay, five and step-daughter Chloe Thomas-Webb, nine.
“It’s the second time we’ve been to the air show and we love it,” she said.
“The rain wasn’t going to keep us away. We’ve been having plenty of hot drinks to keep warm.”
She revelead her other daughter Lily, three, was watching the aeroplanes perform tricks from the comfort of the family’s car.
Friends Alex Byles, 30, Kelly Birch, 23, Lisa Hay, 25 and Tom Stewart, 30, all from Madeley, Telford, were left disappointed after the announcement that the Vulcan would not be flying.
Mr Byles, who works in marketing, said: “It’s a shame the Vulcan didn’t fly because that’s what we came here to especially to see.
“But we’ve all had a good time. We brought spare clothes to change into as it’s so wet, but the rain wasn’t going to stop us coming.”
Show regular John Williams said: “It’s probably the worst show I can remember but what can you do?
“It’ just unfortunate, if it’s not safe, it’s not safe. It’s a typical British summer.”
Visitors sought shelter from the downpours in the RAF Museum, Cold War Exhibition and static displays in the base’s hangars.
By Paul Mannion
Most Commented
- Clampdown on Shrewsbury chuggers
- Bishop's gay marriage views do nothing to support bible teachings
- Planners ordered to stay on Newport visit bus
- Letter: Angered by close encounter of the furred kind
- Letter: Alcohol price plans annoy me
- Shrewsbury’s broadband speed one of slowest in UK
- Letter: No sense in overseas job adverts
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
two years running and a total washout.they need to put the show back to the end of june or better in july.
total waste of money for both years, never left early untill last year and this year before. next year wont even buy my tickets in advance dont know if i will go again.
Report abuse
Yes it was cold and wet, but we went prepared as we also had prebooked our tickets. I think that they did a great job under the circumstances and at least there were things to do under cover as well. We went last year as well and yes the heavens opened towards the end of the show but it was good up till about 4pm. We’ll definately go again next year.
Report abuse
the thing is why o why do they make the tickets cheap in advance when the British summer is the way it is. greed the money in the bank 4 weeks making interest no proper airshow so refund the money they must have insurance
Report abuse
I disagree, 2 years ago it was scorching. We also had fantastic weather this April. Whenever it is held you cannot predict British weather!!
I went to the Bournemouth Air Festival in August last year and two out of the three days were also a total washout, just hoping for better forecast this summer!
Report abuse
I remember 2 years ago when I went, there were no clouds in the sky, I was hiding under an umbrella to shelter from the sun and I was the only person out of our crowd that come away with sun burn.
Report abuse
Every time I go somewhere to see XH558 it’s a no-show. I’m starting to think I’m a jinx or something.
Report abuse
For the uninitiated he means the Vulcan, I suppose aircraft and public safety is paramount and as all Vulcans know you have to be 100% safe to “live long and prosper”
Report abuse
Well I must admit that i have been going to cosford for 18 odd years now and have always booked in advance when possible. I felt like going home early yesterday because of the display being cut so much. I think it was about 6 years ago when we had real bad weather but everything flew. I dont blame the orginisers but point the finger at our overtly nanny state and all the H&S laws we have inherreted. I will be going next year but may not pre order.
Report abuse
Yawn,
dont use the H&S argument its boring and i doubt you know what you are talking about
Report abuse
I have to say I love cosford airshow, its great to watch the planes, the last two years its been a lovely summers day, but unfortunatly it wasn’t yesterday, to start it off the typhoon didnt turn up and then the rain, I ended up not going in the end. But it won’t stop me going next year.
Report abuse
Nobody seems to have mentioned one of the Red Arrows were missing. It looked sloppy, they gave a half hearted attempt – and all because one broke down and the other chose not to attend. I’m glad I never paid.
Report abuse
What a miserable and spoiled lot you are! The red arrows were great even with 1 plane short. All you moaners sound like a lot of teenagers. Stop sulking and grow up, don’t bother going next year and try to be greatful for the huge effort put in by hundreds of people to make the display happen at all. Nice to see the Tornado and the SWIP team were excellent.
Report abuse
Can we have 3 cheers for the organisers of the Show who have put in all the hard work all year to arrange what would have been a brilliant show in theory. Not to mention all of the people on the ground working in such terrible weather.No one can change the weather, in the past its been wonderful weather,and if it has rained its only been for part of the day. Yesterday was unfortunate.Safety has to come first & the low cloud base would mean we wouldnt have seen some of the displays even if they flew. Carry on supporting these shows or we will lose them! Well done to everyone involved & those of us who stuck it to the end.
Report abuse
I totally agree and although the weather wasn’t on Cosford’s side. The organisers worked their hardest.
Gave me a chance to have a proper look around the Hangers, wonderful esp the Cold War Hanger.
The highlight of my day was when the Red Arrows flew directly over my head. Wouldn’t of missed it, even if I’m still drying off.
We came by coach and I hope to return next year for a sunnier show.
Well Done
Cosford.
Report abuse
I have beeen to cosford for 3 years and liked it but this year was a complete washout and i wish it was a nice day for it but its the british weather again so i will see what the weather is next year and see all my favourite aircrafts
Report abuse
I have been going to Cosford Airshow for years.
This year will be the last.
What a mess. Cancellation after cancellation. No itinery, no schedule and no update from the control tower.
People were watching from their cars, and if their vision was obscured they were driving around looking for better views without being challenged. Where was the marshalling?
There were various near misses due to selfish people driving in pedestrianised areas.
The weather forecast was known well in advance, it should have been cancelled. Cosford do you have no shame? Not even worth half the money paid, i’m requesting a refund.
Report abuse
I am at an absolute loss with your comment. As a ‘worker’ on the day (and it really is not a ‘day’ for us) do you have any idea of the amount of organisation and money that goes into these events before you even come through the gates. If you wanted a refund you should not have entered the site. I have got back after spending the last four days stuck at the end of the runway so I know how bad the weather was. The control tower is not responsible for your updates – they really have many more important things to do. Can you blame the airshow cordinators for the weather?, near misses?, civilian aircraft cancelling etc?. No. The bottom line is if you don’t want to chance the weather dont buy your tickets in advance. I felt so sorry for those that attended having had made the effort to attend. You can’t stop the weather and you can’t see the aircraft if they flew in it. Good luck with your refund.
Report abuse
Well said Stewart, I usually attend the Cosford Airshow, but as luck would have it this year because of other commitments we were prepared to pay on the day, I looked out of the window yesterday morning at 8am and thought “No way!”So i consider myself fortunate i didn,t part with the admission in advance, We do know that weather in this country is very unsure at times, and that it is difficult to predict, But organisers must have known what the forcast was likely to be, and cancelled the event at the latest the day before. If they cant garantee the weather they should not adopt a Advanced Ticket sales policy. Other events like football matches are cancelled at short notice, with equal attendance figures. It will be interesting to see what the advanced ticket sale will be for next years event….Um i wonder if they may be down a tad?
Report abuse
So you never even went and you’re moaning about it?. Isn’t there a another bandwagon passing your ivory tower that you can jump on?.
Report abuse
Absolutely furious… been going for the last 12yrs and as previous airshow enthusiasts have commented,this show has to be put back to july..we all appreciate British weather is as predictable as winning the lottery, but to help the odds on it being fair weather,surely it makes sense to move the show back to july/august… if this was wimbledon we would have had either a refund or at least a pass for the next available fixture!!! it would have been much better if the organizers canceled rather than but on a half bit show that was not worth the paper it was written on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report abuse
So, is next July going to be better weather than June ???????
Exactly, it rained, get over it !!!!
Report abuse
obviously not a fan of the turf accountants……lol
Report abuse
I don’t know but there probably aren’t any spare dtaes in the calendar, so these calls to put the show back to July are stupid – do they think that Cosford is the only air show in the country throughout the summer??
Report abuse
NO.NO.NO.NO….But why should should wolverhampton suffer!….we have sadistically been one of the most loyle surpporters of airshow history.looks like southern show spectaters have more moneyTHAN US.wouldnt happen if sir jack had is way…LONG LIVE THE WOLVES !!!!!
Report abuse
I attend Cosford Airshow every year, but this year my brother and I brought his caravan for a weekend break in in the lovely Shropshire countryside in addition to taking in the airshow.
When we saw the weather forecast on the Saturday night, we took the decision not to go to the show after all.
We woke up at 7.00 on the Sunday Morning and the rain was already coming down hard. It didn’t let up all day.
Whilst we are disappointed that we missed the show, we’re not nearly as disappointed as we would have been had we paid and got soaked wet through, watching such a drastically below par show. This is a choice available to everyone, and is the reason I would never pay in advance in spite of the discount for doing so.
Having said that, there has been more than one occasion when I’ve come home from Cosford with heatstroke and/or sunburn.
We can’t blame the organisers for the weather!
See you next year!!
Report abuse
I have been going to Cosford Air Shows for years. This year has got to have been the worst ever! We know theres nothing they could have done about the rain, thats british weather for you. The problem was that there was no order there. Once the marshalls got everyone in, they just left everyone to do what they wanted.
Drivers were just situating themselves to face the runway, (which i’ve always thought would be the best idea) but blocking exits. When it came for us to leave, we were stuck in the same place for over an hour…again where were the marshalls?
On their website, they stated that motorhomes were prohibited, so we left ours at home (which I was not happy about) only to find quite a few there.
Report abuse
Due to MOD cutbacks, there were approx 400 less marshalls/staff to help organise the crowds on the day.
Just think how bad it would have been if the predicted 50k+ had turned up.
Report abuse
Considering the Armed Forces pay freeze, forced redunancy program and a shortfall of resources to actually do their goverment bidding, perhaps it’s about time that ‘airshows’ and tattoo’s were shelved to save money. At least until we emerge from this ‘rich getting richer – poor getting poorer’ economy.
Report abuse
Sorry folks for once I took the advice of the weather forecast which I took from many reports. I decided not to go given the information that was made to hand many days before. Maybe next year you may consider the options available by many weather stations.
Arguably if you were at a concert and the artist pulled out would you be entitled to a part or full refund? In this case it comes under the umbrella(pardon the pun) of it’s an act of God. Billy Connolly’s film ‘The Man that Sued God’ comes to mind, as I am sure insurance companies that hide behind this would not pay out on an event that was rained off!
Report abuse
I was shocked at the amount of planes and displays that were cancelled, with very little information from the air show radio team, i guess if your going to over throw a goverment do it in the rain as our British war planes seem to struggle with British weather.
Report abuse
So which one was Elton in? Was the other a decoy?
Report abuse
How can you blame the organisers? They didn’t cause the bad weather. I have been for several years and thoroughly enjoyed the shows. The atmosphere is great; everyone out for a fun day. Didn’t come this year, although I had pre booked tickets. The weather forecasted was the weather experienced and I just didn’t fancy being wet and miserable all day.
Report abuse
My family and I go to the Air show every year and love it, but I have to say that this year is the worst one we have ever been to.
I know the rain caused problems but the forcast had been bad for days before. Couldn’t the organisers find all weather varients for the displays??
It was not so much an air show as an open air market which charges for entry…
I also want a refund – does anyone know who to contact?
Report abuse
Well done RAF Cosford, l think that you did the best you could do in the circumstances!It won’t deter me from attending in the future, keep up the good work…
An extra ‘pat on the back’ for the lads on parking duties, what a difficult task they have, sheer volume of traffic plus limited access routes out, no easy solution to this problem from what I could see? ………
Report abuse
Limited access routes… mhmm, that’s the only reason why I don’t go any more. Can’t stand sitting in my car for ages waiting to get in through ridiculous entrance.
The weather didn’t bother me this year, nor will it as I think until they get the entrance = traffic tailbacks sorted, it isn’t worth going.
BTW- I used to attend lots of airshows and have to say RAF Mildenhall are/were the best. Fairford were good too. Another BTW- When based at RAF Abingdon the weather only spoiled one years show, and it was held in September. Between 1985-88.
Report abuse
I have been to Cosford for the last four years and only queued once. I just time it right. And when I did queue I wasn’t that shocked, you have to be stupid to expect no queues at an event as popular as Cosford Air Show.
Report abuse
Hey so it rained, what do you expect, this is the UK don’t forget.
Well done to all those who who did perform and also to all the RAF guys that were doing their duty and smiling through it all, Thank You.
Report abuse
So disapointed with the whole day, really love taking my kid’s to the show! I’ve now been 3 times! And will go again next year!! weather was terrible!!! and thats all you can blame the weather! not the show itself or the organizers! so some of you stop moaning!! And a big Thankyou to the AA man who got us started! and never charged us (YES) we also broke down… See you next year weather permitting?
Report abuse
I did manage to get some reasonable photos
check them out
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97846093@N00/
Report abuse
Farcical, my iphone app told me at 9am how bad the weather was going to be all day, if anyone looked at the satelitte images of the size of the rain cloud then they would have seen that the day wasn’t going to get any better!!! Oh wait a minute though, the cancellations didn’t start untill after the 12 o’clock start when Cosford had maximised their income, funny that.
And not one apology!!!
If i was a on a foreign war council i’d suggest attacking the UK on a rainy day as apparently our hardware wont work!!!
Enjoy your Xmas party Cosford, you’ve certainly goyt enough in the kitty!!!
What’s that are Cosford offering a partial refund…thought not!!!!
Report abuse
If you knew anything about the airshow you would know that the net proceeds go to RAF supported charities which looks after past and present servicemen and their families. I for one do not mind my entrance fee supporting this cause even if I did not see a full airshow.
Report abuse
Get off your high horse, you have no idea how hard these guys work getting the air show ready.
If you looked at your iphone app and saw how bad the forecast was, why did you bother turning up?
How on earth can anyone be responsible for the weather? Yes the weather was awful but usally it is pretty good, moving the show to another date is not necessarily going to help matters, it is all down to pot luck.
I can assure you that no xmas parties will be had curteousy of the airshow.
These guys serving our country all around the world deserve a bit of respect!
Report abuse
All the people moaning about the show should not prebook. If you prebook you take a chance, that’s a fact. The money isn’t just for the show itself but the organisation as throughout the year so you should not expect a refund. Also, shows like Fairford next month ONLY accept pre booking so Cosford should be praised for allowing payment at the gate. Looking forward to next year…. and hopefully the Vulcan!
Report abuse
I cannot believe all the stupid comments about attacking the UK on a rainy day. It has nothing to do with the rain it is the height of the cloud base and safety has to be number one priority. If the milatry aircraft need to fly low level in poor visibility for operational purposes I am sure they are more than capable of doing so, but not with a crowd of 40,000 people watching on the ground. The Battle of Britain flight uderstandably cancelled but I don’t think they are likely to be called into defend us on a rainy day. I thought everyone involved in the day made a good effort and cannot be held accoutable for the weather. I was aware of the forecast and took waterproofs and made the best of the day. Looking forward to next year!
Report abuse
I attended this years show for the first time in years as previously I had other commitments. I pre booked my tickets and had seen that the forecast upto 4 weeks beforehand was rain rain rain but I did hope it would change. I can’t hide my disappointment at the lack of information on the day but, hey, the weather played a big part. I felt sorry for all the ground staff working that day that got soaked through and RAF Cosford, I’m sure, did their best. I left at 1pm cold and wet, disappointed at not being able to see the Vulcan but it won’t deter me from going again next year. I just won’t pre book my tickets next time!!
Report abuse
According to another headline in the Star the show was “a big hit with visitors” !
Seems like the paper is once again swallowing a press release without any real checking as to reality. How can it have been a hit when there are so many reasonable complaints and statements of disappointment?
Report abuse
The moaners complain anonymously by internet, the nice people speak to reporters on the day – hence the good headlines.
Report abuse
Martin, Lizzie
My points are generally tongue in cheek not to be taken literally.
My point, as cynical as it is that the radio show were still suggesting a 90% program at 12:30, my issue is with the integrity. I for one believe a little more honesty from Cosford’s part in the morning, i.e ” hey guys if this weather continues we would expect a few more cancellations” from early on in the day.
This I believe would have stopped the obvious ill feeling towards the show, just because our service men and women are doing fantastic jobs around the world does not mean we have no right to reply if we feel duped, you see it’s because of the incredible job that these guys did in the WW2 that give me this right to have an opinion and express it!!
Furthermore just because the money goes to RAF charities doesn’t mean I have to accept it, I don’t subscribe to that i’m afraid, I am paying for an event not for a charity, that is MY choice.
Report abuse
Next year if we have bad weather the show should say its possible all will be cancelled. Then when you go home all the aircraft can come in and entertain those willing to stick it out.
Report abuse
This air show is nothing more than blatant warmongering and a propaganda exercise. How can we ever hope to build a better society when we have thousands of people manically rejoicing the flight of combat aircraft while innocent people are being killed by UK forces in Afghanistan?
Report abuse
@ John Peasbody,
I think the theme of this has just gone off somewhere! I see the Red Arrows have been used in combat recently, not, the Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane too, not, not forgetting the Vulcan which was a big crowd puller. Conscientious objections have no baring on flight displays.
Report abuse
This was my first time at Cosford and I took my Son along who was really looking forward to it. Must say I was really disappointed with the whole event. If the planes are not flying it really is just a big expensive fun fair. I know you cannot predict the weather but the organisers should let us have free entry to next years show because what is the point of going to an air show if you do not see any planes!! I did not stay around long enough to see the Red Arrows as both of us were soaking wet and freezing cold. I think the organisers only sent these up so they dont have to pay refunds !! Even paying £5 each for a burger could not warm us up which is daylight robbery. Don’t think I will bother next year and I will save the £60 it cost me for getting a cold and spend it somewhere else.
Report abuse