The Red Arrows at Radom

On a lighter note, the Red Arrows were the first display team on yesterday at Radom and this shot was taken as five of them descended to the right hand side of the crowd to make a pass with smoke gushing behind them. I always feel a swell of pride whenever I watch them at an airshow – not only because they are the best display team in the world, but because their base is at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. I’ve grown up watching them practice above the skies of Lincoln to enthrall crowds worldwide. The 2005 team also kindly signed this photograph for me on the day my son was born. More photos here.

A final farewell

Today I attended the Radom Airshow which was supposed to have been the biggest military airshow in Poland. Sadly at around 1.30pm this afternoon an SU-27 took off in front of the crowds and after a short display, lost power and crashed into the ground at the rear of the airfield behind some trees, killing both pilots. The aircraft was on loan from the Belarusian Air Force and was one of the highlights of the show. No-one yet knows what happened, but I saw the aircraft go down and there was seemingly no attempt by either pilots to eject. The highly-trained and skilled pilots risk their lives every time they fly these multi-million dollar jets and when something goes wrong, the effects happen very quickly. At the last Radom Airshow in 2007, two pilots from Team Żelazny were killed when their aircraft collided in mid-air. May the pilots rest in peace.