Mildenhall Air Fetes

[Time Machine]

Excellent set of photos from various shows. My friend and I took an annual pilgrimage to Mildenhall very year from 1979 till the end and these photos bring back good memories of those shows; especially the beer and burgers.

[grimm31]

Great memories and thanks for posting. Always liked a trip to SacDonalds for a burger and beer for breakfast!

[slogen51]

Great days and some good memories

I shall never forget my friend who I shan't name, Tony whom after a long hot day at the show returned to the car and his head looked basically like a tomato . I used to try and eat the traditional 10 wet burgers. Never been able to reproduce that taste on the home BBQ.

Park round the back of Mickey's and walk in for £1 and not that many ladders in those days to dodge although the professionals had those ubiquitous metal camera cases they could stand on.

[Unknown74]

Ah the memories and funnily enough I was just not long ago This very evening remembering how my father and I would travel down early on the Friday and reach Mildenhall at some point during the afternoon and have a look and see what was happening usually seeing something either arriving or display practice for the Weekend. I attended 1994 (Sunday only), 1997, 1998 and 2000, we should have been at the last event in 2001 but due to health issues we had to cancel going on the Friday Morning. I also remember camping at the local School - The Mildenhall Upper School if I remember rightly...... on the 1994, 1997 and 1998 but stayed elsewhere in 2000. Fantastic show very much missed with my only regret being I never saw the SR-71 Blackbird but made up for that by seeing F-117 Stealth Fighter and B-2 Srealth Bomber - sorry if I've upset anyone with my Blackbird comment.

[paddyboy]

Hi Darren



Thank the Lord I am old enough to have attended every single one

Nothing, not even the IAT in its pomp, could come close to a Mildenhall air fete for sheer atmosphere

Then, we also had Alconbury, Bentwaters, the occasional Lakenheath…..

Better stop now and just climb into my TARDIS

Thanks for a simply sublime post, buddy

See ya next week

Paddy

[raptor9]

Patrick, you are so right with your second line. Regards, J and T

[Freeman Lowell]

I shall never forget my friend who I shan't name, Tony whom after a long hot day at the show returned to the car and his head looked basically like a tomato .

We shall never forget the look on our (then) young friend's face who we also won't name (Andy) taken by the idea of cheap cans of Bud ( which back in the the late '70s weren't easily obtainable in the shops), decided to purchase a case of them from one of the stalls for the long, slow, coach ride back to Bournemouth. Little did he realise that the airmen couldn't sell unopened cans and he had to stand there, open-mouthed, whilst each and every can was ring-pulled! Still, like good mates, we helped him dispose of them before we travelled back .

And that EC-135 photo! Well taken! I think most of us were just stood there thinking OMG what is he doing? We know now it was a well considered manoeuvre, albeit one that would never be repeated.

Thanks again for the memories Darren.
Freeman

[matt e]

Superb set

[roughcutter]

I can't believe it's over twenty years since the last Mildenhall Air Fete. I guess that now makes it iconic, legendary status. Hell, I wuz there! Where do I apply for the tee shirt?

[SW Sky Blue]

great memories from what was an annual pilgrimage

[Unknown74]

It may now be over 20 Years since the last Air Fete at Mildenhall but we still have fantastic Memories of a really well run Airshow - The Americans really did know how to run and hold an Airshow. Air Fete may be gone but it certainly will never be forgotten!

[3Greens]

Top set as usual Darren and superb quality scans.
Great to read all these comments too ! I'm with them all.
When I saw the forecast for this weekend my head and 'heart' went straight to Mildenhall.

Thanks again mate and trust all good with you,
Best regards
Keith (3Greens)

[1marshn30]

Lovely shots and memories there mate. Never got there myself so thanks for posting mate

[binbrook87]

What an excellent set of memories to remind us what we're all missing this Bank Holiday Weekend The airshow season never really got going properly until Air Fete had taken place. I first attended in 86 with a group of school mates on a coach trip and we seemed to queue for hours to get in! I only missed a few shows until the end. Always great variety of aircraft, superb air displays and an atmosphere never to be repeated anywhere else. Oh how I miss those heady days........
Thanks for sharing these fabulous photos

[Knife 04]

Wow – apologies for the delay in responding but I have been away for the long weekend. Thank you very much for all the responses, comments and appreciation – just hoped it would bring back some good memories of the weekend!

Will try to answer all that have asked questions

Never went to an Air Fete.

You would have loved it Rog!

Great quality scans, good memories and top aircraft.

Cheers Kev – takes a little time to get them done but well worth it in the end!

Great set Darren. Lovely crisp, impeccably scanned images.
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Tim – as above, it takes some time but worth the effort as the show is no longer around nor are most of the aircraft

Great memories which add to Mick's excellent Mildenhall airshow book.

Thanks - Tried to post some others which weren’t included in the book – some of my other shots from the shows are in there

Always love the Air Fete stories, and the pictures.

Cheers Jimbo – bound to be some more stories soon around the fire with the ‘Air Fete’ trainers making an appearance
Here's one for you to laugh at! 26 years ago -1997
Yours truly! - dark hair then - open to redicule on this one but thought I would post by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Thanks for sharing ("more please", of course!)

No worries Pete – will try to add a couple more!

Not that many ladders in those days to dodge although the professionals had those ubiquitous metal camera cases they could stand on.

I wonder how many ladders got left behind back then! Yep, had one of those cases Mike

Nothing, not even the IAT in its pomp, could come close to a Mildenhall air fete
Thanks for a simply sublime post, buddy
See ya next week

You’re right there Paddy! Looking forward to it mate - see you next week all being well!

And that EC-135 photo! Well taken! I think most of us were just stood there thinking OMG what is he doing? We know now it was a well considered manoeuvre, albeit one that would never be repeated.
Thanks again for the memories Darren.
Freeman

No worries Freeman – I missed the compressor stall with that one though – Crew Chief was in the refuelling pod and got in contact when he saw it on Flickr

great memories from what was an annual pilgrimage

Cheers as always Kev

Top set as usual Darren and superb quality scans.
Thanks again mate and trust all good with you,

Thanks Keith. All good here mate – hope you and yours are too. Hopefully bump into each other sometime this year for a catch up

Lovely shots and memories there mate. Never got there myself so thanks for posting mate

Cheers mate – hopefully catch up soon!

Thanks again for the comments all - much appreciated. Enjoy whats left of the weekend

Darren

[1marshn30]

Nice selfie before selfie became a thing mate

[capercaillie]

Lovely stuff, 86 was my first one watching the Blackbird kick fireballs out of the back - was it supposed to do that?

High quality scans mate, you don't realise how good they were until you start asking where else in the UK has had an MH-53E on show, or USMC Prowler or so many of the other quality items the show attracted.

[XWP29]

Great set Daz, how time has flown, hard to pick a favourite, used to go with my Mum and Dad but was quite young back then. I just remember the inside of one of the transports looking like a giant metal cave.
(Note to self must remind Paddy where he is when he crosses the border at the weekend).

[H.A.Bucken]

Howdo, Capercaillie.
During that weekend of 1986 I quizzed some Pratt and Whitney(?) people after the event who, along with other DET 4 personnel who used to frequent the Judes Ferry pub, stated that the flame-outs shouldn't have happened although the same happened at a show in America (ref in one of Paul Crickmore's books?); not good for the engines or airframe. It was also very close to the crowd-line at the time- not sure there was a V.I.P. in the tower the crew were trying to impress.
Roger.

[quid21]

Howdo, Capercaillie.
During that weekend of 1986 I quizzed some Pratt and Whitney(?) people after the event who, along with other DET 4 personnel who used to frequent the Judes Ferry pub, stated that the flame-outs shouldn't have happened although the same happened at a show in America (ref in one of Paul Crickmore's books?); not good for the engines or airframe. It was also very close to the crowd-line at the time- not sure there was a V.I.P. in the tower the crew were trying to impress.
Roger.

More recently Doug Soifer, the RSO on board the SR-71 that produced the fireballs, commented on Facebook:

"On our very first TDY to Mildenhall, Mike Smith [the pilot] and I were lucky enough to be there for Air Fete— the big annual air show at Mildenhall. We got to fly the first day and thought we did a good job.

During the 20 minute sortie, we had a real hard kick during one pass when we went to afterburner and pulled up tightly. We didn’t think much about it until we landed and were overwhelmed by people as we stepped off the jet and asked us what we did. We had no idea what they were talking about until someone brought over his camcorder and showed us the tape.

‘During that pass, we had “13 fireballs” come out of the plane’s exhaust. It looked beautiful, and people wanted to know if it could be done again. They used the picture of us with the flames coming out for the next year’s Air Fete poster. Mike and I became known as the “Fireball Twins.” The maintenance people figured it was the TEB [triethylborane] shooting out of its container and igniting the JP-7. With that start, we had an exciting six
weeks in England."