Music in the Air - A trip to Middle Wallop

The idea for this venture came from club member Paul Cleaves who had booked his ticket and our Chipmunk for that day.

The previous year we had had a date to visit Middle Wallop and The Museum of Army Flying which was unfortunately cancelled the day before our departure due to the Army's operational commitments, so this seemed like a good opportunity to make another attempt.

6 Club Warriors, the Dakota and Chipmunk, were joined by another Chipmunk, Piper Cub and Cherokee 180 carrying 25 club members. Jerry Parr reports on the events of the day.

After putting all the hard work into organising the fly-out, Sandra was unfortunately not able to partake on the day which was a shame, given that for once in the summer of 2008 the weather gods were actually smiling on England.

Everyone arrived in good time for the briefing which was pleasantly simple, aircraft were allocated and departed in plenty of time. Arrival times had been issued in true military style and, in true military style, by the time we got down towards Middle Wallop everything was turning into a first come first served basis with traffic arriving from every direction.

Of particular note was the attendance of the Club Chipmunk, crewed by Paul Cleaves and Pete Atkinson who were taking 'GL back to its old haunt before it was demobbed from military service. The other Chipmunk on the fly out, that of Tim Orchard, was also returning to its old stomping ground.

Safely down and parked along the crowd line, crews booked in and sat within a comfortable distance of the food and drink stalls. One can only eat and drink so much at one sitting, even at an airshow and people wandered off to look at the static show including aircraft and classic cars. A short walk away was the Museum of Army Flying which afforded a welcome break from the heat of the sun - something none of us were used to that summer!

The museum was a fascinating insight into the Army's airborne antics (here speaketh an ex-member of the RAF!) through the years and included examples of pretty much all the aircraft and helicopters operated by the Army Air Corps.

Back at the crowd line, the huge grass area had turned into a massive picnic as people sat down to watch the airshow. Musical accompaniment to the displays was provided by the Band of the Army Air Corps. The airshow itself was one of the most varied around with everything from the Red Arrows to World War I replicas staging a mock dogfight to the wonderful, immaculate DC-6 flying in the colours of British Eagle. Personally, to watch an airliner operating from the undulating grass runway really made the day for me.

After spending quite a few hours basking in the sun and even enjoying the sight of a mini whirlwind carrying off a large sunshade into the distance (without the aid of Mary Poppins) it was time to wander back to the aircraft and head back to Wycombe.

The day couldn't have gone better to plan so many thanks to both Paul Cleaves who came up with the idea of the Middle Wallop fly-out and to Sandra for the organising.

Jerry Parr