On Sunday 1 st June, 11 cadets and two members of staff visited the RAF Cosford air show.

A journey that normally takes around 30 minutes took us nearly 3 hours!! Thousands upon thousands of cars were stuck on the M54 hard shoulder, probably because this was the first big air show of the year. There were also rumours that the long awaited first air display of the Vulcan was to take place and indeed RAF Cosford had put the aircraft into the line-up for the day. However, it was soon announced that due to paperwork problems the aircraft would not be turning up. It now looks like the RAF Waddington air show will be the Vulcan's first display, rather apt really in that XH558 used to be based there.

We just managed to park the mini-bus as the first display started and there then followed around 5 hours of flying with some great displays. The two highlights of the show were firstly the Red Arrows, having to carry out their flat display due to the low cloud levels. Because the cloud was so low we were treated to the spectacle of the red white and blue smoke hanging low over the airfield. Directly after the Red's came the thunderous display by the Typhoon. Again because of the low cloud levels, the aircraft seemed even louder than normal and when the re-heat was used, the whole ground shook!

Later in the day, the Blades display team entertained all at the show. The pilots are all ex Red Arrow pilots and their display was breathtaking.

Despite the traffic problems, a good day was had by all.

487 Sqn will next be visiting RIAT in July 08; we are all looking forward to that.