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Abbotsford Airshow - August 9th to 11th, 2008
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Leave Rossland Thursday morning for five glorious days in Abbotsford at the Air Show with McBain. I've always been an aviation buff, having grown up next door to YVR and, more recently, spotting with CASARA but I'd never been to the Airshow before. Both McBain and I had our cameras and plenty of bolt on glass to capture all the action (I took over 3000 pictures!) Suffice to say we were both in our glory. It was Robs seventh Airshow so he knew all the tricks and hot spots to hit and it started as soon as we hit the main gate to buy our tickets and camping. He knew the guys on the gate from years past and before you know it, we've got rock star parking and are camping front row center in front of the north field entrance. No immediate neighbors, shitter nearby on one side and a semi tanker full of clean water on the other. We set up camp and set off for town to supply up. Groceries, Cambodian Tire for a few sundries, the Liquor Store for the main essentials, 8 bags of ice and we were ready to go... CONTACT!
Friday dawned clear & sunny. PERFECT. We rolled out of bed and right through the gate. There were still a couple of hours before the show started, what to do? Check out the static displays of the various aircraft that weren't directly involved in the show.
FYI Abbotsford Airport is laid out with three runways in a roughly triangular arrangement with the longest (east 25-west 07) being the active for the Airshow. Heavy Static is on the north end of the north-south (01-19) with the south end reserved as the "Hot Ramp" where the performing aircraft are staged. The third leg of the triad is where light static live. Parking for the event, the concessions and viewing areas are all in the center of this triangle.
Our first stop was Heavy Static, so called for the large multi-engined transports, airtankers and bombers that populate the flight line. KC-135, KC-10, C-130, C-17, not to mention the B-52. Nice numbers, wicked planes. Wander around, under and inside said aircraft, check out the B-25 Mitchell on our way over to Light Static on the adjacent runway. A few helis, light aircraft, an F-15 & F-18 round out the fare here. One cool thing that happened was, as we were checking out the CAF Sea King heli, the pilot, George Beattie, noticed my Baldface T-shirt and stuck up a conversation. Turned out he had been riding up at the Lodge the year before with JP and Wade Simmons. McBain and I immediately suggested that we meet at Hangar 13 for a beer after the show, set a time and said "see ya there!". WTF is Hangar 13 you ask? All will be revealed... Anyway, the Airshow proper begins, we grab runway seating for an extra 10 bucks (well worth it) and spend the next 7 hours squinting into the sky, taking pictures of anything in the air with wings and getting thoroughly baked by the hot August sun.
Back to camp for steak & prawns, gin & tonic, Crown & Coke, vodka & juice, you get the picture. Which brings us to Hangar 13... This is the place, the spot on the airfield not really open to the public where the pilots, aircrew and volunteers get to kick back and relax over a few bevvies after the show. It's little more than a tent tucked into a back corner of the airfield with a wee beer garden and stage for some live entertainment but it does the trick nicely. McBain had been raving about Hangar 13 for weeks so it was our stated mission to get in. We'd tried the night before bet were denied because the door guy didn't buy our line of BS. Tonight though, we had a PLAN! Remember George, the Sea King pilot. he was going to be our ticket in. He hit the door, spread the BS on real thick all the while scanning the crowd for our ol' buddy, George. Couldn't spot him but the door guy finally relented and let us in anyway. Good Times. Many trips to the bar. Many conversations with random folks from far off places. The band was from the Maritimes somewhere and had a fine repertoire of East coast drinking songs to entertain the boys. All too soon, closing time. Back to camp. Never did see George... Friday pictures HERE
I awoke around six with an overwhelming urge to piss. Stepping outside and scanning the sky I determined that the forecast rain was about to arrive. No sooner had I returned to my sleeping bag that the skies opened and the first showers of the day commenced. Thankfully, after this initial taste, the rains stayed away most of the day as we wandered around all the displays once again and took in the sights and sounds of the Airshow. At the end of the day, while the parking lot was dispersing, we rolled over to Heavy Static to see if we could get into any trouble. Soon we found ourselves on the flight deck of the KC-135 Stratotanker, hoisting drinks with the crew. "Hey, can we check out the refuelling bay?" I ask "Sure" came the reply. Next thing you know, I'm lying in the refuelling station of this enormous flying gas can, checking out the controls and imagining what it must be like to look out he window at a thirsty B-2. Freakin awesome! On the way back to camp the first drops fell in what would turn into a full blown torrent of biblical proportions. Puddles formed, rivers flowed along roads, puddles grew into small lakes. tents became deserted islands in said lakes (not ours). We were in the midst of cooking dinner, BBQ'd Salmon & cob corn, during the worst of it and eventually had to park the back of the truck under the shelterini to keep the coolers from floating away.
Eventually the rains abated and the skies began to clear. What to do now. Well, back to Hangar 13 of course! I was somewhat oblivious to the soggy conditions as I'd spent the entire time in sandals but McBain was decidedly bitter having changed into dry socks and shoes only to step right in an ankle deep puddle two paces from our tent door. Oh well... Walking down the road to the bar we marveled at the size of the newly formed lakes and the many drowned campsites they contained. One had at least a foot of water climbing up its walls, not a soul to be found nearby. McBain found every hidden pool & ditch (as in stepped in) on the way. As we approached the entrance a group of army dudes converged on our track, raving about the water all around. We raved along with them as we turned the corner into the bar, blew past the door guy and, holy shit, we're in again! It was a lot busier than the night before as Sunday is the last day of the show and many would be leaving right after. There was one huge puddle right in front of the bar, the novel solution to which consisted of plastic table tops laid out like water lillies for everyone to hop between. Shot the shit with a few more interesting people from far away lands and sploshed around getting sloshed listening to the band. Eventually, the novelty wore off and we wandered back to camp, another fine day in the books. Saturday pictures HERE
Sunday, the operative word being Sun! We awake keen and motivated. Gates opened at 8:00, guess who's third in line. Driving in to park we blow past 1 & 2, first on site. 125.000 follow us in... A record, they announced later in fact. Yesterday afternoon we had approached one of the runway seating ticket sellers looking to get plum seats for Sundays show. No dice but we arranged for one of the ladies to hold a couple for us until 8:30. She was as good as gold as we tucked front row tix into our pockets. More wandering about the exhibits to kill some time (don't put your coffee on MY gun sir!), grab a bite, gear up for a day in the sun, premix some appropriate beverages and off we go. Having seen the show twice before, we now knew what to expect and having downloaded & looked at my photos from the previous 2 days, knew what I wanted to shoot. Throughly enjoyed the spectacle again with nothing standing between us and the action than a single piece of poly. Awesome! Sunday shots HERE and HERE
Then, it's over... Huge traffic snarl for everyone leaving. Not us, we loiter, watching as the static aircraft come back to life and are rolled out for departure. The smaller helis hover and fly out from where they sat, fixed wings are pushed to where it's safe to flash up and taxi, the big iron wait patiently for the decks to be cleared. We're finished too, no energy left to party we retire to hot dogs and the remnants of our bar to chill for one more night.
Up at dawn, pack up the tent, grab a coffee & a muffin in town, gas up the truck and we're out. What a blast. Can't wait 'till next year!
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Posted by:
UnRed Dave
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Monday 01 September 02:49:33PM
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 comments: 1
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Comments ...
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Comments: 4
Registered: Sat Mar 13 2010, 02:06PM
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Симпатичный диз молодцы!
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