Guess what I saw today?
Only a frickin' SEAFIRE!!!!!!!
:D
Armed Forces Day at the Famous Babbacombe Fair [now greatly upgraded thanks to actual sponsorship] saw The Downs packed with all manner of stuff, from the sublime [the Owl people were there. They had a Great Grey. It was goorgeous....] to the ridiculous [the dodgy Sinatra-a-like, and the hilarious 'celebrity commentator' - oh deary me...]. From the spectacular viewpoint, we were treated to flypasts - or more accurately an aerobatics contest, as none of the vintage aircraft's pilots could resist pulling at least a few loops and rolls - and, after a display of the Torbay Lifeboat's capabilities, an extended action between the local pirates and special forces.
Yes, you read that right. Various cadets in RIBs, parascenders, an RAF scout plane from the 50s, and a Yak-52 [again I kid ye not] fought over three Brixham Trawler-style yachts [the sailed kind - used to take disadvantaged kids to sea] . The pirates and special forces had real assault rifles [with blank ammo] while the parascenders and the Yak had fake bombs [with real HE charges in the water - you could feel the blast on the cliff tops more than 250' away and the columns of spray reached the mast tops]. They had lots of fun.
Oh, but that Seafire... I've seen Spitfires before, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight a few times [including once when I was on Dartmoor - I think they'd taken off at Exeter airport and were going to the cornish county show], but never so close and for so long - you can't beat a nice cliff top for an airshow!
In other, more bird-related news, the Blue Tits have fledged young, and the Swift colony is still doing pretty well; I counted 42 plus at least one House Martin feeding over the rooftops this evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment