Croft
Nostalgia Festival - Aug 7~9th
By Stephen Carr
For
the show this year, I decided against taking all three vehicles. Last
year, it took two days before the show and one after to get the
vehicles there and home. While it was nice to have them all together,
it was a great deal of work and expense.
So this year, it was
just 'Jessie' and 'Faith', although I was taking my canvas tent and
photographic display too. We left home late on Friday morning, and due
to roadworks and lots of red lights, it took 90 minutes rather than
the usual hour.
It took a further
three hours to get both tents up, the truck and trailer unloaded, and
then sort out the display and tables ready for the following day.
The only other job
that night was a bit of marshalling when the Pitts Special flew in,
and then we went to the marquee for the evening entertainment.
Here's
a few pictures around my 2015 display. The photographic display
included the new K20 camera and stereoscope along with the various
target photos. We also got to try out the new Dodge observers seat properly for
the first time. Up until now, I've just had the radio operators chair.
One of the visiting aircraft was a Bucker Bestmann, best known for its
role with Donald Pleasance and James Garner in the film "The
Great Escape". I was fortunate to get the opportunity of trying
out the hot seat, and apart from head room being a bit limited, it was
more spacious than other wartime side by side seating aircraft I've
been in.
On
Sunday morning, we had the military parade lap, or laps actually, as
there was time for three trips around the circuit. Lynne did the
driving while I was shooting images for the Croft website.
Here's some of the aviation exhibits on display in the air and on
the ground. On Saturday morning, we had the Taylorcraft Auster and
Bucker Bu181 Bestmann fly in for static display over the weekend. The
Extra EA230 also flew in on Saturday for the lunchtime aerobatics
display. The Pitts S-1S Special flew in on Friday for static display
over the weekend.
After the parade laps, there was a break in duties until it was
time to escort the Sherman and FV432 out onto the show field. To
protect the track, rubber matting was laid out for the Sherman and
FV432 to drive across, after which they were free to put their foot
down and belt around the field in front of the grandstand! The video
below, shows the Sherman being unloaded, and then the Sherman and
FV432 driving around the show field.
More of the aviation, the Auster, Bestmann and Extra 230 again. The
last set of pictures is the largest visiting attraction, the mighty
Avro Vulcan B2. 2015 is the last season for the Vulcan before being
grounded, so this was the one and only chance to see this RAF giant of
the 'Cold War' at Croft. While advertised as a flypast, we had a mini
display lasting about 6 minutes.
Other than during the parade laps, rolling armour and Vulcan, there
was constant vintage racing action on the track. Here's just a tiny
selection of the competitors.
The last selection of aviation images includes some general aviation
residents and visitors displaying in front of the hangars, and the
Pitts Special again. To finish the aviation, four more flying shots of
the Vulcan followed by a poignant picture of XH558 flying away from
the circuit, fading into the distance and into history. The video,
caught on a compact camera, was used more to capture the sound than
for the image while I was shooting DSLR images. I've seen the Vulcan
three times this year.
There were several hundred classic cars on display, just a small
selection of which is shown here.
2015 saw the biggest display of military vehicles so far at Croft,
with the whole of the display area along side the old main runway full
of vehicles, including an impressive REME recovery display. There were
plenty of Jeeps, GMC's including a workshop truck, Land Rovers, Champs
and a selection of other ancient and more modern MV's.
Along with the Auster, we had a small display of RAF vehicles,
including a bomb tractor and trailer with a load of bombs, an RAF
staff car and motorcycle.
For once the weather had been kind the whole weekend, and towards the
end of our packing up around 9pm, we were given a lovely sunset to
finish off a fantastic weekend. We got home in darkness, and finished
unloading by about 11:30pm, very tired.
