The first Haven Great Yarmouth Air Show was held on the weekend of Saturday 16 to Sunday 17 June 2018. What a fantastic weekend! Great Yarmouth was the perfect venue for this free premier event. Yes you heard correctly, it was free! PackThePJs went to watch on the Saturday – and we had a brilliant time.
It was a lovely sunny day, the entertainment was first rate and Great Yarmouth showed its cosmopolitan side, having something for everyone. We saw some fantastic WWII aircraft, such as the Avro Lancaster, the Mk IX Super Marine Spitfire and the Hawker Hurricane in the ‘Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’. This was followed through the day by an eclectic mixture of aircraft, which showed how aircraft had developed through the years.
Air Show Parking
The parking was organised on a ‘park-n-ride’ basis and was a little expensive, and time restrictive (you had to pick what time you’d leave, and to be honest we didn’t know!) Instead, we opted to park in the public lifeboat station car park at Caister-on-sea, at a cost of 70p/hour. We travelled in from our caravan base in neighbouring Hemsby. We then walked along the coast towards the Haven caravan park and caught the Seasider open top bus into town.
The bus ticket was the ‘High Five’ which costs £5 and gives unlimited travel for two adults and three kids all day. We had our dogs with us too, and they were free to travel. On a ‘normal’ day the bus would have gone all the way along the seafront, but the main parade was closed to traffic for the day to allow people to watch the show along the seafront. The beach was full of people and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves!
Aircraft highlights
Some of the aircraft we saw included:
The Consolidated PBY Catalina
This is an American flying boat that served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces during the 1930s to 1950s. Produced by Consolidated Aircraft, it was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II.
The RAF Red Arrows
This is the first time we’ve ever seen the Red Arrows! We’ve seen them on TV, but never in ‘real life. Oh wow – they are very special! The show they put on was spectacular – they are world famous for a very good reason!
I have to say, I loved the photo I took on my iPhone (8+) … both the planes and the gulls were in focus at the same time 🙂
Bremont Great War Display Team
None of the photos we took were worthy of illustrating how brilliant the display was by the Bremont Great War Display Team. They re-enacted a dog fight between Fokker triplanes and British Sopwith Camels. It was a great spectacle.
Autogyro
The Autogyro is a funny little thing! The way it can be thrown around in the sky makes it look like a remote control helicopter (well, when I try to fly one!) It’s very agile! What amazed us is that the rotor on the top is powered only by the wind. The free autorotation develops lift while forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller.
The BladesÂ
The Blades were SO good! You sure could tell that each of the pilots are ex-Red Arrow crew! Their display in Great Yarmouth was epic … apparently they can take passengers if you fancy it (I’m not sure my stomach could take it 
).
Long-EZ
This little plane looks like it’s flown straight out of a James Bond film! It is owned and piloted by Dan Gay, a music teacher who lives in Great Yarmouth. Out of all the planes we saw, this one looked the most fun to fly!
Wildcat Aerobatics Team
The two pilots that make up the Wildcat Aerobatics team are totally mental! We watched two planes, travelling really fast but close enough to literally be holding hands with one another … it was perfect synchronised swimming, in the sky. It was graceful, it was scary, it was mesmerising and breathtaking. Precision flying.
Vampire Jets
Two Vampire Jets from the Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron put on a fabulous display. The Vampire was an RAF fighter jet during WWII. To celebrate the RAF’s centenary, the planes have been specially painted in RAF colours for this season.
Tigers Army Parachute Team
We stood close to the landing area on the beach and watched the soldiers jump out the plane and perfectly pinpoint their landing. The narrator for the Tigers Army Parachute Team talked us through everything – how they throw dummy weights out the plane to work out the exact place for the parachutists to jump; to the commands they use; to a bit of bio about each of the ‘jumpers’. It was fascinating watching them. They made it look easy!
Bronco
The Bronco, which saw service in Vietnam, is an American twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft. It is an aircraft type that saw action in Vietnam, the Cold War and the Gulf War. Based near the Belgium Great War battlefield of Flanders, the Bronco is painted with poppies to highlight the sacrifices of those who died in WWI.
AeroSuperBatic Wingwalkers
To close a fantastic day of aeronautics, the AeroSuperBatic Wingwalkers strutted their stuff! (Very brave indeed!) We were finally treated to a fly past by the Spitfire MK IX to close the Saturday show.
A Brilliant Day Out
As well as the amazing displays in the sky, all along the seafront in Great Yarmouth were artisan and mobile fast food wagons, an area to find out more about the Air Force and the Royal Navy (Toby nearly signed up after ‘having a go’ with the gun!); and there was flying simulators – all in addition to the usual vendors that serve the 1000s of people enjoying the beach.
The show was organised by the Greater Yarmouth Tourism and Business Improvement Area. We had a great time and I am sure we will be back next year.
Sounds like you had a great day, its was a brilliant weekend, fingers crossed for more events like this or Great Yarmouth