Thursday 23rd was RAF Marham Families Day. We supported it with an impressive commitment of 12 FAA Sqn aircraft. The day dawned slightly murky in the southwest but improved rapidly into ideal conditions for the event so that all the fliers made it. Sadly, one pilot and one aircraft went poorly, but 10 was still a very good turnout. I’d jokingly commented that it would probably take as long to get cleared into the field as it would to fly there from Sleap. If only I’d been wrong.
Once there we were well hosted and entertained to an excellent flying display. There must have been 8 F35s (that’s all of them I guess), flying through or displaying at various times, a C17 popping in and out, warbirds and aerobatic shows and the piece de resistance, the Typhoon display which was one of the best jet displays I’ve seen. I’m just glad I wasn’t in the aircraft.
Departure was marginally better, although one warbird overheated in the endless queue and then tried to melt the tarmac with burning fuel on restart, presumably in protest. In Marham’s defence, runway 19 was the smoothest piece of concrete I’ve ever taken off from.
A good selection of Sqn aircraft shown below plus a 'blast from the past' German Tornado and a hovering F35.
