The Abbotsford International Airshow is coming up in a couple of weeks. Along with the Usual Suspects, they will be flying an Avro Lancaster bomber. There are only 17 in the world, and only two of them are flying. The other one is in England.
I’m planning on attending. Tickets are $30, and bleacher seats are and additional $10.
I know there are some airplane fans here, and some of them live up this way. So heads up! (Literally!)
That Lancaster is from the Canadian Warplane Heritage museum, in Hamilton, Ontario. I was lucky enough to get inside that aircraft during the restoration process (a friend of mine flew and restored some of the CWH aircraft, and he pulled a few strings). I’ve seen it fly before, in Ontario–it’s impressive. Kind of wonder what it was like when the skies were full of them.
I cannot go, but have a good time, Johnny!
After he retired from the Navy, my dad went to the FAA and was stationed in Lancaster, CA. I was jazzed to get a 1/72 scale model of one of the ‘Dam Busters’ planes. ISTM that’s when I caught The Dam Busters on a local TV channel. The model was the largest model I’d built by that age, and I liked that it had four engines and two tails. Thus the ‘Lanc’ became my favourite bomber, and has remained so ever since. I can’t wait to see one fly!
It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve been - I got to be a guide for a SAR Twotter while on OJT. Very jealous, especially being here in Ottawa where, well, we don’t do air shows…
snerk ‘Twotter’. I’m going to use that from now on! 
I see there’s going to be a CF-18 also. Hope that goes well; as you may know, one of those crashed here while practicing for our airshow last week.
Still wish I could go.
Emails have been… er, flying. The person who set up the Meetup has seating tickets, and one is reserved for me. I’ll meet her just across the border to pay her for it. Then I suppose I’ll follow her and any others to the airport. 
Man, I’ve got to get some film!
Is there going to be a Raptor there? I was at RIAT last week, and the Raptor’s ability to manoeuvre is amazing. Still didn’t beat the Vulcan though in popularity 
Who cares? They’ve got a Lanc! 
They have links on the left side of the webpage. I didn’t see a Raptor there.
You realize, of course, photos will be needed.
The last time I was there was about 25 years ago, and it was great. I had a friend who had a friend who was willing to just lend us his plane, a Maule M5, so we flew it from Edmonton to Abbotsford and had a blast. We had an old parachute that we flipped over the wing and staked down for our tent. I called it our ‘Wingebego.’
It took us a day to fly there, and a week to get home. The weather got crappy, and we were flying that Maule through the passes and wound up having to land and overnight at half the small towns along the route home.
It was a great time, and a great memory.
The last time I went to that show I was a tyke and all I can remember is the deafening Harrier. Oh, and seeing (what was then) the largest plane in the world. It was a Russian cargo plane of some sort.
We had a little airshow here last weekend which consisted of F-16s and some stunt planes. They used to have a fighter jet tool around above the city with a Mustang but they didn’t do that this year, sadly.
But we did get a B-2 Stealth Bomber flyby. THAT was amazing.
Count me in as someone who’d love to see a Lancaster in person. And a Vulcan.
I went a couple times in the mid-80s, too; I wonder if we were at the same show. They really pulled out the stops in '86, since the World’s Fair was being held in Vancouver.
Panasonic AG-DVX100A. Check. Half charge on two batteries, big one getting a little boost; two tapes.
OM-1 and 24mm lens. Check.
OM-4, motor, and 35-200mm zoom. Check.
Nikon CoolPix L1. Check.
35mm film. Six rolls, 24 exposure, ASA 200 Fuji.
AA batteries. Twenty-four.
Button cells. Check.
Directions to Costco so I can meet the organiser and get my bleacher ticket. Check.
Directions from Costco to Abbotsford Airport. Check.
Canadian currency. $100.
Hat and shades. Check.
Mobile phone. Check.
Passport. Check.
All righty, then! Just a shower and a shave and I can take off!
An appropriate way to say that you’re going to an air show!
Have fun, Johnny, and take lots of photos!
Oy…
A bit of a Charlie-Foxtrot.
The organiser was supposed to meet me at Costco just over in Sumas at 0900. She changed plans, since she and the others wanted to eat breakfast in Coquitlam. That would have more than doubled my trip, and also put me into Vancouver traffic. So she said she’d meet me at Costco shortly after 1000. At 1115 I decided to go to the airshow. Got a call on the way, and we agreed to meet there. I got there before they did, and when they did eventually get there she’d forgotten our seat tickets. Fortunately the volunteer at the ticket booth had an iPhone so he could look up her receipt. I think it took an hour. Maybe more. And I forgot my hat. (It was on the freakin’ checklist! :smack: ) And it was hot. Finally got our seats, and I did see the Lanc. But we were facing the sun. I fear the pics were backlit, so I don’t know how they’ll turn out. Just before the Thunderbirds flew, the organiser said she wanted to see the static displays. I did too, but I had to tell her that generally the way it works is that you come to the show early to see the static displays, then watch the flying show, then leave. So I didn’t use my OM-1 with the wide-angle lens at all – let alone my little digital camera. I did shoot more than a roll with the OM-4, but I’m concerned about the lighting. Also got a couple of minutes of DV.
I left before the Thunderbirds landed. Took forever to find my car, and the camera bag was heavy. The outside air temperature gauge in the car said 102ºF. I think it reads about five high when it’s hot, but it was plenty hot.
Got home, took a shower, put my sweaty clothes into the wash. I sweated out 1.5 pounds. Dehydrated much?
So… I wonder when the next show is?
I saw the Lancaster a couple of weeks ago in Thunder Bay. Wow! It was a lot smaller and more primative than I had imagined – such a long way back in technology.
My uncle Gordie spent some post-war years in the nose of a Lancaster tracking ice in the arctic, so it was very nice finally see what it was that he was talking about.
I was wondering where ‘as much water as can be brought without servants carrying it in a litter’ was on your list! The air show is usually hot; temps of 100F in Abbotsford are normal, plus a whole bunch of engines making more heat, gawd, I’m sweating just thinking about it.
The airshows at NAS (now MCAS) Miramar are traditionally in August. In San Diego. Temperatures on the flight line were always over 100ºF. People were always keeling over and being taken away on stretchers, though there were frequent announcements to consume plenty of liquids.
I like it cooler, but Miramar was always hot and Edwards AFB is in the middle of the desert – where I lived for 11 years. So Abbotsford wasn’t that bad. I did have a bottle of lemonade and a bottle of water. Could’ve used another bottle or two. I’ll remedy that next year.
I know you spent some years in Toronto at approximately the time I was there. As I recall, there was a Lancaster on a pedestal in the park on the south side of Lakeshore Boulevard, at about Strachan, just east of the Prince’s Gates. Did you ever stop to take a close look at it? I did, a few times–heck I used to work in those parking lots for the CNE, so during the summers, walking under it was an everyday thing for me. From the outside, it wasn’t very big.
As I said upthread, I got an inside tour of the Mynarski Lanc (i.e. the one you and Johnny saw) during its restoration. I can attest that there isn’t a lot of room in there, and I was surprised at how small it was. This aircraft carried the bunker-buster bombs, and was used by the Dam Busters? Phew! Gave me a whole new appreciation for the boys in the RAF’s Bomber Command.