Hurricane

We went to watch the Shoreham Airshow today. We’ve watched it for years from various locations. Initially we used to camp out for the day in the layby near the airfield and one year even snuck into the field next door to the runway (you wouldn’t be able to do that now, security gets tighter every year :lol:). Then for several years we had friends who lived in a close the other end of the airport and had amazing views from their garden. The ten or so houses in their road used to take it in turns to host street party barbecues each year and have loads of friends over so we went there for about 3 years running. When we came home from Manchester it had been one of the annual events Ady had most missed about Sussex – he is into WW1 & WW2 stuff and war planes always form a big part of the aerial displays. So in 2004 and 2005 we paid and went into the airport to see the whole thing. I think we only paid about £11 each though (children were still under five then so free) – I notice this year it is £20 for adults and £10 for children making it out of our budget even if we had a bit of cash to splash.

Last year we found a field up on the downs which has an excellent panoramic view of the airport so you get a good view of the action down there, often seeing it from above when the planes and helicopters are doing low displays and lots of the planes turn or do their aerobatics over the fields as it is safer away from the large crowds of thousands at the airport. So today we were totally organised with chairs, picnics, cameras, book for me, radio for Ady, drawing stuff for the children. We parked and trekked over the several fields to get to our prime spot and over the next few hours were joined by probably a couple of hundred people in the field.

The children ran around, did some drawing (Davies did some excellent pictures and I showed him how to do a landscape scenery one with horizons and stuff and we talked about the colour of the sky changing as we looked higher). Ady was in his element taking photos, enthusing over planes and telling the children about the war and the role the airforce played in it. He was actually doing something of a running commentary about the German planes and the British planes, they reenact a dog fight as part of the show and there are fake shots and bombs with black and white smoke and mini explosions over the airfield itself. Scarlett was really into it, booing and hissing when the German planes flew over and cheering and waving for the British ones (although I’d interjected with my bit about noone ‘winning’ a war and we’d talked earlier about why there was a war, what the effect might have been on our family if it had happened in our lifetimes and various other stuff). There were about 8 planes involved in the display, flying right out over the sea and downs when suddenly Ady said ‘a plane’s just crashed. There’s been a crash!’ and started running to the top of the field we were in. As he ran towards it the black mushroom of smoke came up and people with children started to herd them the other way while some people carried on running up towards the hill (there is a valley directly behind the field we were in, which is where the plane crashed – about 200 feet away from us). Ady carried on running and with a couple of other people went as close to the plane as they could get but quickly realised there was no hope of actually helping as it was a total wreckage. One of the other people was an off duty police man and urged Ady to take photos and video with the camera still in his hand.

The emergency services were there within what felt like moments, the onsite fire engine from Shoreham airport and the police helicopter followed by various other vehicles but aside from dousing down the wreckage with water there was little else to be done. The smell of fuel was choking and there was an air of utter despair and disbelief with the almost silent crowd gathered looking down.

The children and I walked slowly up the hill, more to check where Ady was than anything and he rejoined us, crying, having witnessed things he is slowly starting to recount now but will clearly be staying with him for a while. The most poignant part of the whole episode was the planes continuing to circle overhead, totally out of their planned display, trying to check what had happened and then performing a ‘man missing in action’ manouvere overhead. We watched the airport below fall silent as the annoucement was made and then while the airshow continued all who were on the hill watching slowly started to pack up and move away. It’s rather difficult to stay and watch when you’ve witnessed that really.

We got back to the car and I thought how true to type we’d all reacted to the whole situation. Ady had run off, leaving us to offer his help and come back defeated that he’d not been able to do anything (in his eyes). Scarlett had kept up an almost constant stream of chatter about the whole thing, describing how she, and everyone else must be feeling ‘it’s very sad, it’s such a shame, we wish it hadn’t happened, I am very sad, we’ll have to tell everyone we know….’ she continued in a babble, just like previous times when she’s clearly felt emotion but not been able to express it any other way (like Malice dying for example when she felt the need to tell everyone we met for weeks afterwards). Davies got straight in the car, broke out his sketch book and pens and drew pictures of the whole thing. And me? Well I coped really. I dealt with gathering up our stuff, answering the children’s questions, cuddling Ady, making him a coffee, emailing his photos to the BBC and keeping the children away from him while he dealt with it in his own way. He’s spoken to the BBC, Sussex police, met the BBC cameramen to show them the scene when they rang him back 4 times on his mobile cos they couldn’t find it, but declined to be quoted as an eyewitness. His photos are on BBC and Sky news websites and he’s been back up there with flowers to hand to the policemen now manning the site to lay there. He’s agonising over having responded to the BBC’s request for photos as they have obviously sold them on to other sites but given human beings thirst for news I think he can rest assured he certainly didn’t do it for gratuitous reasons or glory.

We came home, Ady went back out again. The children and I have talked about it a bit but we’ll follow our usual pattern of talking about it when they ask rather than bringing it up with them. The children have gone to bed and we’re slowly processing the whole thing. They have not announced the pilot’s name yet and I imagine his family are trying to deal with the events of today in their own way. Ironically I was reading a book today while sitting in the field about following your dreams, not being scared, how a life lived in fear is a life half lived. That pilot today died doing something he loved, something he was passionate about. He was entertaining thousands, paying tribute to lives lost in wars totally hundreds of thousands and presumably with his heart already racing with excitement and passion long before he realised he was in trouble. I’m not for one minute saying it wasn’t a life cut tragically short but when I go, that’s precisely the circumstances I want it to be in – living, living life to the full and doing something I love. I hope he doesn’t rest in peace, but soars, flies and feels his heart race for eternity.