Aviation doesn't have to take the form of whizzing, window-rattling high-speed thrills that you can expect to see at our air display on 9th June. This year our show is punctuated by flying of a more sedate kind.
Hot Air Races are staging a 3 day ballooning event at the airfield - with 5 massed launches starting on Friday evening. With subsequent take-offs planned for really very early on Saturday morning, then again that evening. More races on Sunday morning and then one last blast after the main airshow on Sunday evening.
Don't ask me what happens at an hot air balloon race - come along and find out for yourself. Or you could check out the website www.hotairraces.co.uk
Whatever, it promises to be quite spectacular.
Not quite cast in stone yet, but here are the display timings as at this very moment of writing...
12:30 - Old Buckers
12:50 - RV8Tors
13:10 - Sea Fury*1
13:35 - Harvard
13:55 - Pitts
14:15 - Firefly
14:30 - Gyroplane
14:40 - Tutor
15:05 - BBMF
15:40 - Vulcan
16:05 - Typhoon
16:40 - RAF Falcons
The logistics of moving all these amazing machines around the country to display overhead Welshpool in the nick of time is a masterpiece of organisation. But please forgive us if we have to amend this timetable at any time right up until the show itself.
Photo © Lee Howard*1 Also, alas the Fairey Swordfish will not be here as previously advertised, but RNAS are kindly sending us the equally brilliant Hawker Sea Fury instead.
Not just any old raffle for our air show. 
Look at that first prize - not one, but three trips into the air - the Ultimate Air Experience - courtesy of Welshpool Airport: A ride in one of our aeroplanes, then another ride in a helicopter, and just to top it all off a ride in a microlight. Tickets, £1 each, a fiver a book, and pretty good odds on it being you celebrating at half past three on 9th June. Tickets available at Town Council offices, Tourist Information Centre and other sites around the town, and on the showground on the day.
And watch out for walkabout entertainer Victoria Armstrong while you're in the showground. We haven't a clue what she'll be up to on the day, but it's sure to be eye-catching and fun.
Wow! What a line-up we have for you this year...
The Welshpool Airshow committee have announced the participants in the Bob Jones Memorial Airshow to be held at the Mid Wales Airport, Welshpool on Sunday 9 June 2013.
Robert Robinson, Town Clerk of Welshpool Town Council who promote the event told us :
Once more the RAF form the core of our display this year. Sadly, we are unable to afford the Red Arrows offered by the RAF but we believe we have produced an exciting mix of displays that will appeal to air enthusiasts and visitors alike. We are extremely grateful to our sponsors who have enabled us to put together this year’s show.
And what a shopping list...
Right at the very top, and in big red letters has to be Cold-War icon, Avro Vulcan XH558. What a coup, getting that amazing delta wing bomber to not only fly over Welshpool but to give us an air display right above our heads too. This is possibly the last chance to see this amazing aircraft flying and is a nerve-tingling top-billing for our air show. Visit www.vulcantothesky.org
They gave us a great display in 2012 and they're back again. The RAF's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, normally comprising Lancaster, Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane will be gracing the skies of Welshpool this June.
Now, if you've never seen the RAF Eurofighter Typhoon in a flying display, then you're in for a real treat. The words "simply spectacular" just don't do it justice. You wouldn't believe an aeroplane should be able to fly like this thing does. Watch and be amazed. www.raf.mod.uk/typhoondisplay
Bücker Jungmann formation display team, the Old Buckers make the short trip from their base at Sleap airfield, near Shrewsbury. Their display is an evocative presentation of close formation manoeuvres with sights and sounds nostalgic of the 1930's era. www.oldbuckers.co.uk
The RAF Grob Tutor is an elementary flight trainer and is built primarily from carbon fibre reinforced plastic. But all this belies it's quality as an aerobatic display aircraft. You'll soon see what I mean. Amazing. www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/tutorgriffin.cfm
Flying their remarkably fast, fully aerobatic aircraft with powerful smoke systems, the RV8tors perform a thrilling and unforgettable display. Close formation aerobatics are combined with speeds of up to 230mph and dare-devil opposition passes which create an electrifying spectacle. www.rv8tors.com
Well known to the regular flyers at Welshpool, Bob Pooler brings his Slingsby Firefly T67M back to our skies for another thrilling fluorescent display in this gorgeous little flying machine.
And now for something completely different. Is it a flying windmill? Or a rotating parachute. It's neither plane nor helicopter - with completely free-wheeling rotors, the Gyroplane, aka Gyrocopter, aka Autogyro will show you just what an amazingly versatile little machine this is and capable of display flying that will astound. gyro-air-displays.co.uk
For his 20th air show season, Clive Davidson brings us his North American Harvard G-TXAN for a display of aerobatics. This fine old warbird has been used as a trainer aircraft for pilots moving on to fighting machines such as the Hawker Hurricane, Spitfire amongst others. I suspect many people will come to the airshow just to hear the beautfiful engine tone on this historic machine.
Few of us at last year's air show will forget the RAF Falcons finale. There can be nothing more intimate at an air show than when the display itself actually lands right among the crowd. You won't get that at other shows. The Falcons are a unique Team, and proud to be widely recognised as the UK’s premier military Parachute Display Team. The Falcons, making falling out of an aeroplane into an art form. www.raf.mod.uk/falcons
If ever there was an aircraft with a distinguished war record, it has to be the Fairey Swordfish, WWII Biplane torpedo bomber. It was one of these plucky little planes which administered the crippling blow to German destroyer Bismarck leading to its sinking in the north Atlantic. The Swordfish, also affectionately known as the Stringbag will display at Welshpool courtesy of Royal Navy Historic Flight. www.royalnavyhistoricflight.org.uk/aircraft/
Last in this list but by no means least, is local girl Lauren Richardson giving us her colourful, dynamic and entertaining display in her highly aerobatic Pitts Special. Lauren lives in Llanfechain and her display will leave spectators with a sense of the sheer skill and enthusiasm of the pilot as well as the beauty and incredible capability of the aircraft. biplanedisplays.com/index.htmlWe think we've excelled ourselves this year in putting together a tremendous action-packed show. When you think of all that's going on in the showground too, this has to be the most value for money day out in the whole country.
Finally, all displays are subject to operational availability, serviceability, the weather and the price of a loaf of bread. See you on the 9th June.
Admission prices for the day have now been finalisedfor the 2013 show.
They are as follows :
| Adults | £5 | No Concessions |
| Children (5 - 16 yrs) | £3 | |
| Under 5s | £0 | i.e. FREE |
| Family ticket | £15 | 2 Adults + 2 children |
Sorry, but CASH ONLY on the gate.
Apologies, but we will not have any card-payment facilities available, so please help us by having the correct cash ready.
Don't forget to buy our fabulous souvenir programme as you arrive. Just £1 gets you all the info on who's who at the show including profiles of some movers and shakers around the airshow.
FREE SHUTTLE BUS
Why not catch the double-decker shuttle bus from the Smithfield car park (Opposite Tourist Information Centre, Welshpool) Every 45 minutes, starting at 10.30am.
AIRSHOW SPONSORS
For various advertising opportunities at the 2013 Air Show at Welshpool please follow the advertisers link over on the left.
