WNAS16. Part-One.

Wales National Air Show 2016.

Thousands came out for this two day event on the Swansea Bay seafront to enjoy a mixture of aircraft types.

New to the show were the North American-Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MIG-15UTI, HM Coast Guard Augusta-Westland AW-139 SAR Helicopter G-CILP and G-CILN, Jet Provost Mk5 and the World War-II (1939-45) American USAAF Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, restored and based at Duxford.

Apart from that everything was about the same, The Red Arrows BAE Hawks T.1, Boeing Vertol Chinook CH-47H, RAF Eurofighter Typhoon, Battle of Britain Hawker Hurricane and Super marine Spitfire, Team Raven (formerly Ospreys), with there Vans RV-4/8's,  two Augusta-Westland AW-159 Wildcats of the Black cats Royal Navy display team. The Auto-Gyro, Gerald Cooper completion flyer in his Xtreme Air Sbach 300  G-IIRI, racing aeroplane, Team Yakovlev with two Yakovlev YAK-18 aircraft and the DHFS AS-350BB ZJ-260 Squirrel from RAF Shawbury.

The HM Coast Guard Augusta-Westland AW-139 SAR helicopters and interacted with the local Mumbles RNLI Lifeboat 16-27 Roy Harvey.

Was it worth it? Yes it was free and good entertainment for two sunny days, after a winter of Bristol Channel murk.

Ground displays were limited, I did not get the chance to film more than a few Army/RAF MAN trucks. There was a funfair and loads of other, with stalls and food.

The Rockwell OV-10 Bronco proved to put on an impressive display, showing off its STOL (Short Take-Off Landing) capabilities and manoeuvrability for its service in the Vietnam war in 1968. This was the first YOV-10A that first flew on 16th July 1965 version, on display of the US Marine Corps and US Navy, but was painted in the colours of the German Air Force.