Clifden Air Show and GAAW

Steyr

Deleted User wrote: »

For the benefit of people here and Niall Farrell if he is looking:pac: those tanks are actually fuel tanks and not bombs on the Hardpoints on the wings of that Strikemaster the same applies to the wingtip tanks at the end of the wings like our Fouga Magisters had.

Deleted User wrote: »

Oh god what an old pic of an Irish PC9M, that was taken in Switzerland when they were undergoing engine tests as you can see the clamp around the nose gear.

gordongekko

I saw 4 planes flying in formation near clarinbridge at around 2pm. No pics im afraid i was driving at the time.

I saw them heading east over Dunnes Terryland about 5.20?

Steyr

If it was Jets then it was the Strikemasters of "Team Viper" if it was Props then it was "The Blades"

Steyr

Steyr wrote: »

If it was Jets then it was the Strikemasters of "Team Viper" if it was Props then it was "The Blades"

They sounded like jets.

Discodog

Oh what fun & a great little airshow - well done Clifden !.

The GAAW would have been mortified !. Loads of kids trying rifles, bazookas, mortars, etc & worst of all - loving it !

The organisers clearly stated that they wanted to expand the show & suggested that it would be a regular event. They also ( are you listening Salthill ! ) had collection buckets at every escape route !

tiggergirl

Some pictures from the Connemara Air Show. Even with the rain Clifden put on a great show.

tiggergirl

more pictures

Aerohead

According to RTE News and a friend who was there there were only around a thousand people there which was very sad,

KevR

Deleted User wrote: »

I saw them heading east over Dunnes Terryland about 5.20?

Saw them flying over Westside a couple of minutes before that!

Deleted User wrote: »

They sounded like jets.

The ones I saw were jets from what I could see and hear.

Discodog

1000 spectators would be about right. It is an isolated spot that involves quite a walk. A lot of people turned back at the first shower as many didn't even have an umbrella - amazing how many don't check the weather forecast.

Chris_533976

Aerohead wrote: »

According to RTE News and a friend who was there there were only around a thousand people there which was very sad,

Again, fair play to them for putting it on, but its their own damn fault. If they'd have put any effort AT ALL into advertising it, they might have got more people. (Me for one)

I'm sure the GAAW didnt protest this because they DIDNT EVEN KNOW IT WAS ON.

Discodog

I heard an ad on the radio but that was by sheer luck. If I had not heard it I would not of known of the event. I get the impression that it will be every year & that will help spread the word. But the venue is pretty restrictive & the access road is long & narrow.

When the DF's left they met a bus - the bus gave way !. Given that heavy showers were forecast the organisers could of got the DF's to put up a couple of tents as shelters.

There were signs advertising park & ride - it's a good 20 min walk from town, but no signs directing you to the park & ride carpark. I parked in Supervalue & was surprised that the carpark was no where near full.

Like Salthill it appears that there are some local killjoys. One of the organisers told me that they do have some local opposition. Maybe they will recruit the GAAW as anti-airshow mercenaries.

Are you fed up with noisey, smelly airshows then you need the GAAW !.

PixelTrawler

Glad there is a thread on this. Went looking this morning to see if there was any mention of those idiots at the GAAW out with ballons over this show as well.

Just goes to show they are a joke

Was embarressed the day of the display with the fool with the megaphone ranting away.

You can read this article that was removed from indymedia but got cached by google - not sure why it was removed

Funny as i write these some jets just roared overhead. I guess its the strikemasters heading off.

This is the same GAAW who didnt say boo the last time a russian aircrat carrier with full complement of fighters passed very close to Irish wars

I guess its only US/UK who do evil...

vulcan57

Solyad wrote: »

not sure why it was removed

1) They don't like what it says
2) They can't take critisism because they are always right.
3) They have no decent answer to it

They remove almost everything that goes against their grain on that site.

Tzetze

A few more pics from the airshow. Click on images for larger version.

kippy

Aerohead wrote: »

According to RTE News and a friend who was there there were only around a thousand people there which was very sad,

Like many here, I didnt even know it was going to be on.
The weather probably didnt help, nor did the location but it seems more apparent that a relatively small amount of people knew about it.
Pity really as there would have been the same amount of organisation required no matter how many spectators.
Its good to see GAAW stayed away, shows them up for what they really are.

Das Kitty

Sorry peeps. I was out there last weekend and noticed this was coming up. I should have posted but didn't think to.

Clifden could really do with a bit of tourist cash.

We went down to the Marconi and Alcock and Brown site.

The Marconi was a bit of a joke, Just one wall with two plaques and a lot of sheep ****. The big egg thing that points to the Alcock and Brown crash site has an arrow with 500m on it. We set off in that direction only to be surrounded by bog and had to turn back, as we didn't have our trusty Bear Grylls dead sheep to get ourselves out of a bog hole with. Dunno why the arrow is there if there's not a safe way of getting to the site.

Fracture

The thing i dont understand about GAAW is how does stopping an airshow help the anti war movement? Maybe they should try protesting about a war instead of stopping a day out for people. Next thing we will see is them trying to stop war movies going into the omniplex :rolleyes:

biko

As I understand it they oppose the display of military weapons and planes that are piloted by men who have served in Iraq & Afghanistan. I think they equal this to families to see a marksman shoot playing cards in a distance or whatnot, a marksman who have used the same skills to shoot people.

GAAW would probably applaud a Red Bull Air Race in Salthill instead, although I haven't a clue about the RB pilots

topper75

You can equate a lot of things.

GAAW see the display jets as representative of western/judaic military aggression.

However, I do not see people wearing belts on their trousers as being representative of a Palestinian extremist's suicide bomb belt. It takes a determined killjoy mind to make such leaps.

I thought the whole Clifden thing just didn't work. I love Connemara and I love planes but facility-wise and logistics-wise, it was just a joke. No park and ride signs. Cops making people do unnecessary loops of a choked town only to send them back out the road to an impossible to find park and ride site, instead of having a checkpoint outside the town. No park and ride bus was evident. The site was inaccessible. I drove out towards the A&B monument instead but even with binoculors we were a bit too detached. Scenic place and great aircraft and pilots, but didn't work.

Fracture

but what gives them the right to ruin a good day out because they see things differently to everyone else, they are in a serious minority.
Fair enough i can understand them protesting things like a stop off for the us military at shannon but people flying planes that are not going on a bombing raid is something different, even if the pilots have done tours of iraq/afghanistan. Its just a waste of time on their part, what difference is stopping an air show in ireland going to make?
Its not like money from the air show is funding a few bombs for some schools in afghanistan, or like the people who go and watch/support the air show are in favour of anyway war, its just people showing up in salthill to look at the sky and say how cool the planes look, nothing more.

biko

Fracture wrote: »

but what gives them the right to ruin a good day out because they see things differently to everyone else, they are in a serious minority.

GAAW did not cause the Air Show to stop, it was simply financial reasons. I suggest you blame the sponsors for ruining your day out.

Secondly, they the same right to peaceful protest as you do. Protests is what have changed things from the dawn of time.
I see it as a fun day out too but I understand why GAAW disagrees with me and you.

vulcan57

Fracture wrote: »

Fair enough i can understand them protesting things like a stop off for the us military at shannon

Although the US military are the biggest users of shannon, they are by no means the only foriegn military to use Irelands airports as well as Baldonnell on a regular basis. Remember that the Russian military regularly used Shannon right up to the 1990's for stop overs to and from Cuba, but no protests there. The GAAW were not the reason the Salthill air show ended, but because of their single minded and selective views they are a rotton thorn in the side of the vast majority of the Galway public. Anyway, well done to the Connermara air show organisers for putting on a show in very difficult circumstances. Unfortunately, as mentioned here, Clifden is not an ideal spot, very poor public transport links and the site of the show is difficult to get to and not that big a place for a crowd of any real size. An improvement on last years though.

lostexpectation

so air show entusiants are compaling about not knowing about it and yet you accusing gaaw of being somehow hypocritical cos they hadn't heard of it either

Discodog

lostexpectation wrote: »

so air show entusiants are compaling about not knowing about it and yet you accusing gaaw of being somehow hypocritical cos they hadn't heard of it either

Is this a post from Galway Against Accurate Writing !


The failure of sponsors was a factor in losing the show but pressure from the GAAW influenced the Council to not back a future show. The fact that several Councillors attended the GAAW "rally" shows this. We have lobbied & achieved some positive results. It is important that we continue to balance the negative spin that will pour from the GAAW if a resumed Airshow is on the agenda.

vulcan57

lostexpectation wrote: »

so air show entusiants are compaling about not knowing about it and yet you accusing gaaw of being somehow hypocritical cos they hadn't heard of it either

The Connemara Air Show was poorly advertised, granted. Most of the people on here are aviation enthusiasts rather than air show enthusiasts and they support air shows in the area if they hear about them. County Councillor Seosamh O'Cuaig, a local to the Clifden area, is a self confessed supporter and member of the GAAW. He would have obviously known about the air show months ago and so, in that case, would the GAAW as well.