For months I have been harping on to anyone that will be patient enough to listen, that I was going to be going to the Polish air show in Leszno, titled Antidotum….. check your google for latin isms
Leszno is a grass airstrip in the west of the country and about an hour away from Poznan. Because of the nature of the airfield, it meant all “heavy metal” military assets and turboprop were operating from Krzesiny and the 31st Tactical Air base.
Prior to setting off for the show on the Friday, Planestv live streamed the practice day and it was happily reassuring to see unannounced assets like the PzL M28 Skytruck arrive to be part of the static display.
Arriving at the designated parking area, we hopped onto one of 2 shuttle buses operating, and were dropped off at the airfield. Entrance was simple, scan of the ticket, an efficient line of bag checking staff and we were in.
As with most shows, there were plenty of food stalls and outlets for “swag” and this was laid out not a huge walk away from the crowd line.
The static display area, was unroped, trust was placed in peoples common sense it seems and that worked well. The crew of some of the aircraft were with the planes and they were happy to talk about the airframes. A note for the crew of the recently arrived and totally unexpected A-26 Invader (MissMillionairess), from Million Air. They were so welcoming and happy to chat about the organisation and the lovely WW2 aircraft,.
The flying display didn’t start until 3pm, so there was plenty of time to find a perch and figure out where to be. Although 30,000 tickets had been sold it didn’t feel cramped at all.
The show kicked off with flying legends F-4u Corsair “Devotion” taking to the skies. From there on it was non stop flying action, no pauses or lulls in the action, a really well choreographed use of the time and aircraft there.
As the afternoon continued the clear blue summer skies started to develop haze, then whisps of clouds, then on the horizon rain clouds were clearly on the way.
The New Polish Air Force trainer M-346 managed to get its display done and put on a great display, the dedication pass nice and low and spirited!
Antidotum continued apace with aircraft displaying an even managed to get the c130e from the Polish Air Force displaying as the real force of nature decided to make itself know, I don’t think I have ever seen a c130 display in a thunderstorm, and the missed shots of a c130 in flight with lightning behind it are a memory sadly.
Before the show was suspended and then fully stopped for the day the Swiss Air Force Super Puma took to the sky and managed to keep the crowd at the flight line long enough for its flare dump, a shot I had been hopeful of getting.
The weather as always is a feature of an airshow that just cannot be tamed, be it furnace like conditions at RIAT a couple years ago or the deluge of rain and storm that hit Leszno. With the rain hammering it down the crowds that did stay now wanted out of the airfield to be back in their cars or home and here began possibly the only real issue for me. When this volume of people are present and the site relies on buses to bring them in, it was chaos to see so many people waiting in the rain for so few coaches, and in the end we decided we could walk (follow the herd) back to the car park quicker than the shuttle buses that were now stuck in traffic on the roads or pedestrian. This isn’t a gripe with the show organisers, far from it. I came away from the cut short show without seeing several acts I was hyped for, HOWEVER I came away with a stacked memory card, plenty of happy moments to reflect on and a big desire to return (possibly with a poncho in the bag) next year!
Antidotum was not an Anti climax it certainly was the Antidote id needed after a few weeks of dull grey weather and the usual chaos of life 🙂
Congratulations to the organisers, staff and contributing acts for a show well done.