RAF Mildenhall is ready to host
thousands of Air Fete 2001 visitors
By Marni McEntee,
Stars and Stripes
Raymond T. Conway / Stars and Stripes
Airman 1st Class David Heitzenroeder, left, and Airman 1st Class Michael Watson touch up
the paint on a CBU-87 cluster bomb under the wing of an F-15 that will be on display at
RAF Mildenhall, England for Air Fete 2001. |
RAF MILDENHALL, England — The telltale signs of the human onslaught to come are
already popping up around Mildenhall, a village normally home to about 10,000 people.
Yellow markers warn drivers against parking on the sidewalks, camper vans are lumbering
more often on the narrow two-lane roads and visitors who couldn’t secure proper
lodging have already pitched tents on nearly every open patch of land.
Everybody’s getting in place for Europe’s largest military air show, Air Fete
2001, on Saturday and Sunday.
"We never fail, rain or shine," said Dennis Gorman, who drove three hours
early Friday from Stafford to visit his brother Norman, who lives just down the road from
RAF Mildenhall.
The Gormans brought their lawn chairs and sunscreen to sit in a field dotted with
runway lights across from Mildenhall’s flight line. They wanted to catch a sneak
preview of the aerobatic display teams, fighter jets, bombers and troop transports that
will fill the skies during the show.
"I haven’t missed an air show since 1968," said Joshua Hicks, who
brought his son, Clyde, 11, to the same field. "I remember back when there were only
25,000 people at the show."
Raymond T. Conway /
Stars and Stripes
Sitting just outside the base perimeter, Dennis Gorman from Stafford, England, tries to
get a closer look at a French Mirage 2000 aircraft flying a practice mission for Air Fete
2001 at RAF Mildenhall, England. |
This year’s attendance is expected to be 300,000 people over the weekend,
promising to boost restaurant and inn owners’ pocketbooks and jam roads within a
10-mile radius of the base for several hours during the show’s opening and closing
times.
"We only lives five minutes up the road and it takes 40 minutes to get to the
base," Norman Gorman said.
Despite the traffic headaches, aircraft noise and overflow of humanity, locals seem to
be taking the air show frenzy in stride — as they have for 25 years.
"It’s not a question of dreading it, it’s a question of surviving,"
said Ian Watt, who manages the Bird in Hand pub just outside the base. "If we survive
this weekend, we’ll be all right."
Like many residents, Watt and his employees lock up their cars and stay put during the
Air Fete, not wanting to tackle the traffic snarls outside.
It’s worth it, though, Watt said. Air Fete crowds bring more business to the pub
than any other time of year. In a normal week, his customers will down 10 kegs of beer.
During Air Fete, that number jumps to 60 kegs. "Hopefully," Watt said.
The Bird in Hand Motel’s 57 units next door get booked up two years in advance of
the show.
Paul Wey, who is selling communication supplies and souvenirs at the fete this year,
knows a little about the trouble getting hotels.
Wey lives about 40 miles away in Baldock, but each year when he works here he has to
pitch a tent or sleep in his car.
Raymond T. Conway / Stars and Stripes
U.S Air Force Staff Sgt. Thomas Webber, left, and Royal Air Force Sgt. Mark Garbett,
examine the helmet of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bomb Suit 8 while setting up an EOD
display at RAF Mildenhall, England for Air Fete 2001. |
"I want to be somewhere more comfortable, but I gave up on getting a hotel a
couple of years ago," he said. Nevertheless, Wey was cheerily sitting at a picnic
bench near a roadside snack stand, watching planes do their practice runs.
Around Mildenhall, it seems, any enterprising farmer with a piece of land can make the
Air Fete work for him. Several have roped off their parcels and are charging 5 pounds
(about $7.50) for parking.
John Morley is letting out slices of his 32-acre farm near the base flight line for
camping sites at 4 pounds per person. He has been doing it for 10 years, even erecting a
riser where aircraft enthusiasts known as plane spotters can photograph and admire their
favorite aircraft.
"It’s not like running a pop concert or a rave. I never even have to pick up
so much as a cigarette butt after they leave," he said.
The extra income doesn’t hurt, either.
"I figured I needed to diversify a bit," said Morley, who was bicycling the
perimeter of his land. He didn’t even mind that a row of cars had parked on his
barley crop.
"I’ve already made more of a profit at 4 pounds a person than I would have on
that barley," Morley said.
Getting to the Air Fete
¶ Car and coach parks open at 7:30 a.m. and exhibition areas open at 8:30 a.m. The
flying display begins at about 10:30 a.m. and ends about 6 p.m.
¶ Admission prices: Pedestrians — 5 pounds/adult (about $7.50),
1 pound/seniors or children 8-15; Motorcycles — 8 pounds including
parking and admission of all occupants and an official Air Fete 2001 program; Cars
— 20 pounds including parking and admission for all occupants of the vehicle and an
official Air Fete 2001 program; Minibuses — 40 pounds, seating 18 or
fewer.
¶ Park and Ride at RAF Lakenheath and Newmarket: Motorcycles — 7
pounds including parking and admission of all occupants and an official Air Fete 2001
program; Cars — 16 pounds including parking and admission of all
occupants and an official Air Fete 2001 program.
— Marni McEntee
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