Góraszka International Airshow

“Międzynarodowy Piknik Lotniczy GÓRASZKA” was on this weekend to the east of Warsaw and we thought this would be a good chance to introduce the spectacle and noise of an Airshow to the boys. A sweltering day and blue skies meant that the event was packed, but luckily we arrived early and beat the crowds in to get a good position.

Góraszka airfield has a grass runway which limits the types of aircraft that can take off and land on it. Due to this, most of the aircraft being displayed and giving flying displays were prop aircraft. The only ‘jets’ we saw were the two MIG-29s that did a fly past after lunch. Some interesting aircraft nevertheless including the Jak-52TD above, the Polish display team named “Team Orlik” below comprising of seven PZL 130s:

The Douglas C-47 Skytrain / Dakota, a well known sight at airshows in the UK:

And an unusual sight, and the first flight at an airshow in Poland, the Consolidated PBY Catalina.

The boys really enjoyed seeing the aircraft at such close range. With them being predominantly prop planes, the steady drone was quite soothing. However, I was looking forward to seeing the MIGs arrive to liven the show up and was poised with my camera to attempt a good fly-by shot. But I’d forgotten how noisy these things are, and as the planes roared overhead, shaking the ground and vibrating everybody’s chest cavity as they passed, the kids went ballistic. Not understanding what the noise was, they screamed their heads off. And it was actually genuine fear in their faces – we should have expected it really! At which point it was all action stations – we grabbed the kids, calmed them down (which took a while!) and decided that was really it for the day. Left around 14.30, and by doing so, missed all the traffic. Probably a wise move when you’ve got two very tired and shocked children to deal with. We did look for some ear-defenders for them earlier in the morning in anticipation of this, but no-one seemed to be selling them. Maybe they’re uncool and everyone was discreetly using cotton wool instead…