We were up on the west coast again this weekend, in the Oban area which is in the county of Argyll. It was also Oban Airport open day yesterday - which was well cool. Oban Airport (OBN) is quite remote, and used for postal services, island hops and private planes - hence its quite small - but the location is just stunning - with the sea on one side and surrounded by mountains.
As airshows go, its small - there were only 5 plans and 1 helicopter ! However, the main plane, the Catalina flying boat is a completely awesome plane !
These flying boats were built during world war, and there was actually a squadron of them based here in Oban during world war 2. The plane on display was built in 1943 (79 years old), and is still flying - it gets taken to airshows around the world. It still has the capability to land and take off from water !
We got to go inside, which was really cool. Its very cramped and spartan. And when you see the controls and instrumentation - it is a world away from what we see flying these days.
It is such a beautiful plane. They were used as escorts for sea convoys, and also for hunting submarines.
As said, Oban is a tiny airport. Above is the control tower and the 'terminal' building ! - and if you just hop over that gate by the control tower - you are pretty much straight out onto the runway !
The airport is in such a beautiful location, right next to the sea looking out over islands and mountains. The yellow plane above is a postal plane that takes post and passengers out to the islands on a daily basis.
They were offering 15 minute flights on the plane yesterday for only £15 - which was quite incredible. I'm not a great flyer so was too chicken to go, and it was windy - it was going all over the place during landing and take off, but they still had a lot of people queuing up for it.
The other 3 planes are in the pic above. A red biplane on the left, another yellow postal plane in the middle, and then there was something else in the hanger on the right, which looked more of a private small plane.
They had all of their fire engines on display as well - which was nice.
And above is a pic of the postal plane taking people up for their 15 min rides.
Its not a very big show, but its about the friendliest and most community orientated air show I've ever been to. It really did feel very personal - lots of families out enjoying themselves, and contact directly with the planes, airport staff and pilots, and luckily the weather was being kind !
Its not overly clear but the helicopter is in the pic above (bottom left). It took off while we were there - quite a noisy bugger. It was quite funny as they had obviously just cut the grass for the airshow and it blew it absolutely everywhere !
We really enjoyed it, and for me it was worth it just to have seen the Catalina flying boat - what an absolutely beautiful plane !
And if you ever get the chance - its about as beautiful an airport as you'll ever see - the views alone are worth the visit !