British Airshows 2014 DVD Cover
Produced by PlanesTV.com; available from PlanesTV.com priced £24.99 DVD. £34.99 Blu-Ray
British Airshows is Planes TV’s signature and biggest selling production. It was therefore a shame that it missed the Christmas deadline and came out in January which must of been frustrating for all concerned.
In all, the Double Disc set covers 20 events from across the UK and combines footage shot from the ground as well as mini-cams mounted on aircraft and parachutists. At two hours. that’s great deal of action to pack in so naturally coverage of each event is quite short and sweet. Indeed there are some star items, particularly from the likes of Duxford, Yeovilton and Farnborough, that get little or even no-coverage!
However there is some great moments caught by Planes TV. The “once in a lifetime” appearances by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum and Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancasters quite rightly feature well, but there is some memorable moments throughout. Particularly eye-catching is Yeovilton where Planes TV have mixed in footage from the ground with that from Flyonix’s Drone creating some wonderful and dynamic scenes of Air Day. Duxford’s D-Day commemorations are caught well too, particularly the para-drop by the Red Devils from the formation of Douglas C-47 Skytrains.
One of the great things about British Airshows is that it covers many events that don’t have their own DVD titles. The return of Biggin Hill to the airshow calendar is one such highlight with coverage of the special Red Arrows 50th display season celebrations held there. It is also good to see footage from several of the smaller airshows including Abingdon, Dawlish, Cleethorpes alongside some of the more illustrious well known air show venues. For the first time in many years the RAF Waddington International Airshow is included allow Planes TV to show displays from the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight’s Viggin and Draken plus the OV-10B Bronco and Turkish Air Force F-16. Lancasters were certainly a theme of the year and there’s coverage of two special events at East Kirkby, firstly from the “3 Lancasters” Event in Spetember and closing the production, the “Just Jane” Night run and fireworks displays from November.
Disc 1 also includes three bonus features on it including an interview with the owner of the Westland Whirlwind HAR10 plus two promo-style featurettes of the Vulcan and NATO Days in the Czech Republic.
Disc 2 contains varied mix of “Interactive” sequences of various display routines. These vary from Rich Goodwin’s stunning Pitts S2S Special display at Yeovilton through to the Airbus E-Fan and Spanish Navy Harrier at Farnborough. However, a note of caution. To get the full effect of these sequences make sure you know how to activate the “Angle” function of DVD or Blu-Ray player. We’ve notice several manufacturers are now relegating the function to a secondary menu rather than having its own button on the remote control!
The British Airshows DVD/Blu-ray is always one of the most anticipated releases and the 2014 edition certainly does not disappoint with great coverage of the UK Airshow Season. With so many memorable moments, British Airshows 2014 is a worthy addition to any enthusiast’s collection.
