A visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival

A visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival

We’re always looking for new places to visit and as my son seems particularly taken with aeroplanes at the moment I thought he’d enjoy a visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival last weekend.  The annual weekend event takes place at the old RAF Kemble site near to Cirencester and is somewhere that our brother-in-law used to fly into.

A visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival

As the RAF is celebrating its centenary year, a visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival promised 100 aircraft flying into the event over the weekend.  The airport is easy to find and ample free parking is available on site.

The event promised a range of different aircraft to view and watch flying in, as well as some static displays.

A visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival

We’ve been watching a series on television about model aircraft reenacting the Battle of Britain aerial fights and my OH had heard that model aircraft were going to be present at the event.  So he was looking forward to seeing them.

We’d arrived for a visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival not long after it opened at 10am, and decided that a visit to the museum inside a large aircraft was going to be a good starting point for us.

Inside the aircraft was a wealth of information about the history of the airport and RAF Kemble, as well as their association with the Red Arrows display team.

In the middle of the aircraft there was an exhibition of items from World War Two, including items relating to Air Raid Wardens. I found this particularly interesting as my grandfather was one and it was fascinating to see the things he might have used at the time.

My son isn’t fussed by funfairs, but there were a number of rides on offer for those that like them.

A visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival

Traction engines of any size are always a big hit with the men of the family and we enjoyed getting up close to the ones at this event.

There was a really nice vintage feel to a visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival.  So many people had made a real effort to dress accordingly and there were reminders of bygone days wherever you looked.

The soldiers out on a recce really caught my son’s imagination and we had to follow them on their covert mission.

A visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival

There were displays going on in the main arena, but we only got to see the Monster Truck taking paying passengers for a ride.

A visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival

It was a shame, but there didn’t seem to be a PA system at the event, or if there was, the announcements didn’t travel far.  Which meant you didn’t really know what was happening or what planes were coming into land.  We’ve found with other events that snippet of information is really useful, especially as we aren’t that knowledgeable about aircraft in general.

There were a number of helicopters on static display and it looked as if you could also book flights on one of them.  One day I’ll persuade my son to go up in one, as I love flying in helicopters.  But for now we admired them from the ground.

There was lots to take in with a range of military vehicles and scenes on display to really give a variety of things to see and enjoy.

The highlight of a visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival was always going to be the aeroplanes for us.  We were impressed with the range of aircraft on display.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to stay for the whole day as I wasn’t feeling very well, so I think we may well have missed the best displays of the day.

We did enjoy a visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival, even if it was cut a little short, and I’m sure we’ll be interested to see what year three of this event will look like next year.  Have you been?

A visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival

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15 thoughts on “A visit to the Cotswold Airport Revival Festival

  1. I love the look of this, my perfect family day out. I have to say mine would have headed straight for the fun fair and spent all their money, but I’d be much more at home with the old machines. You do have some lovely shows around your way. #CountryKids

  2. My husband would love this. It sounds like an interesting day out. Love that there was a museum inside one of the aircraft. Traction engines are so interesting and riding on a Monster Truck sounds like fun. It’s a shame that there didn’t seem to be a PA system for keeping you informed about displays but it looks like you had a great day out. Thank you for sharing it with #CountryKids

  3. Phew, so much packed into one visit, and some great pics too. I love these air shows. Shame about the tannoy though it sounds like it didn’t affect your day too much. Thanks for sharing with us at #CountryKids

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