For the RAF Cosford Air show this year, taking place on June 14th, several new attractions will be presented to the general public in celebration of the 70th anniversary of VE-day (victory in Europe day) and the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
The event consists of four major themes: the 70th anniversary (VE70), Search and Rescue (SAR), the 90th anniversary of the University Air Squadrons (UAS90), and the 50-year cancellation of the TSR2 aircraft.
In celebration of the 70th anniversary of VE-day this June, the Air Show will have a “Victory Village” that will enable citizens to travel into the 1940s, juxtaposing themselves between the modernity of today and the period of World War II. This village will not only consist of authentic music to the era, but an authentic tea room as well, allowing attendees to immerse themselves in the time period. Walking among the crowd will be veterans, who will enthrall the masses with stories, as well as various reenactment groups, who will be doing performances on the premises.
For the technical side of the event, there will be P-51 Mustangs (also known as spitfires), P-40 kittyhawks, C-70 Dakotas, and the RAF swordfish. There will also be the Red Arrows, the Grob Tutor (a part of the University of Birmingham Air Squadron, located at Cosford originally) and a presentation by the RAF Falcons parachute teams.
In addition to seeing search and rescue vehicles and aircrafts in action, the festival will also include a history of these motorized vehicles.
On the ground, the festival will include displays from University of Birmingham Air Squadron, a 633 volunteer gliding squadron, the Air Training Corps, the Defense School of Aeronautic engineering, and HQ Wales and West region, to name a few.
The Cosford Air Show occurs on a yearly basis with thousands attending. This year, however, the show has a procedural change: they will no longer be selling tickets at the gate in hopes of attracting more activity to the website. (Similar other events have the same procedure.) Tickets online are going for £22.00 for adults, while anyone under 16 attends for free if accompanied by an adult, the shropshirelive.com reports.
Arriva Trains Wales, London Midland, and Virgin Trains have collaborated with the event to accommodate the surplus of attendees. They have a sweet deal: the train ticket costs a cool £18.00 when bundled with a ticket to the event, for a total of £40.