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The Tiger Club
Small, but powerfully entertaining!
8th January 2012
Happy New Year to all our friends.
We are now taking bookings for the 2012 season. Contact Jules for details.
28th August 2011
WHEELIE GOOD FUN AT DUNSFOLD WINGS & WHEELS
Sunny skies and a cheering crowd welcomed the Turb Team at Dunsfold
Wings & Wheels on August Bank Holiday weekend. On Sunday the rain
showers held off for the display, which provided some light relief from
the Military acts including the 60th anniversary of the Hawker Hunters
and the impressive RAF Hawk Solo display. On Monday an on-crowd wind
made for challenging balloon bursting and an exciting display with a
great reaction from the public. Dunsfold marked a number of milestones for the team including his
first display away from home soil for new Ground Crew member Jack
Prendergast, with his debut show at Headcorn IMPS earlier in the month;
Jonathan Wilkins flew his fourth display marking a successful end to
his first season with the Team; Samantha Williams joined Brendan O’
Brien in the commentary box while Colyn Randall flew his 71st display
with the Team! Dunsfold marked an enthusiastic end to the Turbulent
Display Team season for 2011.
1st March 2011
As
we commence training for the 2011 season, we welcome Jonathan Wilkins to the
Team. Jonathan commenced training late last year before the weather changed
so we look forward to seeing him at his first air display later this year.
We look forward to seeing you at an air show near you this year!
19th February 2011
The New Season is almost upon us!
Having had all the fun in the snow, it’s time to discard the skis and get out the rags and wax for a bit of spit & polish to get the Turbs all spick and span for the new season. Work on the Annuals stars this month and training begins in March. If you want to know where we are displaying this year, go to the
“Where to see us” page – this will be updated on a regular basis.
We look forward to seeing you at an air show near you this year!
Jules
19th December 2010
A Sight not seen in 22 Years!!
On 19th December 2010, Team Pilots Alan and Julie Garside took to the skies in 2 Snow-turbs, a sight not seen since 1988 when the Tiger Club was based at Redhill, so a first for Headcorn. Thank you Dave Evans for the photo. Go to the gallery for more photos of the snow-turbs and other antics at the Tiger Club on this day.
Photo courtesy: Dave Evans;
This link takes you to a fantastic video taken by Sam Whatmough.
Jules in the Snowturb over Headcorn in Dec 2010. Thanks to Alan Fuller, our Ground Crew Chief, for letting us share this on our website and for braving the freezing cold in the front of a Stampe to take the video.
3rd December 2010
The Snow-Turb Takes to the skies again! The recent weather has, once again,
allowed Tiger Club members the chance to experience flying
off skis. 
Only this time, we flew GZ. We now have 2 turbs on skis so a
turb formation over a snowy Kent is definitely on the cards for the next
fall of snow. Us pilots may be enjoying the snow but spare a few thoughts
for our mascot, Max, who doesn't appear to be all that happy. Don't be
fooled by the sad face, this is after a mad 10 minutes chasing snowballs!!!
- Jules
12th September 2010
Well, what a fantastic end to the season!! No-one would have thought we would get there looking at the weather on Saturday morning.
However, we set off in very murky conditions and popped out into beautiful sunshine mid-channel. An excellent reception awaited us on arrival plus a very nice evening in the hotel for all the participating pilots and the usual dignitaries.
Saturday’s bad weather finally hit Lens overnight and we woke up to cloud and rain, however this cleared through well before the display started.
We displayed at 4pm with our standard routine and landed to pick up the flags and
taxi down the crowd line to re-fuel. The response from the crowd was incredible with the whole line waving and clapping as we went by.
We very quickly got everything packed away for our trip back and taxied to the hold, the crowd heartily waving us good-bye.
We left for home in much better weather than we went out, arriving back in plenty of time for Drinks at the Bell in the evening.
- Photo courtesy of Frederic Dubois
29th & 30th August 2010
Despite
a blustery crosswind and intermittent showers on day one of the Dunsfold
Wings and Wheels, an enthusiastic crowd spurred on by a great commentary
from the Tiger Club’s infamous Brendan O’Brien encouraged the determination
of the Turb Pilots and Ground Crew to deliver an entertaining display on
Sunday 29th August. Day two brought sunny skies and a gentle 7kt northerly
breeze setting the perfect conditions for a neat formation followed by
dynamic flying through the hoop, flour bombing and balloon bursting ending
in cheers and frantic waving from the crowd. The Team has been inundated
with praise from show visitors young and old via this website, Facebook and
in person at the show from several display pilots with a bit of experience
under their belt.
Go to the Gallery – “We were there” for pictures from this event
28th July 2010
The turbs are now back at Headcorn after an epic journey to and from Culdrose. Tuesday saw typical British
summer weather and we were delayed getting out of Headcorn. With a fuel stop at Popham we just managed to creep into Dunkeswell before the cloud hit the deck and it began raining. We were here for the duration! We managed to get out Wednesday morning and arrived at Culdrose with just 2 hours before we were to display. Our display went very well and we relaxed for the rest of the day and watched the show. Nothing like sitting on the display line with a Vulcan roaring over your head!!!
Our trip home on Thursday in glorious sunshine over some of the most beautiful scenery in the UK made up for the bad weather on Tuesday. With fuel stops at Dunkeswell and Lasham, we arrived home in plenty of time for beer at the Bell. 8 hours flying - what an adventure for such little aircraft!
Jules
13th June 2010
Our first show of the season is now behind us, and what
a great start to the season. With a fairly leisurely trip across the
Channel, we arrived at Merville and within a few minutes of landing, we had
champagne glasses in our hands! We were due to display at 1607
on Sunday and, right on time we had taxied up to the hold with flags flying.
We took off on time and went through our routine, putting in an extra
balloon run. A bit of a rush afterwards to get re-fuelled and ready
for departure but we managed to get off at 1730 and enjoyed a very calm and
pleasant crossing of the channel returning to Headcorn with the usual run
and break.
A great weekend and a fantastic start to the season – photos are in the Gallery
17th April 2010
We could not believe our luck at the weekend when Gatwick ATC gave the all
clear for The Tiger Club to fly a Balbo formation at 1,000ft over what is
usually one of the busiest runways in the world. NO WAY were we going to
miss this opportunity to fly over Gatwick! Joining us in the
formation were 3 Tiger Moths, 3 Stampes, a Midget Mustang, a Pulsar, a Piper
Cub and a Bucker Jungmann - all flown by Tiger Club formation pilots.
What better excuse to have a Spring formation practice ahead of the busy air
show season? We finally persuaded Richard to take to the skies
to take some photos of the fly-past from the air - you can see his fantastic
results via the link below:
http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=21902
Jules p class="style7">April 2010
GZ get a new coat!!!
GZ takes to the skies again following refurbishment. She sure looks pretty now that the fuselage has bee re-sprayed.
18th February 2010
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Pre-season spit
& polish!!
‘MZ’ takes to the air again following extensive work to convert to an electronic ignition system. With this work completed we now start on a bit of TLC on ‘GZ’ with a planned respray of the fuselage.
18th December 2009
Once again the chaos caused by all the snow in the South-East, hasn’t
stopped us from having some fun!!! We took the opportunity of donning
the skis for the second time this year.
May we wish all our friends and supporters a Very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you at an airshow near you in 2010!
JulesThe end of a great season
The end of the 2009 season has come and we look back on
some exciting and enjoyable displays culminating in 2 Turbs joining a Balbo
of 11 aircraft and flying over the old Croydon Airfield on 27th
September to commemorate the closing of the Airfield 50 years ago. But
we won’t be stopping just because Winter draws on!!! We will continue
to partake of our aerial antics at Headcorn Airfield for as long as the
weather allows. Late Evening Balbos on a Sunday are a matter of
course!!! If you are anywhere near Headcorn, why not pop into the
Tiger Club and say Hello, the kettle is always on . . .
Watch this space for news of where to see us next year.