This weekend was spent flying our vintage planes (two Tiger Moths, a Cub, a Bird Dog, a Cornell, two Safirs, a Texan and a Broussard) from Kjeller to Bodø in northern Norway for an airshow there. Bodø is at 67 degrees north, which is north of the Polar Circle, so they get midnight sun up there. We flew in formations according to cruising speeds, so the Tiger Moths, the Cub, the Bird Dog and the Cornell flew together most of the way. I flew the Cub. The trip is around 500nm in total, and we had to make three fuel stops, at Tynset (ENTY), Værnes (ENVA) and Brønnøysund (ENBN) before we got to Bodø (ENBO). This is a bit of a trip at 75kts, so we started early on Friday. The weather at Kjeller was appalling, so we were forced to fly at low level for the first half hour or so before the weather cleared up. The further north we got, the better the weather also got, which was a good thing. I didn't get to take any pictures on the first two legs, but after Værnes I kept the camera in the left leg pocket of my flight suit, and took it out every now and then. The Cub I flew is newly restored, and had two hours on it since overhaul before I took it flying on Friday. It needs some adjustment of the carburettor, as it runs a bit rich, but that was solved by leaning it a bit more. Other than that it is the only Cub I've ever flown that flies absolutely straight and level hands-off, so I was able to take some rather nice pics in-flight, even in formation.

As we flew north after our fuel stop at Trondheim Værnes airport, Norway starts to narrow, and we got closer to the coast. As you head north, the coastline of Norway becomes steeper and more rocky, but very, very beautiful.

Hitting the coast after flying mostly inland



Got up early, didn't have time to shave



Shallow water and a sandy bottom makes for beautiful colours in the sea. The circles at the top of the pic are fish breeding pools, which are found all along the Norwegian coastline





Flying along a narrow fjord



Getting ever closer to the open ocean



Fuel stop at Brønnøysund





Downtown Brønnøysund. The ship you see in the picture is one of the Hurtigruten ships. Described as the world's most beautiful sea journey, the ships travel almost the entire western and northern coast of Norway, from Bergen to Kirkenes. 5 days each way, and 11 days for the full round-trip, it is an absolutely staggeringly beautiful journey



More beautiful sea colours







Our little formation



The island of Ylvingen, closest to me, and Vega beyond. Two very beautiful places.



Cornell



That's the North Atlantic out there



Lots of small islands



Our newly refurbished Tiger Moth









Mountains and water







Love the colour of shallow water on sandy bottom



Between the rocks





Mountains to our right and the vast North Atlantic to our left





The city of Bodø in the distance



Safely down on display



I only brought a compact camera because of space issues in the Cub, so there aren't many pics of the airborne aircraft during the show, but I did walk around and snap some pics of the planes on the ground.

USAFE Learjet



Typhoon



JAS Gripen



Red Bull DC-6



C-17..more on that later



T-33, recently bought by a Norwegian AF F-16 pilot



P-38, Hunter and Viggen



The Viggen. Best-looking fighter jet ever, along with the F-14 and BAC Lightning, IMO



At the same time as the show, 332 Sqdn celebrated its 70th anniversary. I got to meet up with 332's first commander, Wilhem Mohr. Somewhat of a legend in Norwegian military aviation, he flew Spitfires from North Weald and forward bases after D-Day, and went on to become head of the post-war Norwegian Air Force, and retired a Lt.Gen. At 94, he still has a handshake like a bear!



He also signed our Tiger Moth, next to Eric Brown's signature from last weekend



The Italian Frecce Tricolori team put on a good show



After the show on Saturday we had dinner in Bodø city. This is the harbour at midnight





We spent a few hours on Sunday in the Norwegian Museum of Aviation, which is quite nice. I hadn't been there for ten years, so it was nice to come back.





The cockpit of a FW-190 under restoration



Next weekend there will be an airshow at Andøya in the Lofoten islands, so we left our planes in Bodø and were originally supposed to hitch a ride on a Hercules back to Oslo, but we asked to fly on this bird instead:



Which we got to do. The crew did a max-performance takeoff and a low flyby of the show before heading south. Awesome!



View from one of the three small portholes along the left side of the cargo compartment



All in all, an awesome weekend, with one of the most amazing flights I've ever had. Six and a half hours of Cub flying, followed by a nice airshow, and topped with a ride on a C-17. A man can have a worse weekend than that

This has to be the understatment of the year....

Awsome, THX for sharing.

Dang semmern.

That said, I have to say that Bodø looks decidedly unwindy...

Still! Lucky bugger!

Must be rough, simply awesome. Just returned from a 10 day vacation and see this. Puts mine to shame.

so its sunny at midnight there? Awesome./

Really interesting stuff buddy; I'm envious.

OrbX's next instalment needs to be Norway. Badly.

Sounds like a fun couple of days indeed, thanks for sharing !

Cheers

Nico

#%&*$#. In a good way.

I couldn't afford to get up there, had to prioritize the main vacation unfortunately. Which is a shame, since the lineup looked like the best ever at an airshow in Norway.

Thanks for sharing, lovely pictures of fantastic scenery makes me kinda homesick for Scotland we have golf tournements at midnight on the 22nd June, my friends and I used to climb Ben Hope, Scotlands most northerly hill over 3000ft, there we would watch the sun go under the horizon due north then watch it come back up again a few minute later. Also we made a point of climbing it on the shortest day too, usually ended as an ice climb the last few hundred feet.

Met the Frecce Tricolari team a few years ago at Waddington, got a grandstand seat in the control tower while they did their practice display a day before the show, a memory that will always live with me
Over the years I've had some fantastic views from working at airshows and being where the crowd cannot go

Envious. Well, not of the mugshot.

What was your emergency plan for the stretches over water? Or did you always stay in gliding distance to some land nearby? It looks awfully wide and wet out there for a small single-engine aircraft.

Be glad you missed the Herki, it's really not a comfortable aircraft. But I think you already flew in one?