Dubai

In 1998 the Ghost Squadron were asked to take a complete model airshow to Dubai to introduce model flying as part of the famous Dubai Shopping Festival. This was a mammoth operation that involved organising 23 pilots, 83 models, and the loading and airfreighting of the team's trailer to Dubai and then the construction of a model airfield. All this was arranged and actioned in just 3 months.

To meet this timescale John flew out to Dubai one weekend and visited the organisers and Dubai Government to discuss details and find a suitable location for the airfield to be built. Once a site had been found an airfield layout was hand drawn on some paper and this became the blueprint for its construction.

Once back in England the next job was to find pilots with suitable models who could get 2 weeks off work at short notice and make the trip... not a simple job.  Once the pilots had been found and what models were to be used agreed the next question was hoe to get them all safely to Dubai and back. The answer was to load them all into the Ghost Squadron trailer and air freight it direct to Dubai. A Boeing 747 cargo plane was chartered and the trailer fitted onto an air cargo pallet for the flight.

On the team's arrival in Dubai they had 1 day of getting the models ready and practice before the airshow started. The opening ceremony was attended by the King of Dubai and he was personally introduced to all the pilots and then as the show opener, his son (the current King of Dubai) flew a trainer on buddy box and amazed everyone by landing the model on his own without the instructor's assistance.

The show ran for 8 days and on each day the team worked hard to produce a different program to present to the public.

A selection of pictures from the event is presented below.