Bridge Classic Car Show (part 1)

Last weekend was a new car show for me which was on the other side of the county at RAF Bentwaters. A little history about Royal Air Force Bentwaters or more simply RAF Bentwaters, now known as Bentwaters Parks, is a former Royal Air Force station about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of London and 10 miles (16 km) east-northeast of Ipswich, near Woodbridge, Suffolk in England. Its name was taken from two cottages (‘Bentwaters Cottages’) that had stood on the site of the main runway during its construction in 1943.The station was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War, and by the United States Air Force (USAF) during the Cold War, being the primary home for the 81st Fighter Wing under various designations from 1951 to 1993. For many years the 81st Fighter Wing also operated from RAF Woodbridge, with Bentwaters and Woodbridge airfields being known by the Americans as the “Twin Bases”. RAF Bentwaters was the location of an 13–14 August 1956 night time radar and visual sighting of multiple UFOs (the Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident); it is also near the location of the alleged December 1980 UFO incident in Rendlesham Forest. The site is now known as Bentwaters Parks with the Bentwaters Cold War Museum which is located on the site, there are various offices and warehouses on site, and has even been used for television and film making.

Day of the show I checked the weather and there was a chance of rain late afternoon which shouldn’t be a problem as the show closed at three thirty. I was going to risk it and go for the forty minute drive there through some back roads and quite a scenic route. The show was to start at eleven but I didn’t find anywhere that said what time the cars were to be there. With that in mind I arrived shortly after ten and was directed to where the show was to be held. I was asked pretty much where I wanted to park. Bridge Classics has a few old hangers where cars were stored and worked on in their workshops.

The best bit of the show was that I had to drive past the end of a runway which was coned off, I was a little bit naughty maybe as I went through them for a quick ad hoc photoshoot. It’s not as though the runway was in use. The clouds and lighting were all natural and literally changed by the minute, there was no photoshop trickery involved, the only changes to this set of photos was some standard cropping work.

I was only there for a few minutes to take a few shots and then left, I think I started a trend as another car or two replaced me as I drove to the show itself, just round the corner!

At the show I took the best part of two hundred and fifty photos throughout the day, so I will split them up over two posts, with my ‘car of the show’ in the second post. The picture below was taken just after midday where I tried a panoramic view, I think you sort of get the idea, although the runway looks like it turns ninety degrees.

There were cars turning up and going throughout the show so some of the photos are out of sequence.

More photos of the how can be found here: Bridge classic car show

The show started out slowly and as soon as I parked up the very light misty rain started to fall. But the breeze soon dried out. I will just post a batch of photos as I walked around in no particular order.

This really nice Packard that parked up next to me was a close contender for ‘Marts Car of the Show’, it made such a statement when it pulled up. Perhaps the biggest car there.

In the next post there will be the car storage area and lots more cars along with my pick of the show.