Flame & Thunder 2012 – Saturday 27th October

Stunts, air display & Drag Racing = Family Fun & Firework Spectacular — Flame & Thunder 2012 – Saturday 27th October @Santa Pod

I’ll be flying at Santa Pod again on the 27th Oct in the ‘Abarth Extra’ at the Flame & Thunder event it’s an action packed day for all the family featuring motorsport, stunts, my air display and Drag Racing including a Jet Dragster, Jet Funny Car – The World Record-Breaking Fireforce 3 Jet Car of Martin Hill, Jet Truck and Jet Beetle plus Top Fuel dragsters along with cars and bikes from all classes of Drag Racing. Lots to see and do including Monster Trucks, Freestyle Motocross & Drifting. Ken Block, the American rally & stunt driver, will also be there signing autographs. The climax of the day will be a huge firework display with massive bonfire. Looking forward to it!

FREE ENTRY FOR KIDS! (Under 16s, max 3 per adult)

Santa Pod Raceway UK – Drag Racing – Santa Pod Raceway is the home of European Drag Racing and host to the televised FIA European Drag Racing Championships. It’s the fastest and loudest motorsport on earth.

Santa Pod hosts over 50 events during the race season Jan-Nov, including: National drag race meetings, modified car shows (The Fast Show and USC), VW Beetle & Camper festivals (Bug Jam and Big Bang), Japanese performance car events (JapShows), retro & classic car events (Dragstalgia and Retro Show), Run What Ya Brung (RWYB) & Drift What Ya Brung (DWYB).

Santa Pod Raceway, in Northamptonshire, England, opened at Easter in 1966, is Europe’s first permanent drag racing venue. It was built on a disused World War II American air base, RAF Podington, once used by the 92nd Bomber Group. It is now the home of European drag racing and has grown substantially over its 40-year existence. It hosts both the first and last round of the FIA and FIM/UEM European Drag Racing Championship, along with the British National Drag Racing Championships.

‘Santa Pod’ has wartime flying history… Podington (Station 109)was home to the the 92nd Bombardment Group (Heavy) – The 92d was the oldest group in the 8th Air Force and was known as “Fame’s Favored Few”. The group tail code was a “Triangle B” – the group flew almost 300 operational missions over Nazi-Occupied Europe.

Although handicapped by weather conditions, enemy fire, and insufficient fighter protection, the 92nd bombed aircraft factories in central Germany on 11 January 1944 and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for the mission.

The group part in the intensive campaign of heavy bombers against the German aircraft industry during Big Week, 20-25 February 1944. After that, it attacked V-weapon sites in France; airfields in France, Germany, and the Low Countries, and industrial targets in France, Germany, and Belgium, making concentrated strikes on oil and transportation facilities after October 1944.

In addition to strategic missions, the 92nd performed some interdictory and support operations. Assisted the Normandy invasion in June 1944 by hitting gun emplacements, junctions, and marshalling yards in the beachhead area. Supported ground forces at Saint-Lô during the breakthrough in July 1944. Bombed gun positions and bridges to aid the airborne assault on the Netherlands in September 1944. Participated in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945, by attacking bridges and marshaling yards in and near the battle area. Bombed airfields near the landing zone to cover the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945.

Mark Jefferies flew the B17 in September 2011, info and a video of the flight here.