I was horrified to see the films of the accident on NZTV News, because I spent a lot of my time in the late '70's flying hang gliders at Mill Hill, which overlooks the Shoreham Airport.

Shoreham has had an Air Day since time immemorial. The airfield long pre-dates the A27, so there would be no reason to prevent them having a show there.

Of course, we must wait for the official investigation to determine the cause of the crash. In the film I saw, the plane was almost straight and level at about 200 feet at the bottom of its loop, then seemed to pitch slightly nose down just before it hit the ground. Why would that be?

Some speculation also seems to be happening over a vapour trail visible in some shots streaming from the starboard wingtip. Personally, I think this looks a lot like a simple wingtip vortex made visible by the reduction in air pressure at the centre of the vortex causing water vapour in the air to condense: such vortices are commonly observed in damp conditions.

A sad business, the loss of so many lives and the wreck of an historic aircraft. Lets hope the lessons will be learned.