It was great day last Saturday at the War and Peace Show 2009. We made it there by noon due to heavy traffic along M25, with Riversphynx driving all the way from Birmingham to pick us up Northwest of London. The Met Office said that it will be a sunny day in Kent that day, but still we packed some rain gear just in case. Along with Saicho, who brought his spanking new DSLR camera, we looked forward to seeing new stuff and rare items at the show.

As we were late, we missed the Vietnam War reenactment. We called up Jarhead, who went ahead of us to pick up some of stuff for his military jeep that he is restoring and promised us to use next time, he told us that we missed it. Too bad for Riversphynx as he was dressed up as a US Military Advisor to the South Vietnamese Army. So first order for us was to grab some food, and roam around the grounds to look at the stuff laid out for everyone to see and for us to take photos of, including the crowds, whether in civvies or in their favourite militaria gear.

We saw the regular airsoft people there, as we initially dropped by Airsoft Armoury, with Gunman Airsoft right beside them. Along the way, we checked some real deals on 5.11 products which were priced real low. Saicho was able to get a jacket for 45 quid, which on the regular market, retails for over a hundred quid. We saw also some Blackhawk boots, which retail for around 130-160 quid online, and they were being sold at 50 quid! Dang! I should have waited for this show to get these, but I already got a pair for myself months before and they're doing just fine.

We also looked into gear at On Patrol, and had a chit chat with First Tactical.

We dropped by Airsoft Skirmish, manned by Dave Manning and his crew, said our regards to him and the Stirling Airsoft guys. We promised to be at their Catterick International Airsoft Tournament being organised with RedWolf Airsoft in September, as we can't make it to their Copehill event next month.

The we just floated around until we got to the Arena, which we were fortunate as the World War II reenactment firefight between the Americans and Germans was about to begin and the crowds were just about to fill up most of the viewing areas there. Saicho and I managed to find a good place, just almost right where we were last year.

The reenactment started, with all those sherman tanks, panzers, mortars, german and american troops battling it out. It was almost the same as last year, with some modifications. It ended with the glorious flyby of the British Lancaster bomber, for a bombing run over the Arena. It has been quite a while since I last saw one, and seeing it once again still gives me that admiration for that bomber which brought the war over Germany even before the Americans came in with their B-17s and B-25s.

Right after that, we roamed around at the encampments from World War II up to the present times. It was also a pleasure watching three ladies singing as members of the USO. We saw also an Alien who seemed to have chummed-up with the Colonial Marines (UK this time, not US). That was such a mean costume!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to find the booth of the National Airsoft Girls (NAG), as we promised Christina that we'll drop by. Though we found ourselves at the booth of Airsoft World guys, who seemed to be having a great time selling 2-tone VCRA-compliant airsoft guns. We saw for the first time there the AGM Sten gun, which is an exact copy of the Aviva version, just half the price of the Aviva one.

Rivershpynx went missing, as he got kidnapped by Paul Monash of Airsoft International Magazine, for some photos at their booth. Hopefully, he gets his photos published in the September 2009 issue of the AI.

We ended our visit around half past six. Jarhead was happy that he got his stuff, which weighed more than me and saicho combined and we had to help him carry his stuff to bring to the car. Our trip way back was easy, as the congestions along the motorway was gun. Riversphynx dropped us off at a pub near our place, where Jarhead, Saicho, and I had two pints to finish the day off.

For those who missed the event, here is a slideshow of what we saw. The countdown for the War and Peace Show 2010 has already begun.

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