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Duxford’s Battle of Britain Air Show has been a one of the
highlights of the UK aviation calendar over the last few years.
The ever-growing celebration of Britain’s finest hour has
attracted thousands of visitors from all over the World. This year
was no exception as almost 40,000 people descended on the historic
airfield to enjoy two days of vintage aviation.
The Aerodrome at Duxford was first opened in 1917 during the First
World War, primarily as a flight instruction site. It was during
the 2nd World war that the now iconic airfield came into its own.
Ideally situated to protect the capital, it was no surprise that
Duxford was the first RAF station to receive the brand new
Supermarine Spitfire in 1938. Heroics by the likes of Douglas
Bader and many others during the Battle of Britain in 1940
cemented the airfields place in history for ever more. For this
reason alone, the air shows at Duxford are very special indeed.
Duxford is now the home of the Imperial War Museum and
with this comes an impressive collection of exhibits any day of
the year. There is also a significant percentage of the UK’s
airworthy warbirds operating directly from Duxford, with the
Aircraft Restoration company, the Fighter Collection and Historic
Aircraft collection and several others basing their collections
here. Many of these aircraft are on permanent display, but air
show days see these parked out on the grass, available for close
inspection on the flight line walk.
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Here, for just £5 visitors can spend a few hours closely
inspecting the air show participations prior to the days flying.
Today, we were privileged to walk in the impressive shadows of
Boeing B17 Sally B, Plane sailings Catalina as well as all of the
smaller warbirds that were due to take part in the show. Where
else can you get close to Eighteen airworthy Spitfires, four
hurricanes, two Lysanders and the Worlds only flying Blenheim? As
ever, there were numerous appropriately attired reenactors
patrolling the flight-line happy to pose for selfies and period
shots.
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For 2019, the main theme of the Battle of
Britain Air Show was not the historic battle itself (although,
this was far from forgotten), but a celebration of ‘Duxford at the
Movies’. Filming often takes place here, with the Christopher
Nolan Dunkirk movie and Netflix series The Crown being some of the
recent visitors. It was of course the epic 1969 film ‘Battle of
Britain’ kick-started Duxford’s post-war renaissance and took the
abandoned RAF station to new levels of fame. In fact, the air show
today, kicked-off with a mesmerising tribute to the film (and the
battle!).
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With many of its star aircraft present and
still airworthy we were able to hear the rumbles of 11 merlin
engines chasing each other around the sky dodging explosive
pyrotechnics. 4 Hispano Buchons, playing the part of the ME109
once again, conducted a mock attack on the runway. Fortunately,
three Mk. 1 Spitfires and four Hawker Hurricanes were soon
scrambled to neutralise the threat. The crowd were left in a daze
as the historic, priceless warbirds were thrown around the sky in
a superb mock battle – the likes of which I have never witnessed
before. This must have been the closest thing to witnessing Battle
of Britain itself since the movie was filmed here 50 years ago.
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The next item on the agenda was the Battle
of Britain Memorial flight, who sent the mighty Avro Lancaster
accompanied by one of its Spitfires, we were treated to a tight
display of formation passes and solo routines. Later in the show,
we were able to witness the American counterparts of Boeing B17
and P47 Thunderbolt which provided an interesting comparison of
the varying fighter/bomber escorts of the war. The later formation
also recalled the 1990s Memphsis Belle movie in which both
aircraft starred, the B17 still wears its markings.
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Next, we stepped back further in time with the Great War Display
team (movie stars in their own right), who demonstrated an
explosive WW1 dogfight with their replica SE5s, BE2 and Triplanes
from either side. Frustratingly, as their display ended the
weather started to close in. We were able to see the ‘Furious’
formation of 2 Hawker Sea Fury’s and a Hawker Fury in the sky
together, but rain tamed down what these ultimate piston fighters
could do. The recently restored de Havilland DH9 remained grounded
whilst two of the 4 Mustangs landed soon after take-off before we
could see the finger-four formation of the full complement of
air-worthy P51’s currently in the UK.
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A period of heavy rain
temporarily stalled the flying programme, the Bristol Mercury
engine formation of Blenheim, two Lysanders and a Gladiator was
forced to hold off for around half an hour whilst the weather
front moved through the area. We were treated to this unique sight
and sound briefly before they were forced to land. Appropriately
the Navy aircraft were sent to display next. The iconic Catalina
flying boat was not troubled by the wet weather and displayed
superbly with the contrastingly, diminutive Wildcat. |
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The schedule was further
thrown when the Korean jet formation was scrubbed due to the
inclement weather. Despite the menacing clouds, the visiting Yak-9
was able to form up with its Soviet counterpart the Yak-3 for a
pleasing display representing the Russian front. Fortunately, the
unique formation of American Trainers was able to find some
clearer skies to display. The Stearman, Yale, Vultee and pair of
Texans was certainly an unusual sight in UK skies. The vivid Blue
and yellow colours schemes of the Stearman and Vultee made for a
particularly pleasing display against the dark skies and the
rustic hum of the Texan’s (aka Harvard’s) radial engine is warmly
nostalgic. |
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As is tradition, the
September Duxford show usually closes with a massive formation of
Spitfires. The pre-show plans would have seen a modern-day record
of Spitfires, but serviceability of aircraft prevented this.
However, an impressive 16 examples of RJ Mitchel's iconic
aeroplane bravely scrambled into the moody Cambridgeshire sky.
Dunkirk veteran, Mk. 1 N3200 performed an impressive solo routine
whilst the remaining 15 airframes formed up into two sub sections.
Who needs the Red Arrows when you have a Diamond Nine of
Spitfires? |
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Review by
Lee Chapman |
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