The beginning of May hails the long awaited awakening of the Air Show season after the winter “off season”, with the Old Warden based Shuttleworth Collection holding one of the coveted “1st of the season” spots with their season premier air show.  

Shuttleworth airshows always offers so much more than an flying display. Along with an extensive collection of air frames that can be seen in the hangars at the Old Warden Airfield and out on the flight line, the organiser also put on a beautiful show of vintage vehicles, ranging from cars, motorcycles & coaches, pilots talks and the lovely Swiss Gardens which are all included in the cost of the entrance ticket. Families are also well catered for with open top coach rides around the grounds and Airfix model building sessions.

The day saw unseasonably cool weather for early may, with low cloud and a brisk breeze, leaving the days air show goers tightly wrapped up in their coats and scarves. Despite that I’m sure one of two spectators did go home with a red face from the little sun that did appear (this reviewer included!) That being said, the day was dry and despite this weather the organisers and pilots managed a fantastic job of putting on a great job with a great line up and fantastic flying to boot!

Along with the cold weather, the photographers amongst the crowd had challenging lighting conditions to contend with, making getting “The Shot” a difficult feat. However the good thing about the Old Warden air field is that the display axis is dog legged allowing for close top side and low passes. This combined with the rare and immaculate air frames and high calibre of the pilots displaying them definitely makes Shuttleworth the aviation and aficionado’s choice

The flying display started a little after 2pm with a few flypasts from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight in their clipped wing Spitfire Mk XVI TE311. A short but sweet display with 3 or 4 flypasts with topside passes displaying the clipped wings and low back tear drop canopy, the sound of its Packard Merlin engine roaring out across the airfield; very evocative.

The crowd line was soon filled with the sound of a pair of turboprop engines as the OV-10 Bronco fired up ready to run down the grass runway and perform its display under the control of Tony De Bruyn of the Bronco Demo Team, the first but not the last Vietnam War era aircraft of the day.

The Collection had committed quite a contingent of their own air frames to the flying schedule with the first of the Collections airframes next up in the form of the rather open Eon Primary glider, towed by the collection Piper Super Cub. An impressive sight to behold, with the pilot “Perched” on an open seat, with no cockpit enclosure of any kind, an extremely vulnerable (and Chilly) position.

The ability to get close to a splendid flying display at Shuttleworth is even more admirable when the collections iconic WWII aircraft come out to display, this time around in a fabulous trio of the Collections recently rebuilt Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vc, Hawker Sea Hurricane Mk 1b and the privately owned Hawker Hurricane Mk I. A truly majestic site across the crowd line grass airfield of Old Warden. The three WWII stalwarts performed a number of formation flypasts before breaking into individual displays.