I went to Duxford war museum at the weekend, to see the 'war birds' in action
It was a really nice day, sunshine, compared to the day before, rain, overcast, very humid
They have really done it up really well, they have the new American aircraft hand chock full of aircraft from the second world war and even some modern day aircraft
To do the place justice you really need a couple of days to go around and see everything, we had ½ a day, and the afternoon would be the flying display
They promised lots of flying displays with aircraft from the First World War, the years in between the wars and the Second World War and after
What with the weather being like this it promised to be a good day (not a cloud in the sky, bright blue sky)
Well went into the various hangers and had a look around, the USSAF hanger was very full, it must have been quite a job to fit them all in there, they were hanging from the roof, over lapping on the floor, they had the huge Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which seemed to dominate the hanger
There was a Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Douglas C-47 Skytrain (a lovely old plane, I have a friend whose Dad was a pilot in one of these old work horse, this aircraft has featured in many films, A Bridge Too Far, D-Day)
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (It has held the world record for the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft since 1976)
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
North American B-25 Mitchell
North American F-100 Super Sabre
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
SPAD S
.XIII
Lockheed U-2 nicknamed "Dragon Lady" (The U-2 is one of a handful of aircraft types to have served the USAF for over 50 years. The newest models (TR-1, U-2R, U-2S) entered service in the 1980s. The current model, the U-2S, received its most recent technical upgrade in 2012.)
Bell UH-1 Iroquois
Everything was really hard to photograph without another aircraft being the shot, but well worth walking around
We went onto the other hangers
There was even more in the British aircraft Museum, some aircraft I had only heard of but never seen, but they were hung from the roof and on display on the ground
I think I can remember some of the aircraft I saw there
Avro Lancaster (this was a Canadian variant though)
Avro Shackleton
Avro Vulcan (The final flight, performed using XH558, was at RAF Cranfield on 20 September 1992
BAC TSR-2 (the best aircraft Britain never had, The TSR-2 was the victim of ever-rising costs[7] and inter-service squabbling[8] over Britain's future defence needs, which led to the controversial decision to scrap the programme in 1965)
British Aerospace Harrier II (the aircraft that flew in the Falklands, a great aircraft, developed by Britain and improved by the Americans)
In December 2010, budgetary pressures led to the early retirement of all Harrier IIs from service, at which point it was the last of the Harrier derivatives remaining in British service
. The decision to retire was controversial as there was no immediate fixed-wing replacement in its role or fixed-wing carrier-capable aircraft left in service; in the long term the Harrier II is to be replaced by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
De Havilland Vampire
De Havilland Mosquito (this aircraft was used as fast photo-reconnaissance aircraft, there isn’t a flying Mosquito in the UK)
The Mosquito was also known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews.
Originally conceived as an unarmed fast bomber, the Mosquito was adapted to roles including low to medium-altitude daytime tactical bomber, high-altitude night bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, maritime strike aircraft
English Electric Lightning
Fairey Swordfish (I remember seeing this when I was a kid and it’s still flying)
FMA IA 58 Pucará (Argentine Air Force captured during the Falklands War)
Handley Page Victor
Hawker Hurricane 11B
Hawker Hunter
Messerschmitt Bf 109
Mil Mi-24 (Former East German Air Force helicopter in German Air Force Markings)
Short Sunderland Royal Air Force, it is a former French Navy aircraft
Westland Sea King
There was also a lot of civilian aircraft from companies that are no longer around or have been algamated (BOAC, BEA+ British Airways)
You had a chance of going onto these static displays and see how things were done in the days when these were flying and how things have improved (or not)
..............................................................................................................................
About 1-30 it was time for the flying display to start and everyone had stools, chairs out and the front was just full, we found a patch of grass and just sat there
Along the runway there was spitfires lined up, I had never seen so many in one place, 16 in all, of various variants, there was even one original from the Battle of Britain, A Mk 2
There was a PBY Catalina (I haven’t seen one of these for years)
Then there was the B17, Sally ‘B’ and on the other side, the nose art for the Memphis Belle
There was a very old Mig 21 and a couple of the first British jets, Vampyres
.......................................................
.............................................................................................
It looked like it was going to be a good air show
The announcer did say that the Battle of Britain Memorial flight wouldn’t be over today, just the Lancaster, a bit disappointing, no air show is complete without them coming over, but with all the Spitfires lined up it was going to make up for it, 15 of them, there was a couple that are privately owned (you must have a few quid to own and fly a Spitfire, Its all shiny and silver, it’s used in a lot of air races, the Red bull race is one of them )
The display started with a couple of WW1 biplanes, German tri-planes, even one that was a copy of the one the Red Baron flew, it’s hard to think that these aircraft actually flew, most modern cars can go faster these days, they gave a good display of a WW1 dog fight, aircraft gave off smoke to simulate being shot down there was explosions on the ground as if they were bombing troops on the ground
Then it was the Corsairs chance to show what he could do, the Corsair has gull shaped wings, rather unique, the wings could be folded when used on an aircraft carrier, at the time it was the only aircraft that could take on the Japanese Zero, it was heavier, better armoured and had greater fire power, it had a radial engine which was far superior than the Japanese engine at the time, the Corsair has a distinctive sound to its engine, it’s a growl of power
They had 2 Messerschmitts, there, one was a Bf109, the other was a Spanish one, first time I had seen one flying,( these aircraft have appeared in the film The Battle of Britain)
The PBY Catalina took off, it looked like a huge white bird as it took off, it must have been a great sight to a downed airman seeing that flying over to pick it up, The PBY Catalina was used a lot to hunt submarines and was used to great affect with its long range and bomb/depth charge load
The Lancaster arrived, and just flew low over the crowd, to lots of applause, it’s a wonderful aeroplane to see fly over
Then the B17 Flying Fortress started warming up for her flight, all four engines growled up to speed and it trundled off the end of the grass runway (this was to be the pilots last flight, after 15 years she was giving it a rest and going into retirement (I never knew the B17 had a female pilot) she was very good,
This isn’t the original B17 Memphis Belle; I think they just named it that because it’s historical value
They had smoke coming from 2 engines to simulate battle damage after a mission (they were counted out and counted back in, some of these suffered terrible battle damage, but they kept on flying, the aircrew suffered awful casualties during the war
There was 2 films made about the Memphis Belle, the most celebrated B17 during the war,
(The aircraft was one of the first B-17 United States Army Air Forces heavy bombers to complete 25 combat missions with her crew intact)
Now it was the turn of the Spitfires, they started their engines and went along the grass track to the start of the grass runway (during the was having a paved runway was a luxury not afforded to fighters, they just used grass runways and took off as fast as they could, normally parked up close to the crews huts, the bell ran, they ran, it would take less than 4 minutes to get a squadron in the air)
When they took off, the air rumbled with the sound of a Merlin engine, (there is no other sound like a Merlin) 15 Spitfires trundled off along the grass to prepare for their display, and what a display it was, Spitfires coming from all angles, diving, swooping across the sky, (who ever orchestrated the display did a brilliant job) where ever you looked there was Spitfires looping diving, victory rolls, they came from all angles
It was an amazing display
Now it’s the turn of the Red Arrows, the RAF display team with their ‘Red Arrows’
They flew from left to right across the air strip, smoke on, then they went up, pulling 4 g’s and come down into their famous ‘bomb burst’ red and white smoke billowing
They went onto do various other stunts, twisting around other aircraft, barrel rolls, flying towards each other at phenomenal speeds, some time less than 6 feet apart, it was an incredible display of close flying
One of the crew was proposing to his girl friend, so they drew a heart n the sky, it even had the arrow through it
Their whole display was incredible to watch and so very hard to describe, you needed more than one set of eyes to see it all, there was aircraft coming from all angles (very much like the Spitfire display)
It was awesome to watch it
There didn’t seem to be much rush to leave the airshow, everyone leaves these places and the roads get so crowded, so we went off to see another museum, the soldiers museum, to get to this, they have a section of old Bailey Bridge (I have seen these everywhere on my travels, Africa, Peru, Brazil, they even used one in Scotland during their floods and a village was separated) it’s an amazing bit of engineering and still in use so long after the war, I don’t think they can improve on it, but I don’t think they build them the same way we did, 6 blokes to a panel and lift, all built by hand during my training
They had a display of the airborne forces, that was good to see how things have evolved for them from their formation during the war to today’s Special Forces, they had figures in the usual kit
They all jumped with ruck sacks and Bergen’s, but the loads they jump with now is awesome
They drop their Bergen when they are about 30 feet from the ground, then land, the parachutes are very different as well, they are more like a flying wing and because of the height they jump from they need oxygen and these are termed as HALO, (High Altitude Low Opening)
They also do HAHO (High Altitude, High Opening) and this is used when they have to cover distance, they can cover over 30 miles with this technique
Things have certainly evolved since I jumped last
There were also a lot of different modes of transport they used when on the ground, Willy’s Jeeps, folding motor bike, folding push bikes, even a trolley for transporting the injured/ammunitions
There was a mock up of a glider cockpit, very brave men to fly in an egg carton like that
There wasn’t much about any other regiments, understandably, they were airborne forces
We made our way back to the car, the traffic hadn’t moved and we had been gone a good hour, there had been an accident on the motorway and the air ambulance had been called, traffic in the area was backed up, someone had seen the aircraft flying and was watching while driving and had the accident, it’s quite normal for people to try and watch a display while driving, hence accidents happen
While we were waiting a few people commented about m car and asked about Route 66, we told em all about our trip and told them they should give it a try sometime
We eventually got away from Duxford 4 hours after the airshow had finished, I’d like to say it was nice to come home, but it weren’t, the work is still ongoing, but it had been a very good day,
It’s been far too many years since I have been to an airshow and this was one of the best (my kids would have loved this)
........................................................................................................
I have probably uploaded too many photos, but it was such a good day and Anne and I took so many good photos, it was hard to just select a few, there are lots I haven't uploaded, I hoped you don't get bored looking at them
I hope you enjoy the photos anyway
Duxford airshow
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Duxford, England, United Kingdom
Other Entries
Comments

2025-02-12
Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank
Mick
2016-09-15
Looks like it was a great day, as you say, lots of photos, the Red Arrows look amazing, just a shame there no video of the display
The weather looked glorious
Stewart and Nancy
2016-09-16
Thanks for this derrick sounds like you had a good day at it as you said more time would of been great