BoB show Duxford.

[Paul J]

Did anyone go to this show over the weekend?  I went Saturday and am still sifting through my 200 or so pics.   Not a bad show. A kind of mini Legends it seemed to me with the Norwegian Vampires and WSk LIM (Mig-15UTI) breaking the sound of Merlins and radials.   A couple surprises for me was to see that the two P-51 that were here for Legend sare still in residence 'Frenesi' and P-51B 'Berlin Express'  that is still waiting for new canopy.  The other notables for me were the DH-9 in one of the other hangars that looked good and waiting for its first flight.  But what is going on? Virtually all the hangars ( I didn't visit the super hangar .. it was tooo crowded...), looked empty with several types missing. Am I missing something? The TFC hangar looked quite bare and that allowing for the fact that some of their aircraft were on the flightline. For example where is the P-40F and the FIAT CR 42? 

The P-36 was having an engine change while the Hawk 75 started but 'conked' out so didn;t fly.  P-51D Miss Helen took off with G-SHWN, GA-S, but landed on soon after with a problem that blocked the grass runway for around 15 minutes. What happened?

Nice to see six Hurricanes up. UP-W didn't show due to a 'cracked head' apparently. A seventh one appeared courtesy the BoB flight with Lanc and Spit 16.  13 Spits in final display with a routine I had not seen before where they zoomed around and approached alternately from two sides to make low passes.

 

A good day out for me as its the only air show I was able to attend this year.

[Pauls9cb]

I also went Saturday but didn't wander through any of the hangars apart from the BoB No 4 which holds a special place for my interests. I went Sunday to Old Warden and R4118 was in the corner of one of the hangars there waiting for the head replacement part. The nicest/most novel parts of the Duxford display for me were John Romain's flights in the Blenheim (such a lovely a/c), the P-40 display (also very pretty in its polished ally) and the WW1 set. The latter was just about the only one that was slow enough for me to get some decent shots (I hope - still waiting to download these) 'cos my camera's not exactly the right tool to track the faster a/c. Good couple of days out. Duxford on Sunday must have been great.

Paul

[spruecutter96]

Hello. 

 

I attended on Saturday and I have to say that I was a little underwhelmed. The weather between 09:00 and 11:00 didn't help, of course (although you can't blame anyone for the state of the weather, obviously). 

 

I've been attending airshows at Duxford for about 20 years now and I felt that - with the exception of the multiple-Spitfire section - the event lacked any real "wow" factor for me. An RAF Typhoon, French Rafale or Belgium F-16 would have enhanced the proceedings hugely, but there we are. I fully appreciate that there are numerous factors that influence any airframe turning up at an airshow (global economic situation, foreign wars, political situations, the cost of the display to the organisers, etc, etc) and also appreciated is the very great effort that must go into managing all the various aspects of an airshow. Also, I understand that what Joe Bloggs might really appreciate seeing in the air may be rather boring for other people. Them's da breaks, I guess...   

 

I am coming to the conclusion that Duxford airshows are becoming rather "samey" now. I would say that you can easily predict about 80% of the airframes that will feature in the May and September shows in recent years (essentially, it's the stuff that calls Duxford its home-base, for very obvious reasons). 

 

What does anyone else think?

 

Chris. 

Edited September 25, 2017 by spruecutter96
Correct a typo,

[Paul J]

Found out that the two Mustangs 'touched wing tips' so cut the display and landed on.  Minor damage to both. One press report stated this is another occasion involving the Mustang with  "...technical problems..."????? Human error factor I feel as I saw them in distance practicing then saw them no more until landing very soon after.

[XV107]

8 hours ago, Paul J said:

Found out that the two Mustangs 'touched wing tips' so cut the display and landed on.  Minor damage to both. One press report stated this is another occasion involving the Mustang with  "...technical problems..."????? Human error factor I feel as I saw them in distance practicing then saw them no more until landing very soon after.

From about 10:40 in this - the Mustangs get a little too  friendly for a moment... (credit to Aviation Videos & Wildlife FULL HD if you don't go over to the YouTube site itself afterwards).

 

 

[GordonM]

10 hours ago, spruecutter96 said:

Hello. 

 

I attended on Saturday and I have to say that I was a little underwhelmed. The weather between 09:00 and 11:00 didn't help, of course (although you can't blame anyone for the state of the weather, obviously). 

 

I've been attending airshows at Duxford for about 20 years now and I felt that - with the exception of the multiple-Spitfire section - the event lacked any real "wow" factor for me. An RAF Typhoon, French Rafale or Belgium F-16 would have enhanced the proceedings hugely, but there we are. I fully appreciate that there are numerous factors that influence any airframe turning up at an airshow (global economic situation, foreign wars, political situations, the cost of the display to the organisers, etc, etc) and also appreciated is the very great effort that must go into managing all the various aspects of an airshow. Also, I understand that what Joe Bloggs might really appreciate seeing in the air may be rather boring for other people. Them's da breaks, I guess...   

 

I am coming to the conclusion that Duxford airshows are becoming rather "samey" now. I would say that you can easily predict about 80% of the airframes that will feature in the May and September shows in recent years (essentially, it's the stuff that calls Duxford its home-base, for very obvious reasons). 

 

What does anyone else think?

 

Chris. 

To be fair when I first attended an air show (Burma Star Day, Waterbeach, 1970 something) the programme was printed showing 'the type of aircraft that MIGHT attend it was so predictable. Possibly rose tinted spectacles at work, but I'm not sure things were so much better in the good old days? Apart from the static park such as Bassingbourn (1976?) when there were multitudes of foreign Harvard/Texans arrive my memory is of far fewer warbird aircraft displaying, although there were obviously many more current service types available.

[Vickers McFunbus]

On 25/09/2017 at 12:57 PM, Paul J said:

Found out that the two Mustangs 'touched wing tips' so cut the display and landed on.  Minor damage to both. One press report stated this is another occasion involving the Mustang with  "...technical problems..."????? Human error factor I feel as I saw them in distance practicing then saw them no more until landing very soon after.

Very close to having two dead pilots at that height. Very very lucky.

[bentwaters81tfw]

Petie II had the tail clipped by the prop of the other one. Dented the rear fuselage and ripped the port tailplane. Prop damage to the other. Very lucky.

 

Bassingbourne was 78.

[Jinxman]

Holy moly - very fortunate not to be a terrible mess. 

[Vickers McFunbus]

On 29/09/2017 at 5:07 PM, Jinxman said:

Holy moly - very fortunate not to be a terrible mess. 

Yep. Absolutely bonkers. It'll be interesting to see the AAIB's thoughts on the incident; seeing the video, seeing the backgrounds of the crew involved and based on the evidence of the previous Mustang/Skyraider collision at Duxford, I'm not entirely convinced of the level briefing and formation capabilities of all involved!