| The Spring Airshow each May usually herald the start of the show season proper and as with most, if not all, shows held at the former Battle Of Britain airfield is given a theme. This year it was the Best of British and it was hoped to have a broad cross section of some of the real gems of British Aviation in the flying display. It was a shame that no one told the British weather which did its best to tear the plans to shreds with torrential rain during the morning, which left the Flightline decidedly empty of both aircraft and public alike. The flying display was equally affected, but this tim by a very strong, cold and gusty wind blowing straight across Duxford’s runways. However, despite its best efforts, Display Director Jeanne Fraser did an admirable job in filling the flying programme with some definite highlights to start off the season.
Unfortunately missing from the programme was the Anson from BAE Systems, three Rapides (one of which was the gorgeous example from the Isle of Wight in the King’s Flight colours which was missing as the wind was too strong to get it out of its hangar), Leopard Moth, Hornet Moth, Mew Gull, Miles Hawk Speed Six, Dennis Kenyon’s stunning Enstrom helicopter display, a proposed Avro Duo of Triplane & Tutor, BBMF, De Havilland Tiger 9, Hellcat & Sabre. With that many missing from the show, one could be led to think “What was left!” Well, actually quite a lot! The display began with two flypasts from that most gracious of British jet airliners, the Vickers VC-10 from 101 Sqn RAF Brize Norton. Following the second pass which was in the form of a ‘missed approach’, throttles were pushed fully forward for an impressive and smoky climb out. A Cracking way to start the show. Next up were three Duxford residents, two of which were making welcome returns to the show scene. First off was the Catalina from Plane Sailing giving her first display of the year. Following on were John Romain and Lee Proudfoot. However, they were not this time flying Spitfires, but ‘Grumpy’ the wonderful and hugely missed former TFC B-25 Mitchell. It was a fantastic sight to see such a stirring display by this wonderful aircraft, though for how long we will continue to delight in it remains to be seen as John & Lee will soon be piloting her over ‘The Pond’ to her new owners in the USA. What can one say about ‘Sally B’, Britain’s only airworthy B-17 Flying Fortress. After missing the whole of 2008 due to severe engine problems, there cannot have been anyone in the crowd who didn’t have a lump in their throat to see her back where she belongs, in the air paying tribute to all the USAAF crews who flew from this part of England. Also representing Duxford residents were Stephen Grey in TFC's Corsair and the often seen Auster Autocrat and Piper Cub pair demonstrating their incredible tight turns which was amazing considering the weather. Despite the loss of Dennis Kenyon, there were two helicopters in the show, one being the Chinook from RAF Odiham, which never ceases to amaze and this year I believe the sequence is better than ever. The other helicopter was Kennet Aviation’s Westland Wasp flown in an excellent display by Tim Manna. Illustrating two differing views on aviation in the 30s, BAE Systems owned Blackburn B2 and De Havilland DH.60 Moth – the first in the famous line of De Havilland Moths. With the Moth giving some gentle flybys, the B2 performed graceful loops above with the metal fuselage shining against the deep grey of the sky. Another British company featured was Folland with the pair of Gnats of the Gnat Display Team. One of these was in its former Red Arrows colours whilst the other was G-RORI in 4FTS scheme. A nice tight routine with some manoeuvres haring back to the early Reds displays from the little ‘jet rollerskate’! Considering the strength of the crosswind, it was staggering to see the Swift Display Team put on such an outstanding display with Guy Westgate in his amazing glider and Pete Wells in the lovely little Silence Twister with its Spitfire looks. As ever, Paul Moslin in the RAFGSA’s Piper Pawnee performed towing duties – well really he is part of the display itself these days as his Pawnee is the only example able to make smoke and there was a nice tight pass with Pete Wells as Guy came in to land and covered the pilot’s tent in orange smoke! They were followed by Charlie Brown and Howard Cook showing off their prowess for close formation flying in a pair of Chipmunks – certainly not easy in these small aircraft given the conditions. These days it is very rare to see a flying display by Britten Norman Islanders, even more so a pair of them, especially flown by father and son! We ended up with two due to the previously mentioned problem with the Isle of Wight weather which kept the Rapide in the hangar. This was a shame as it would have made an unusual sight to see two aircraft from different eras, built for the same purpose flying together and in the same colour scheme – the Islander ‘Zulu Alpha’ is in the same colours as the Rapide. From the sedate to the exceedingly fast and the RAF’s newest aircraft, the Eurofighter Typhoon in the hands of Scott Loughran from 29(R) Sqn. Unfortunately limited to a flat display due to the low cloudbase, Scott nevertheless displayed the full power of this incredible machine. Incredible is nowhere near a strong enough adjective to what the crowd witnessed next with Mark Jeffries giving his first public display in the new Extra 330SC. Mark is a multi aerobatic champion and he put on a stunning routine in this smaller, lighter and more powerful version of the Extra 300. These days it is not often that a jet airliner lands and takes off from Duxford’s short tarmac runway. However, Titan Airways had no trouble at all with their BAE146QC (for Quick Conversion – from passenger to freight) lifting off after a surprisingly short run. Proving itself to be a very quiet, but nimble aircraft the 146 looked very smart in it’s unique colour scheme against increasingly black clouds. Really showing the flag this year is the RAF Hawk Display, flown by Flt Lt Matt Baker from RAF Valley. With the new colours of the Union Flag slashing through the training ‘high visibility’ black, the display this year is better than ever and for a worthy cause. The ‘Red’ of the large roundel on the underside this year has become the ‘heart’ of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund who are celebrating 90 years of service to ex-RAF personnel. Originally planned to be a formation of three Spitfires and a Hurricane, Carolyn Grace and HAC decided that the wind was beyond their limits. However, Lee Proudfoot and Cliff Spink took up OFMC’s MH434 and Spitfire Ltd’s PL344 respectfully for a graceful ‘Merlin Pair’ formation display. Which brought us to the finale. Reading in the advance publicity of a formation of two Sukhoi SU26s and a P-51 Mustang set the juices flowing. Who could this be? Well it was ‘Red Bull Racers’! With Nigel Lamb flying ‘Ferocious Frankie’ and Steve Jones in the Sukhoi. Originally Paul Bonhomme would have made up the formation, however he injured his back in the Red Bull Air Race the previous weekend in San Diego. Following a single, very tight formation pass, Steve gave a short but masterful aerobatic display, but with the rain starting to fall heavily, Nigel decided that discretion was the better part of valour and brought ‘Frankie’ straight in to land rather than risk OFMC’s wonderful machine. So ended Duxford’s first show of 2009. Considering the conditions, it was an excellent start to the year and congratulations must go to all the pilots and operators, once again to Jeanne Fraser and everyone who made the show happen. 
|