Duxford Airshow

I left Knaresborough on Friday about 10:00am – the trip to Cambridge was about 2.5 hours but there were a few slow downs on the motorway going south ( mostly on the A1) – for example a tractor got a flat tyre blocking a lane. I went on the A14 to get to my Motel but the traffic was at a crawl due to significant road works for several junctions – the speed was 40 kph but the traffic was stop/start for several miles before the road works even began, so was somewhat frustrating. However I made it to the Premier Inn at about 2.30pm and the GPS was bang on with the directions. Got into my room and freshened up, then drove down to Duxford to see how easy it was to travel to and from the motel & what indicative time it would be. The motel was very well positioned right on the M11 so I could get onto it easily and then just travel down to the Duxford junction (J10 on the M11).

Arriving at the airfield it was pretty busy as Friday is a practise day – so a big crowd in attendance and a lots of the stalls were already set up and trading, much to my detriment! Several of the aircraft went up to practise routines, and I arrived to a Bearcat and Sea Fury performing their set. The sound of their engines reverberated around the airfield and it was a real treat to see them do their routine. As many stalls were open, I used the opportunity to get some shopping in ( books, kits, the usual) – the range of things available is staggering and so it’s hard not to impulse buy!  The airfield is really big so takes a while to navigate from place to place and as I was browsing stalls there’d be very interesting engine sounds from overhead!

While I was there I saw at least the Lysander + Blenheim , three DC-3’s and Curtiss Hawk 75 all performed a routine while two-seat Spitfires and Mustangs took people for warbirds flights. 

Its worth noting that tickets for Duxford are advance sales only, you cannot get in on the day as there are no gate sales. This is a pretty good idea as it allows the organisers to know how many will turn up on a given day and so manage the traffic and parking accordingly.

On Saturday, I left the motel early, as I didn’t know what the traffic would be like, but also because during the two days of the airshow, you cannot get to Duxford via the M11 / J10 access – instead you get off at  Junction 11 and take the A10/A505 via Royston, and as I was unfamiliar with the route I figured I’d better have plenty of time in hand to make sure I got there! In the end it was very well signposted and I arrived just as the gates had opened at 8am, there was already a sizeable crowd onsite.

The airshow routine follows the same schedule two days running so that if one day is missed then the other can be attended without missing anything. The form is that the flightline walk opens and stays open for 3.5 hours, then the airshow usually starts around 2pm and finishes at around 5pm with the massed formation.

The aircraft are all arrayed in a line that stretches for what seems like a few kilometres, but they are arranged so that the public can walk down the line and take pictures of the aircraft, and many volunteers dress up in perios costumes ( pilots, WAAFs, ground crew etc) and walk amongst the aircraft to add a period air to the photo’s – it’s really quite effective, though one can be taken aback by hearing a US Army pilot in full (and authentic) garb talking with a board Yorkshire accent! You buy tickets for the flight line walk on the day and they only cost 5 pounds.

The stalls are amazing and sell everything aviation related – there are of course lots of 2^nd hand and new kits, but there were stalls for bookshops, Art works, aviation related clothing (flying jackets etc), T-Shirts, aircraft jumble (eg instruments etc) – these all did a roaring trade across both days and by midday Sunday many shelves were looking picked clean! 

The Airshow on Saturday began with something rather special – the Red Arrows put in an appearance and performed a great display. Due to the low cloud base they had to perform a ‘flat’ display so no grand vertical manoevers, but still amazing to watch.

Then 12 Spitfires took off – they did a massed take off so there were two or three taking off almost simultaneously which in itself was great, but then they did a massed formation and “tail chase” where two groups of Spitfires perform separate but complimentary airfield passes – this was just fantastic.

Then it was something even more special. The Duxford airfield is synonymous with the 1969 film ‘Battle of Britain’ as this is where a lot of the filming was done, and for the film, 16 Spanish ‘Buchon’ fighters stood in for the Messerschmitt BF109. The aircraft was actually based on the German fighter but used a Roll Royce Merlin instead , giving it the deep cowl appearance. The Spanish Air force was on the verge of retiring the fighters when they were bought up & used for the film. Five were at the airfield and they performed an airfield ‘attack’ sequence while the theme music from the film was played over the Tannoy – too much!

Next up was Sally B and the tribute to the USAAF fighter & Bomber crews who flew from England in WW2. Sally B is the only flying B-17 in Europe ( currently ) and she is maintained and supported by volunteers and donations. It was pretty amazing to see this huge aircraft flky against a dark sky and was very moody.

Next up was a series if displays for the Battle of Britain featuring three Mk.1 Spitfires, an extremely rare Bristol Blenheim and a Westland Lysander. Interestingly, the three Mk.1 Spitfires did not take part in the opening Spitfire sequence, because the speed differential is too great , so they were better suited to the slower Blenheim and Lysander aircraft

 The ‘Ultimate’ fighters performed next – this is a quartet comprised of a P-51 Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt, Spitfire and Buchon – they flew a great display like they were glued together. The sound of their engines was wonderful.

As this year was the 75^th Anniversary of D-Day , there was also a tribute to the Dakota / C-47 aircraft with three performing a display routine. Two of the aircraft, both in WW2 markings, are actually genuine veterans of the D-Day landing and it was pretty special to see these two aircraft perform.

The airshow schedule setup usually tries to put similar or related aircraft into a display – for example the Bristol Blenheim and Lysander flew as they both use Bristol Mercury engines. There were a quartet of Curtiss Hawk fighters there too, two early radial engine versions and two inline engine versions so these all performed a routine as well. It’s a really well choreographed and synchronised display so there is almost always aircraft in the air to display, so the crowd aren’t looking at dead air while planes take off or position themselves.

The highlight of the day is the final massed formation of fighters, called a Balbo after an Italian Air Force general, Italo Balbo, who often put up large formations of aircraft and so gave his name to this massed formation.

They get up to 24 fighters in the sky and while large formation circles and passes the spectators, the Bearcat & Sea Fury provide a “Jokers” routine where they do aerobatics to keep the crowd entertained while the ‘Balbo’ repositions for it’s next run.

The sight & sound of these as they fly past is something amazing and is a specialty of the Duxford show. They do two circuits then on the third sections of aircraft will break and land while the others continue to flypast until all are down. According the commentary the briefing takes two hours and is five pages of notes !

On the Sunday I noticed a rather dishevelled chap being accosted for selfies by the public. I looked and it was none other than James May of Top Gear and Toy Storiues fame. I was also able to accost him and not only shake his hand , but got him to sign my Airfix book – awesome!

After the show was over, the crowd was able to leave pretty quickly and traffic was able to clear onto the motorway very fast, very well planned and organised.

So that’s Duxford Flying Legends 2019. It was a great show and very glad I was able to go and take part.