For several years now April in the UK seems to have been generally blessed with lovely, settled and pleasantly warm days, and 2010 has been no different; right up until the moment that a public aviation event appeared on the horizon! The two weeks immediately before - though punctuated by the grounding of many things aviation due to the erupting Icelandic volcano - had seen largely blue skies and almost perfect conditions for aviation photography. It should have come as no surprise however that an area of low pressure began to move in from the west on the eve of the event itself….
A grey start was to be found at home, here in Northamptonshire, but it was still dry - until five minutes before my planned departure time, when the heavens opened! I still fully intended to attend but did delay my departure an hour or so.
By the time I arrived at the airfield, just before 1100, the worst of the weather looked to have pushed through and we joined the short queue of cars waiting to get in. I was quite surprised by just how full the car park was considering the forecast and the prevalent conditions on the morning itself.
This was only my second visit to North Weald - the first coming back in early-January of this year - and my first taste of one of the airfield's special events. Aside from the excellent participation on paper ahead of the event, it seemed that the Gathering of Hurricanes, which closed the 2009 season for many people, had been particularly well received, and I was keen to experience this one first hand.
Focussed primarily on the Weald Aviation Services ramp lay a variety of aircraft - some behind barriers, some not. While the rain had stopped, the skies were still grey, and there seemed to be a disproportionately high number of cars in the car park compared to people in the static area. Despite that, there were still a fair few friendly faces to be seen whilst wandering around, and this really set the tone for the day. The atmosphere was genuinely relaxed and Dunny and I certainly spent far more of the first couple of hours catching up with people rather than taking pictures.
Understandably there were some gaps in the line-up, but all things considered they were few and far between. The Pilatus P-2 (G-PTWO) was yet to materialise, none of the three planned P-51D Mustangs had arrived and we were a couple of Spitfires down.
The undoubted highlight from those that were present was Historic Flying Ltd's recently repainted Hispano Aviación HA.1112 Buchon, G-BWUE - a Spanish license-built Messerschmitt Bf109G-2. The new colours are a throw-back to the scheme it wore for the 1968 film The Battle of Britain and, given some decent weather, will really look the part arcing around at Duxford in the coming months.
The support from the resident North Weald operators was excellent, with several incarnations of the Jet Provost, Kennet Aviation's Wasp, Seafire and Skyraider, and Hangar 11's P-40 all taking their places on the ramp.
So, having spent some time wandering around the warbirds, we decided it was time to focus on the veterans, who were all sat along a lengthy line of tables inside one of the hangars, carrying out their signing tasks. I'd dearly love to be able to tell you more about them, but it seemed that unless you'd paid the £20 for a signing voucher you were not welcome to be anywhere near them, and I was actually told to move away by security while trying to capture a few candid shots ….
Back outside the sun was trying to poke through, though very intermittently to start with. Word was received that Maurice Hammond and Dave Evans were about to push Mustangs "Marinell" and "Janie" out from their hangar at Hardwick - something that hadn't been possible earlier in the day due to the inclement weather - while Rob Davies and "Big Beautiful Doll" had apparently got stuck in Germany and wouldn't be able to make it back in time.
Indeed, as conditions did start to improve a whole string of movements took place - both arrivals and a few departures - including German Battle of Britain veteran, Major Hans-Ekkehard Bob, who was taken for a ride by Clive Denney in Nord N1002, G-ETME - an SNCAN built Messerschmitt Bf108. Major Bob claimed fourteen aerial victories during the Battle of Britain as a Staffelkapitan of 8./JG 54, flying the Bf109 and saw out World War 2 flying the Me262, by which time he'd taken his tally to sixty.
Among the other arrivals was the aforementioned Pilatus P-2 - a delightful Swiss-designed and manufactured training aircraft that first flew in 1945. I remember seeing G-PTWO (which itself was built in 1946) display at Little Gransden in 2007, and it would be great to see it on the circuit more as it's a lovely and very different looking aircraft.
Down at the other end of the ramp a deep, throaty roar and accompanying clouds of white smoke filled the air. It took a while for it to click; it was Catalina N423RS - reportedly engine running for the first time since it arrived from Lee-on-Solent in December last year. It was probably the single biggest focal point of the day, with large numbers tempted over to see what was going on. Sadly the long-term plan remains for her to be ferried to the US.
It really was good to see so many pilots wandering around, milling with the crowd and only too happy to show off the fruits of their labours. In fact, in hindsight, I can't help but feel I didn't make the most of some of the opportunities that were presented, particularly with the Mustangs which were completely, utterly, immaculate. Of course, the lack of barriers in certain cases brought with it its own photographic challenges, and while everyone seemed to be courteous to everybody else's needs, it was still very difficult to get a completely clear shot - to the point where I probably took more 'token' shots than normal.
From speaking to many of those present, opinion was a little divided on the layout, and I heard complaints about the proximity of barriers and how everything had been squashed into what was essentially a pretty small area - something I'm told hasn't always happened in the past. Personally, as the owner of a 10-22mm lens, I didn't necessarily agree with those sentiments. The positive comments far and away outnumbered the negatives though, with plenty of people absolutely loving the very privileged access some owners allowed to their charges. I guess it's the same as everything else; no matter what you do you'll never please all of the people all of the time!
By 1800 almost all of the non-residents had departed for home, with the vast majority putting on some sort of flypast on their way out - most notably the Buchon and Spitfire LF IXe G-IXCC/PL344, which flew straight down the cross runway together. At that point we decided to call it a day, content with what we'd got. It had ended up being a very pleasant afternoon and provided a great opportunity to catch up with people ahead of the airshow season proper.
Looking around the various forums after the event, it seems that Dunny and I missed a few photographic opportunities with veterans out by the aircraft during the afternoon, which was a shame - particularly in light of our earlier attempts to photograph them!
With profits going to Help For Heroes and the Sir Sydney Camm Commemorative Society, minor disappointments aside, North Weald's Gathering of Warbirds and Veterans was a very enjoyable day and well worth the very reasonable £7 (adults) entry fee.
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