The 75th anniversary of the Supermarine Spitfire is the main theme of the two day Duxford Air Show at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford on the 3rd and 4th September, the penultimate show in the airfield's 2011 diary. 75 years ago, the British public first witnessed the sight of a Spitfire in the skies at the 1936 RAF Hendon Royal Air Force Display, and who could have known the decades of glorious history that were to follow?
There are eight examples of the elliptical World War II icon currently present on the flying display programme plus further examples on the ground, with no doubt a classic Duxford-style tailchase in the offing. This may well involve the Aircraft Restoration Company’s HA-1112MIL Buchon which is also down on the flying participation list.
The big coup for the show for fans of military heavy metal is the appearance of the United States Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle Demo Team from the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, NC, USA. Major Mike ‘Cash’ Maeder will no doubt be borrowing an aircraft from the nearby 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath to bring his powerful and noisy demonstration to the famous wartime airfield. This will be the only display by the team in the UK this year, and GAR will hopefully be speaking to Major Maeder over the course of the weekend to find out more about his special appearance at Duxford.
Other overseas participation comes in the form of an Alpha Jet display from the French Air Force (Saturday only), a static C-27J from the Italian Air Force and a Polish M-28MR Bryza. The Royal Norwegian Historic Squadron will be on show in the UK again with its lovely silver Vampires following on from their appearances at Waddington and Fairford earlier this year. Rotary fans will be well catered for, with the Army Air Corps AH-64 Apache going through its paces along with the Royal Navy Black Cats plus a rare and welcome appearance of an RAF Sea King HAR3A for a search and rescue demonstration. A static Merlin HC3A from RAF Benson will also be on show.
There’s not all that much time left in the season to catch the RAF’s soloists on show and Flt Lt Leon Creese will be looking for some blue sky with his popular King Air display. Of course recent events leave the Red Arrows participation still unclear, though it is to be hoped that their revised 8-ship display will be ready for the Sunday of the show.
There’s a big contribution from The Fighter Collection with the Curtiss Hawk 75A and the same organisation's P-40B Warhawk and P-40F Kittyhawk participating in the flying display programme alongside the Historic Aircraft Collection’s Hurricane and T-28 Trojans from the Aircraft Restoration Company and Radial Revelations respectively. The Royal Navy Historic Flight Swordfish is again on the Duxford list, alongside the equally familiar sight at Duxford of two Hawker Nimrods and single Hawker Fury. The BBMF trio of Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane, plus resident B-17G Flying Fortress complete the warbird participation.
Civilian aerobatics comes from the SWIP Team and its two Silence SA1100 Twisters, the six Yak-50s of the Aerostars that will be appearing on the Saturday only plus The RedHawks will be displaying their Fourneir RF4Ds motorised gliders. Additionally Brendan O'Brien will no doubt be busy once again, leaving Captain Boogaloo, the world’s oldest pilot to land the Piper J3 Cub on the truck.
With plenty to see and do on the ground, encompassing all of Duxford’s excellent museum and working hangars, it promises to be an excellent airshow weekend for the family and enthusiast alike. The gates open at 08:00 with the flying display usually commencing around 13:30.
If you would like to discuss using any of our imagery or feature content please contact us.