Duxford 2014

[Lynn Allen]

Any intel from today's show, please???

[oz rb fan]

it was great...even with the missing aircraft from mainland europe(the redbulls P38.....swiss based avenger..and a few others),buy how can you be disapointed on a day when 12 spifires fly....let alone the lanc....P26.....P40c......a very well flown (and shiny!!!)redbull b25....and many others.

a great show for me....well done to all the guys from the fighter collection!!!

[Ken]

Awesome video:

http://player.vimeo.com/video/93587997

[Mike]

The video is the trailer for the show, so was filmed in previous years.

It was a great weekend this year, although a dozen or so of the booked aircraft were missing due to weather in Europe and mechanicals. It was great to see the P-26 fly (albeit briefly - it probably flew for a total of about 20 minutes in all on the whole trip, and was back in the box to come home by Monday afternoon). The Super Connie was awesome as always, and the sight and souhnd of 11 Spitfires in formation opening the show will be one I'll remember for a long time to come. Throw in superb solo aerobatic routines by Pete Kynsey (Bearcat), Nick Grey (Hellcat and Gladiator), Frederic Akary (P-51 'Moonbeam') and Keith Skilling (Corsair) and it was a weekend to remember.

[Lightjug]

Any intel from today's show, please???

Lynn, not much more to add from what Mike said. The formation of Spitfires was incredible - agreed. Finally seeing the Hellcat fly was a big deal for me. As mentioned, channel weather held back quite a few for Saturday's show - not sure if the P-38 made it for Sunday. Would have loved to have seen the two JU -52s fly together. Flying Bulls B-25 was very wow. The Mustang/Buchon tail chase was my favourite. Will post pictures and video when I get back across the pond.

Mark

[aerovet]

Luckily the weather, which was grey with a very low cloudbase on Saturrday morning turned for the better in the afternoon. During the flying display vast amounts of Coke (the liquid type I mean) and sunblocker were used to keep it cool!
Regards to my Belgian neighbours Serge and Jan who kept me company during FL2014!
Enjoy my selection
Aerovet

[Lightjug]

Pictures as promised; hope you enjoy them. First stop for me is always Hanger 5 Conservation. The Lambeth IWM P-51 Big Beautiful Doll is fully naked.





Over in Hanger 2 a Spitfire receives a little TLC...


while a Fairey Firefly awaits some major TLC.


The recently sold F-86A sits nearby.


Back outside the P-26A is pushed out to the flight line.


Off to the east, a duo of shiny warbirds. TFC’s new P-40C and Foundation Dakota Norway’s C53D


A closer look at the P-40C


Certainly one of the stars of this year’s show – the C-121C Super Connie


Over to the grass flight line the four Mark 1 and 1As sit.


TFCs Gladiator II


Spitfire FR XVIII SM845 sits gracefully nearby.


Red Bull’s P38 did not make it but their B-25J-35 did.




After many years I finally got to see TFCs F6F-3 Hellcat fly.


The Sea Fury is still one of my favourites.


As is the F8F-2P Bearcat


That's about it, will post a video link in its own thread when I'm done... cheers everyone.

Mark

[Rajay]

Just curious - what's up with the "odd" paint scheme on at least 1 Spit and the Hurricane - with their undersides painted half white and half black? I'll have to go back and double-check but as I recall, the entire left side was black and the entire right side, split right down the centerline of the aircraft, was white. Surely that was not for camouflage purposes....

The fly-by shot of several Spits shows at least 2 like that....

[JohnTerrell]

From as early as 1937, when it was first experimented with, and until mid-1940, it became the practice to paint them that way (an idea initiated by none other than Hugh Dowding), one wing black and one wing white, as an identifier as being 'friendlies' for the British observers on the ground, allowing the Observer Corps to distinguish and track friendly aircraft from enemy aircraft. Two of the Spitfire Mk.I's, and the Hurricane, are painted in Battle of France era markings, and thus have the black/white undersurfaces. In some applications, only the wings were painted this way, as illustrated on Spitfire N3200 and the Hurricane, while in other cases the white/black extended onto the undersurfaces of the fuselage, nose, and tail surfaces, as illustrated on Spitfire P9374.

[JohnTerrell]

Furthermore, as you might notice, the restored Spitfire Mk.I N3200 doesn't have roundels on the bottom of its wings, while the rest do. In 1938, Dowding suggested that to go along with the black/white undersurfaces, that the underwing roundels should be deleted on "Home Defense" based fighters as the black/white identification markings were enough of an indicator as being friendly aircraft (and doing away with the roundels would just make the black/white markings even more clear to the eye at a distance). Underwing roundels did remain on RAF fighters based outside Britain, and of course when the black/white markings were done away with in mid-1940, the underwing roundels were present again on all RAF fighters.

[rcaf_100]

The recently sold F-86A sits nearby.

Pretty neat how much the aviation world had changed in the ~8 years after the NA-64 Yale on the right rolled out of NAA's Inglewood plant in 1940, the same plant where Sabre 48-178 was assembled.

[PeterA]

[Chappie]

Duxford is on my bucket list. Man o man....where else in the world can you see almost a dozen Spits in formation?


Chappie

[Lightjug]

Wow Peter, those are incredible shots!

Mark