Standing at any of the runway ends during the Duxford, England, air shows is a stunning experience. Either you get to see the aircraft turning in onto the display line or they make you feel their massive horse powers while passing you on take-off. Action is guaranteed! If you look around the airfield there are enough warbirds to fill a whole show, but Stephen Grey and The Fighter Collection always make sure there is icing on the cake, and invite several warbirds from far off lands to compile a nicely themed flying program during the afternoon.
This year’s edition did look very promising, however unfortunately several of the planned attendees couldn’t make it to Duxford due to very bad weather in continental Europe. Thus the show did lack the Junkers Ju-52 formation as the Lufthansa example and the “Tante Ju” from La Ferté-Alais, France, could not make it over. This was also the case for a Spitfire, Mustang and Corsair from Max Alpha Aviation-Meiermotors in Germany.
A safer way to arrive was thus via ground, carefully packed inside a shipping container. This was the case for the two star attractions at this year’s show: Steve Hinton, who has close relationships at Duxford and is a regular visitor-performer during the show, was gracious enough to bring the world’s sole airworthy Boeing P-26 Peashooter from the Planes of Fame air museum in Chino, Calif. It did perform during Saturday’s show, but due to unfavorable crosswind conditions, had to stay on the ground for Sunday. Another new addition to the sky was TFC’s splendid Curtiss P-40C Warhawk. It was flying in the U.S. last year, but finally arrived in the UK more recently. As became obvious during the show, the bare metal scheme looked especially good and not just in a clear Californian sky, but also in front of some British clouds.
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Photo by Luigino Caliaro
