OT: Flying Legends Airshow at Duxford today!!

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Hi all. Heading out to Duxford with the family today to see the Flying Legends. A WW2 only themed airshow at Duxford. Should be fun. Classic fighters mostly, but they're all flying and the viewing is meant to be close and dramatic as they come in over the museum and fields. Weather is decent and not too hot, so hopefully the babes won't melt down and we can stay for the whole thing.

Have a glance at the trailer!
https://www.flyinglegends.com/airshow-2014.html

Excited to walk around with a never-ending glass of Pimms and listen to multiple Merlins. Never heard one on the ground, so curious about that.

I'll post some pics later today or tomorrow, depending on when we get back.

[btd64]

That looks like a fun time. Looking forward to the pictures....GP

[kbfchicago]

Wow! Their site did not have dates for 2018, if you see them please post! Trip back to England could be in my future...

For those on the East Coast of the U.S. check out www.militaryaviationmuseum.org in Virginia Beach. Private collection, I've been there a few times, most AC fly and they have a couple of shows a year. Large contingent of Russian AC you seldom see. They also have a number of reproduction WWI. Unfortunately their shows are nothing on the scale of what Obvert shared this weekend at Duxford!

Kevin

[John 3rd]

Looks like a BLAST!

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So the family (my wife, 6 month old daughter and I) went to the Legends Airshow yesterday. A gorgeous day out, and amazing for me. Even Violet got excited by the planes though as they looped and dove and passed again and again through the sky.

Here are some pics as promised.

The day started with Tigermoths and DeHavilland Dragon Rapides plus one Harvard doing tourist flights. Nice to see them circling as we walked to the airfield.

After a tour of the American Collection hangar and a meander through the Vintage Village and other booths, we found a spot at the front for the beginning of the show. The sound of Merlins starting up along flight row was heart-stirring with nine spits getting ready for take-off. The rolled across the grass and up one after another, then circled, formed up, and came back as a formation of 3 x 3s over the field.

Amazing!

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All nine!

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There were two two seaters in the group, which at other times can be booked for flights!

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They then spent the next 15-20 minutes doing lazy eights across the field, gracefully curving up and over to turn back in and around.

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Then next shots are the ground shots of planes parked or taxiing by. Saw a lot of planes I'd never seen fly, for sure, and some I hadn't seen at all, like the P-40C, the P-36, the Fury and the Bearcat!

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Fu nto see all of these Curtis fighters in a row.

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Supermarine Seafire LF III G-BUAR

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Corsair!!

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Supermarine Spitfire FR XIV G-SPIT

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P-51B Mustang “Berlin Express” (N-515ZB)

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Grumman Wildcat FM-2 G-RUMW

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Very fun to see this Curtiss-Wright Hawk 75 G-CCVH with French colour scheme.

"The Fighter Collection’s Hawk is a very rare aircraft, as she is the only airworthy example of the Curtiss P-36 lineage left anywhere in the world.”

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Curtiss-Wright Warhawk P40F G-CGZP

Very interesting!

“The Fighter Collection’s Merlin-engined P-40F is one of only two left airworthy anywhere in the world. Manufactured at the Curtiss facility in Buffalo, New York in the autumn of 1942 and allocated Bu No. 41-19841. She was delivered by land to the Stockton In-Transit Depot in California for onward shipment in November, where she was then shipped to the Thirteenth Air Force in the Southwest Pacific on Christmas Eve 1942. Unfortunately her service career remains a mystery, but the only P-40Fs to see combat in the Pacific Theatre were flown by the 44th and the 68th Fighter Squadrons of the 347th Fighter Group in the Solomon Islands from November 1942 to October 1943.”

[warspite1]

Some cool pictures - thanks for posting!

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An interesting group. The Corsair stole the show, splitting off and doing some crazy verticals, showing off it's power and swooping back down directly at the crowds.

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Goodyear Corsair FG-1D G-FGID