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Urs Schnyder |
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Urs Schnyder & Michael E. Fader |
It’s the
second weekend of July and we are looking forward to Flying Legends.
Like every year we hope for good weather and a lot of interesting
flying. Unfortunately the weather can’t be influenced, and this year the
Saturday was grey in grey and cold. The Sunday was better. The
occasional showers had stopped by the time the flying started and the
weather was getting better and better as the day went. For the first
time tickets for the airshow were only available by advanced booking.
There was also a major change to the crowd line, with the whole of the
hardstand now available for the audience. As a result of the Shoreham
accident, the crowd line was modified so no aircraft could pass overhead
the audience. That of course meant that the flying was a bit further
away than it was in previous years.
There were 27'100 sold tickets for both days with the Saturday
surprisingly more frequented with 14'708 sold. I have no doubt that the
International Air Tattoo being held at the same weekend ist he culprit
for not having sold all tickets. This was already the case last year.
Static display
The
lineup of aircraft is always interesting to visit. Being able to get
close to the planes, you can always discover things that are not obvious
when further away.
One such is the Bristol Blenheim, which inside the lower canopy displays
a road tax disc. The reason for that is that the canopy was once used as
the front part of an electrically powered car. Another aspect is the gun
turret of this aircraft, Anyone sitting in there, having only a rifle
caliber machine gun to oppose any oncoming fighter must have been very
brave indeed.
Remarkable is the highly polished finish of some aircraft that are left
in natural metal. They can actually be used as a mirror.
Or you can simply watch pilots doing their preflight checks before
taking their aircraft up for a flight test.
Spitfires
Shortly
before 2 pm, Merlins and Griffons burst into life for the moment that
everybody has been waiting for. Flying Legends 2016 is about to begin.
And as they take off in twos and threes, one is immediately reminded of
the events that happened so many years ago on this airfield.
The aircraft form up into formation and then do a fly past after which
they split up into the traditional tailchase.
Supermarine Spitfire (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Supermarine Spitfire (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Supermarine Spitfire (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Supermarine Spitfire (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Supermarine Spitfire (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Supermarine Spitfire (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Supermarine Spitfire (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Supermarine Spitfire (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Corsair and Curtiss
While the
Spitfires were still doing the tailchase, the Corsair and Bearcat took
off and disappeared to a holding area. As soon as the Spitfires were on
the ground, they swept in for their formation display. They then
separated for their individual flying.
Duxford is probably the only place in the world where you can see two
P-36s and an early P-40 flying in Formation. However, it seems that the
weather gets more uncooperative the rarer the aircraft flying.
Curtiss Hawk's (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Curtiss P-36C Hawk (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Curtiss Hawk's (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Curtiss Hawk's (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Curtiss P-40A Hawk (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Curtiss P-40A Hawk (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Vought Corsair (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Vought Corsair (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Vought Corsair and Grumman Bearcat (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Vought Corsair and Grumman Bearcat ( icture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Vought Corsair and Grumman Bearcat (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Grumman Bearcat (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
Heritage Flight
This was a real first. I never expected a modern jet to appear at Flying Legends. The reason of course was that the F-22 flew in formation with a P-51 Mustang. I knew that they do this in the US as part of the heritage flights, but I didn’t expect it here in Europe.
Classic Formation and Flying Bulls
This was
the first time that the classic team displayed at Duxford. They consist
of a C-47 and two Beech 18s. All the aircraft have a long history and
an almost as long list of previous owners before they ended up in
Switzerland with the new owner Hugo Mathys who formed the classic team
with them.
Well known visitors at Duxford were the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, the
B-25 and the Corsair of the flying Bulls. Most of their flying was in
formation, which must have been quite demanding for the pilot of the
B-25 considering the different performance compared with the two
fighters.
B-17 and Escort
The takeoff of some of the Mustangs was spectacularly low. So low in fact that it was possible to see he shadow of the plane on the grass. The planes then formed up into formation, with the P-51 tucking in close to the wing of the B-17. They then did a few flypasts before separating and letting Sally B doing their solo before the Mustangs flew in formation.
