Another weekend, another airshow and another aircraft ticked off my bucket list. After a sunny start to the season at Headcorn Airshow it was off to Duxford's Summer Airshow with it's promise of a P38 Lightning - high on my aviation bucket list.
The weather was set to be sunny again so I decided it was time to debut my ridiculously large hat ....
Corney & special guest Darcy attempting to hide their shame at the Typhoon stand
I finally remembered to take my Instax camera and took some fun instant photos of the aircraft on the flight line.
The show fell on the 4th July and had an American theme with a lot of American warbirds and this special flypast from Duxford's resident B17 Flying Fortress Sally B and a USAF KC135 Stratotanker from nearby RAF Mildenhall.
I'm used to squinting up at KC135s as they come over the house at high altitude and seeing such a large aircraft at low altitude never fails to be impressive.
Returning to Duxford for the first time in many years were the Royal Jordanian Falcons. I'm used to seeing them at RIAT and seeing them in action helped my RIAT-cancellation depression a little bit. Their red livery caught the sun beautifully throughout their excellent routine.
Heading into their famous 'fan break'
High energy displays were in plentiful supply for the rest of the day with the OV-10 Bronco Demo Team representing the Vietnam-era.
It wouldn't be a summer airshow without Rich Goodwin and his Pitts which has been reunited with her jet engine. From the moment he takes to the skies (sideways of course) to landing there's not a moment's pause from the action. I'm really excited to see him all 4 days of Airbourne next month.
The traditional 'sideways start'
A noisy newcomer to the airshow scene this year is the Fubar Aviation MIG 17. It's such a beautiful shape and I loved it's long afterburning flame. It's coming to Airbourne this summer and I think it'll look lovely over the sea.
The aforementioned afterburner flame
Probably my favourite photo of the day
Taxi-ing back after it's display -
My bucket list ticking off came courtesy of Austria's Flying Bulls collection who sent a P38 Lightning along with a P51 Mustang, Corsair and B25 Mitchell (I saw the Mitchell at Duxford's 2024 D Day show). They put on a real crowd-pleasing display with plenty of top side passes that make for perfect photographic opportunities.
Lightning, Corsair & Mustang
In formation with the Mitchell
The only disappointment of the day was the RAF Typhoon display. It came in but pulled straight off with a technical issue so I only managed a brief video of it as it came in over the taxi-ing Flying Bulls.
The finale segment was titled 'Duxford Thunder' and it certainly lived up to it's name with storming formation and solo displays from the photo reconnaissance Spitfire, ME109 Buchon, Mustang, Thunderbolt, Wildcat & Bearcat. Unfortunately the light wasn't great for photographing the aircraft but as you'll see from the video it was a fantastic way to end the show.
Bearcat, Wildcat & Thunderbolt
The awesome Bearcat
You can watch more highlights of the show here -
It's nice being back in the airshow swing despite being gutted about the lack of RIAT this year. I'm off to Farnborough Airshow for the first time in years in a couple of weeks as they have the USAF F35 Role Demo and I need some noise in my summer!
Last weekend my airshow season started properly with a trip to Headcorn Airshow with Dad. I was so so so excited to be going to our first airshow together since 2023.
The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny with a gentle breeze that kept it from feeling too hot.
Fighters on the flight line
The show was opened by the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight's Spitfire & Hurricane filling the sky with beautiful Merlin music. They set the theme for the afternoon's warbird proceedings.
One of my favourite photos of the day is of the P47 Thunderbolt catching the sun
It was nice to see a big aircraft like the Catalina close up -
Headcorn Aerodrome is the sight of the former RAF Lashenden and during the second world war Mustangs operated from there. This was celebrated a couple of times during the day, firstly with the Mustang pair 'Moonbeam McSwine' & 'Jersey Jerk'.
Obligatory Mustang & Maverick photo
Headcorn was lucky enough to have several Hurricanes throughout the day. Unlike the numerous Spitfires in operation (no complaints there!) Hurricanes are much, much rarer (last year's Duxford Battle Of Britain Airshow had 8 which was a record in recent years) and Headcorn was able to showcase 4. 3 of the Hurricanes operated from the airfield and flew with a rare Dunkirk Veteran MK1 Spitfire.
One of the Hurricanes
The Spitfire
Spitfire landing
There were display teams to give a change of pace with The Flying Comrades in their YAKS.
The Starlings gave their usual excellent performance dancing across the afternoon sky.
The penultimate performance of the afternoon came from another Mustang 'Miss Marinell'
The afternoon ended with the traditional Battle Of Britain 'Scramble' with an ME109 'Buchon' dogfighting with a Spitfire echoing the real-life sights of the Battle Of Britain fought over Kent.
Buchon
Spitfire
You can see full highlights of the show here -
It was a really lovely day especially because I had Dad with me again. Yesterday I went to another sunny airshow at Duxford so keep your eyes peeled for more airshow spam.
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