Battle of Britain airshow – Duxford , Cambridgshire

My special weekend had finally arrived, full of anticipation and excitement I had been building up to this event for just short of 12 months. I departed from Manchester with a smile on my face, as my brother in law gratefully drove me 181 miles to Duxford…..

…..6.5 hours later we finally arrived.

My God!! The traffic was hideous, the weather had turned bad and my poor brother in law had to drive back to Manchester that same night.

It was mad to think that over the course of my 18 days in the UK the only two days of bad weather were?..you got it the Duxford airshow.

However shit happens, so you just have to make the most of it and despite the drizzle and overcast weather the venue and show was excellent and I would not hesitate to return again.

So let discuss Duxford, I don't need to get into too much detail because there are plenty of articles on the net, but for me one of the highlights had to be standing next to the original WW2 hangers used in the famous movie Battle of Britain from the 1960’s.

I have watched this movie so many times and it gave me a real buzz to be able to stand in the actual spot the actor Susannah York, who played a WAAF, just shortly after the scene where the Germans had bombed the airfield. said one of her famous lines... "Don't you yell at me Mr Warwick!!" classic

Duxford boasts several museum pieces, including but not limited to American Airborne museum, Land and Warfare museum and of course British aviation museum.

There are also a lot of other nice spots to visit in and around the airfield such as the captured V2 bomb complete with launch rail, The US airmen memorial , an original blast wall for testing post war jets, the war room and an original bouncing bomb on display just to name a few.

Lots to do and a full day is a minimum if you really want to digest the rich history on display.

Right back to the show.

This year had a few extra highlights due to the RAF celebrating their 100^th. I saw the final public appearance of the Tornado GR4 Jet which is being de-commissioned at the end of this year.

This aircraft is a personal favorite of mine as i used to watch them train up and down the dales in the early 90's. Very versatile and will be sadly missed.

So to summaries here are my highlights

Highlights