Lightning F6

I'm quite partial to a Lightning in camouflage which was relatively rare in service life. This is a Revell kit which is a revamp of the old Frog mould so a bit rough around the edges but came up OK. It represents an aircraft from Binbrook in the early 1980s. Those were the days!

Off to California

We have known for a little while that the TFC P36 has been sold and the USA seemed a likely destination and it is going to California, to Walt Bowe and the Ala Doble Flying Collection. It was in a partially dismantled state at Duxford when I last saw it 10 days ago as seen below. Also pictured at Shuttleworth in May which was the last time I saw it perform.

Repaint pending

 It is a few years since I last saw this Saab Draken at the Dumfries and Galloways air museum and it was looking a bit sad then. I am pleased to see that it will get a repaint sometime soon with the main wheels already removed for a refurb.

Duxford Balbo

Closing Balbo at Duxford 2025 Battle of Britain airshow featuring 15 Spitfires and 6 Hurricanes.

Another departure

The Comet 1a previously held at RAFM Cosford (or whatever they call it now) has been released and moved to South Wales Air Museum, one of several air frames that have been moved on of late which includes the JU52 I saw at Hawkinge last month. Not sure what is being planned for Cosford but the appeal of a visit to SWAM continues to grow and next year when I have more free time I'll try and get there.

The Comet I last saw in 2019 as seen here.

More from Duxford

Some from the live action last Sunday

Reunited

At the age of 101 WW2 veteran Norman Brown was reunited with the Avro Anson that he used to maintain as a mechanic in South Africa where it was used for crew training.It was the first time he had seen the type in 80 years and I caught him being interviewed at Duxford on Sunday.

F-86 Sabre

Many years ago there used to be a Sabre based at Duxford but it was sold to new owners across the pond and I have not seen one flying since. It was therfore nice to see this Canadair example on Sunday albeit it was not well placed on the flightline. I did catch it in the hangar at Duxford early last month as it has done several UK displays this year but this was my first view of it in the air.

Douglas A26C Invader

One of the highlights yesterday was catching up with with A26C Invader. It flew over from the States fairly recently having been acquired by a new owner in Poland and has made several air show appearances in the UK since. Hopefully it will stick around. As mentioned below it wasn't in a great place on the flightline and sadly the light wasn't fabulous when it flew but it was impressive to see it in the company of the Fury and P47 before its solo slot.

Duxford Battle of Britain show

 The annual Battle of Britain airshow was over this weekend. I chose Sunday to go because the BBMF Lanc was originally scheduled to be there today although I believe it was also there yesterday in the end as a replacement for the BBMF Dak which was unable to appear. Anyway, after some forecasts a few days ago for rain today it turned into a sunny warm day but with one drawback - it was quite breezy which disrupted proceedings quite a bit. The Lanc was unable to leave Coningsby as it was too windy there and Duxford had a fairly brisk crosswind which kept quite a few aircraft on the ground unfortunately and resulted in a much changed programme. On the plus side aircraft that I had not previously seen in the air like the Invader, F-86, NH90 and Boomerang all performed as did the Anson that I last saw in New Zealand last year. We had already lost the hoped for Ju52, Storch and Br 1050 Alize before the show and today the Vampire went tech on the flightline and the conditions were too much for the P40s, Wildcat, Gladiator, Lysander, Yak3 and the couple of WWI aircraft down to fly. Also one Hurricane headed back to Europe early due to poor weather expected at home base. The remaining aircraft did however put on commendable displays although the traditional Spitfire tail chase couldn't happen either.

I'll start with a few pictures from the ground. Sadly the Invader, Sabre and Anson were parked on the flight line in a position that meant you could only snap them from crowd line side as the flight line walk did not extend as far along as usual, no idea why this was so.