Bf109

During the Luftwaffe slot we were fortunate to be entertained by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 albeit with a Merlin engine (Buchon) (Spitfire Ltd).  It was flown alongside the Spits a few times, showing the sharp contrast between the Allied and Axis camouflage doctrines.  Unfortunately the very rare new build FW 190 that was recently brought to Duxford by Tom Blair has not yet received its CAA clearance.  It was therefore not allowed to fly but did taxi along the runway to show off its lines and give us the sound of its BMW engine.

Fw190 - Taxiing only

The other two aircraft in this section were two Ju-52’s, one in an original Luftwaffe colour scheme, T2B-212 JB (Salis collection).  The other was in a Lufthansa scheme, WK-NR 5489, both giving excellent low and slow shows.

Two very impressive A/C are the FG-1D Corsair (Fighter collection), and a F4U-4A (Corsair Warbirds), flown by Smith and Frenchman Goujon respectively. The Frenchman was a real treat with a wonderful sense of humour.  For those not in the know this A/C performed splendidly in the Far East Campaign during the WWII and afterwards in Indochina (French) as well as Korea.

Corsairs

Hawker Hind & Nimrod

I am sure that many of you will have heard of the Shuttleworth collection, operating from Old Warden Airfield.  They brought their Lysander IIIa V9552 painted in black as used during infiltrating ops in Western Europe. Three new flying A/C to me were the Gladiator I L8032, and the two Hawkers i.e. Nimrod and Hind.  I never realized those Kestrel engines were so quiet.  Amongst all of us standing photographing, it was unanimous that these old Hawker Biplanes were something really special.  The Nimrod is the Navy version of the Fury that is familiar to many of our Old-Timers, whereas many of our SAAF vets will have flown the Hind and its closely related Hartbees.