Leuchars Airshow 2010

[Stewart]

It built in oxford so that’s good enough for me

[ELFMAN]

It built in oxford so that’s good enough for me

Obviously - that was one of my main points... which I forgot to point out! One of the pitfalls of 'sneaky posts' when I'm supposed to be working... I've given myself a Formal Warning, and will fire myself if it happens again.

[Crombers]

All 3 did a flypast at last years Bo'Ness hill climb What a sight and sound

I have been fortunate to have watched the BBMF on a few occassions & very few things stir the soul the way these majestic warbirds do. Spine tingling stuff

In fact THE best I ever witnessed (although it was'nt quite the BBMF) was at the Imperial War Museum back in 94. I had decided to visit for the very first time as my sister had just started teaching in Baldock some 20 or so miles away from Duxford. It also happened to be the 50th anniversary of the DDay landings & a lot was happening in the UK & France at the time. During WW2 Duxford was handed over to the Americans as a base & on the day of my visit there was a lot of ex US Air Force personnel visiting. As I roamed around the vast spaces of the base it became apparent that for some of these guys it was there first visit for some time or maybe even since the war. When you see a 70 year old guy getting emotional it sure puts a lump in your throat. Anyhow during my visit a tannoy announcement came over stating that a resident Spitfire & ME109 would shortly be returning to the base. All eyes were now outside waiting for their return & we then witnessed something special. I can only assume they were in practice for the events of that summer but we were lucky to then witness a mock dog fight in the skies above the Cambridgeshire base. The sight & sound was awesome as these two put on at least a ten minute show, sometimes flying at very low level.

I was just lucky (& humbled) that I was there that day

[ELFMAN]

Right with you Crombers.

Been to Duxford Autumn Airshow a couple of times. Unforgettable experience was watching a 'Tail-Chase' back and forth across the flight line with NINE Spitfires! Both Merlin and Griffon-engined variants. The Merlin is such a beautiful sounding engine - so smooooooooooth, but with just a hint of menace, whereas the Griffon is a much 'gruffer' beast of an engine, with a sort of chattering note - maybe caused by the much bigger props as well as the power-hike, I'm not sure - but still sounding fantastic. Love all the Spits, but there's a purity about the earlier versions that was lost a bit on the big-engined later ones. Funny how the first ones are always the prettiest eh? One for all you R50 and R53 owners there!

One of the best bits was actually a while before the show started. Lovely sunny Autumn day and we were just getting stuck into our packed lunch when we heard a very distinctive engine note somewhere in the distance..... "Merlin!" (you can tell). Everybody stopped what they were doing and scanned the sky for the late arrival. Sure enough, a lone Spitfire (a Mk V I think) came in and circled the airfield before drifting down to land on the grass with a few wee bounces. You could FEEL the emotion in the air, sounds daft, but it was awesome. Spitfire at Duxford. Enough said.

[Delboy]

Neil - just catching up with recent posts and finally got a chance to look at your photos on the PC rather than my phone - they are excellent . You've captured some great perspectives and angles and I enjoyed looking at them .

[Big Gordy]

Did any of you watch that programme on BBC2 last night about the spitfire pilot excellent scenes with spits and me109 in it Worth watching it just for that alone but the whole programme was very well done Poor bu**er that the programme was about survived 18 months in front line of the battle of Britain only to have a mental breakdown at the age of 20 when it was all over....heavy bummer man

[ELFMAN]

Meant to watch it, but I missed it as Dad and I were watching the footy! One of my pals saw it and thought it was excellent. Will hopefully catch it on BBC iPlayer.

[N16SHP]

Neil - just catching up with recent posts and finally got a chance to look at your photos on the PC rather than my phone - they are excellent . You've captured some great perspectives and angles and I enjoyed looking at them .

Thanks Del!!