A feast of flying at Old Warden over two magical hot and sticky days
It has to be said that the team at Old Warden stepped up to the plate to ensure that their well earned reputation grew. With no RIAT taking place because of events elsewhere, the Festival of Flight became the premier airshow for the UK.
I will argue until I take my last breath that there is no finer place to view aircraft, it is such an iconic location. It seems that wherever you sit/stand there you will always get a superb view of the displaying aircraft.
Of course the collection’s own planes will always be on show. No Shuttleworth show is ever complete without my personal favourite the DH-88 Comet. Although events later in the summer would mean that Grosvenor House won’t be flying again for some time.
The team had certainly pulled out the stops for this years two day show with the Flying Bulls visiting from their base in Austria. The Czech Avro Anson Mk 1 MH120, P-47 Nellie B and the ubiquitous Blenheim from ArCo at Duxford. However the star attraction for me and many others was the worlds only flying Messerschmitt Bf-109 – Red 12 flown in the ever so capable hands of Charlie Brown. What a machine!
It seems we picked the two hottest days of the year, so the heat haze was pretty awful for photography, but I did my best!
Staying locally we arrived on-site early to queue until the site was officially opened. Sadly the days of parking in the paddock will be a thing of the past due to recent legislation introduced in the UK. This will no doubt change the feeling of the show for many who enjoy sitting by their vehicles to watch the show.
Over the two days we changed positions to be on the flightline on Sunday and back against the parked vehicles near the Control Tower on Saturday. There must have been at least 18 of us stood and seated together.
Shuttleworth arrange their displays and ‘change things up’ to ensure that not every display is the same. The Red Bulls flew the evening display on Saturday, with the Anson’s glying together in Sunday’s late display.
Personally I would have preferred the evening display to be about half an hour earlier, I felt we lost the glorious light. I can’t speak for Sunday as I had to leave at the end of the afternoon’s performances.
All in all, it was two superb days of flying and I really didn’t think it could be topped. But…..maybe it was 😉
