Duxford Air Festival is an annual airshow held at IWM Duxford in Cambridgeshire, England. The Duxford museum is one of the best in the country; it has several hangars and displays and features original buildings from when the base was operated by the RAF, such as officers mess, sleeping areas, fighter command centres etc.
I was there yesterday to check out the explosive flying display! These shots have not been edited but I just wanted to provide some previews of the 2,000+ photos I took. I will be posting edited versions on my Instagram account over the next few weeks: https://www.instagram.com/avi_spotter/
Please do not use my photos without permission :) Enjoy!
USAF CV-22B Osprey
Army Air Corps Westland WAH-64D Apache Longbow
British Army Parachute Regiment “The Red Devils” dispay team boardingBritten-Norman BN-2A Islander G-AXUB to take them up to 4,500ft to jump
Bronco Demo Team North American Rockwell OV-10B Bronco 99+18 (G-ONAA) taxiing out to start her display
Titles of " Lest We Forget" and “1914-1918” are painted on the aircraft in addition to Red Poppies along the tail section, a tribute to those who perished in WWI
Tony de Bruyn waves to the crowds at his taxiies in after the display
One of the eight “Red Devils” carried a large Union Flag with him on the jump
Flt Lt Ryan Lawton piloted Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 ZK354 of RAF Coningsby 29® Squadron at the show. Unfortunately, my 200mm lens wasn’t quite good enough to get fully framed shots. However, as the files are very large, I can edit and crop them a lot.
The Breitling Wingwalkers pulled off a smoky display
The girls perched rather precariously on the Boeing Stearman’s top wing as they waved to the crowds after their performance
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress “Sally B” 44-85784 (G-BEDF) fly was a real treat so see fly, as she had been grounded on all my previous visits to Duxford. She was escorted by North American TF-51D Mustang “Miss Velma” 44-84847 (N251RJ)
Miss Velma carries out a typical curved approach behind an Apache before her pilot waves to the crowds
The Great War display team were up next, allowing this special “Old and Older” shot to take place
BAC 167 Strikemaster Mk.82A in Sultan of Oman’s Air Force colour scheme (left) flew with BAC Jet Provost T.5 in RAF Trainer colours
The two jet trainers taxi back in
De Havilland DH-89A Dominie/Dragon Rapide G-AGJG (left) flies with De Havilland DH-90A Dragonfly D-AEDU
Noorduyn Aviation UC-64 Norseman in Norwegian Air Force colours. Creative?
The Catalina Society Consolidated PBY-5A 433915 (G-PBYA) Catalina flying boat demos over the Trig Aerobatics Pitts S.1S Specials
Now I know it’s dark and that’s my fault. Everyone was looking out for the Rafale and then boom, there it was. I should have had my camera ready, but I didn’t, so when I flicked the switch to On, my finger knocked the mode for Shutter Priority to Manual, which fluffed up my preset shutter, ISO etc. Grrrr
Overall, the Armée de l’Air Dassault Rafale C of Saint-Dizier Escadron de Chasse 01-007 “Provence” was the highlight of the show. The French display was faster, louder, lower and a lot better than the British Typhoon. The French display pilot put his jet through a lot more, with some very impressive tight maneuvers. And another thing, check out the 4th picture of the Rafale; a supersonic condensation ring is building up!
I hope you enjoyed these pictures! There were all taken using a Canon EOS 700D with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Zoom lens. If you have any questions or advice, please comment!
I have certainly learned some lessons from this trip
- Always have your camera ready
- A 200mm lens is not good enough!