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Duxford Flying Evening 2026 |
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| ‘A Merlin engine is always a pleasure to hear, but in the calm natured Duxford evening it sounded even more tuneful along with the distinctive whistle this particular aircraft likes to make.’ |
| IWM Duxford held their flying evening on
the 22nd August. A chilled out, more relaxed approach to airshow
flying, basked in the glorious late evening sun, which as the luck
would have it sets behind the general viewing direction on the
airfield. This allows for some gorgeous golden hour photographs as
well as leisurely viewing without squinting into the harsh midday
sun. A good size crowd assembled for the evening, with the sound of chinking glasses and popping of bottles as people settled into their evenings. Of all the Duxford events this one feels the most quintessentially British. I’m sure I saw one group with a full on, help yourself Ploughman on the go, just to give an idea of the evening atmosphere. |
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| Going into the event, the flying lineup
looked somewhat thin in comparison to last year and turning up I
had hopes it has expanded as there were a few additional aircraft
out on the flightline that I was hoping were late additions Alas,
this wasn’t to be, and this was confirmed over the commentary that
the flying was to start at 18:50, a good 45 minutes later compared
to the last year and finish up around 20:30. There was also a
noticeable absences from The Fighter Collection who also reside at
Duxford, and Ultimate Warbirds who are normally both staples of
such Duxford events. This takes nothing away though from the flying participants and their displays, which is always excellently put together by the organisers at Duxford and the skies and light really came together to offer the best viewing and photography opportunities for the evening. Even the moon made a rather beautiful appearance halfway through the evening. |
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| Starting off proceedings was
James Hepnar in the Lilham Aviation’s Spitfire Mk IX MK912. Better
known as the Normandie Spitfire, because she was the first
Spitfire to land in France after D-Day. A debut display at a
Duxford flying event after her latest restoration back to
airworthiness. James really knew how to show her off in the early evening light with some of the best slow rolling victory rolls and top side passes allowing her invasion stripes to catch the golden glow for all to see. The two-stage supercharged Merlin 66 engine purred across the quiet Duxford flight line. As James started to final couple of passes before heading back to Sywell Aerodrome, engines roared into life in all directions in front of me that it made it tricky to work out where to look and point the lens, as the next three flying acts all started to get ready. |
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| Duxford resident
and fan favourite Sally B back tracked down to runway 06 ready for
take off before heading straight into her display. As always Ellie
Sallingboe was in attendance, in her flight suit along with the
rest of her crew, enjoying the beautiful sight of her B-17
delighting the crowds once again. Peter Kypers and Paul Szluha
were at the controls for the evening, with a full flight crew
taking up the remaining spots inside. Sally B is an aircraft that looks great in all weather come rain or shine, however, once in the evening setting, the feeling of her changes especially her final passes as she turns on the smoke generator, to commemorate those of the Eighth Army Air Force who took part in daylight bombing raids. Seeing a smoking B-17 flying over a historic RAF wartime airfield gives the perfect realisation of how it must have been back in 1942 for the ground crews to see the battle-damaged Fortresses return after their sorties. Quite the emotional thought. |
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| As Sally B took a wide berth to join the circuit for landing, Mark Linney took off in his Mustang liveried Vans RV-8, quickly followed by the Aircraft Restoration Company’s trio of the Spitfire Mk1, Westland Lysander and the Bristol Blenheim 1F, who joined the hold to form up for their formation flight. |
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It was the first time I had seen Mark’s RV-8 display and what a
punchy little machine it is. Firstly, it looks incredible in the
in its blue and silver livery with the invasion stripes below, and
this was a perfect choice for the evening skies above Duxford as
it stood out nicely. Mark delivered an excellent high energy
aerobatic display, complete with a wing wave to the crowds to end.
Not quite the Harrier bow he experienced during his RAF career but
I’m sure just as much fun. Rightly so, upon landing and heading
back to his parking spot, Mark opened the canopy and took in the
appreciative cheers and waves. |
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Before Mark had even applied the parking brake, the sound of three
Bristol Mercury engines and a single Rolls Royce Merlin roared in
from display right as the Blenheim, lead the Westland Lysander and
Duxford’s own Spitfire Mk1 in a Temperate Land Scheme delight in
the now peak golden hour light, for a couple of formation passes
before a run-in break to split into their solo displays. The evenings special guest really showed itself off now as the moon was bright enough to add itself into everybody’s photographs with the goal of getting that perfect shot of a warbird passing in front of it.ive Civilian display teams all got involved in this year’s Airbourne... Rich Goodwin brought the noise and power with his one-of-a-kind Jett Pitts. An almighty powerful machine with its 8.5 litre Lycoming engine, the addition of the two Lynx Jet Turbines gives this muscle biplane an additional 700lbs of thrust for a total of 1700lbs thrust for an aircraft that only weights 1500lbs. Ludicrous, but we are all for it! Putting that extra thrust to use, Rich can perform manoeuvres other aircraft and pilots could only dream of incl |
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| John Romain in the Bristol Blenheim 1F was first to solo display of the trio. With a what now seems a traditional display from the Blenheim with low passes and dreamy banking turns, along with beautiful topsides to show off her upper turret. John then handed the stage over to Martin Overall in the Lysander. With it’s odd-looking wing configuration and sporting some under carriage holsters payload, Martin picked up where the John had left off with in steeper turns showing off the Lysanders top traits of being light and agile for quick short landings. A demo of which would be very welcome in future displays. |
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| Mike Collett drew the formations solo
efforts to a close with an aerobatic display in the Mk1 Spitfire.
A Merlin engine is always a pleasure to hear, but in the calm
natured Duxford evening it sounded even more tuneful along with
the distinctive whistle this particular aircraft likes to make.
Victory rolls and golden topside passes were a plenty to show off
this crown jewel of Duxford’s aircraft. |
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Reaching the end of the evenings displays came the highlight of
the night. With the A-26C Invader arriving at Duxford only a mere
45 minutes before the event opened, it was announced that the
Invader and the Fubar Aviation’s Lim-5, a Polish licensed built
Mig-17F, would perform a one-off flypast together as two aircraft
that operated within the Vietnam War. With the sun just about to set, the Invader lead the way with the Mig tucked behind its left wing, for one of the greatest and unique topside passes anyone could see. Both jets reflecting the golden hour light. It really was a bit of Duxford magic. The Mig-17 then went in to it’s display as many of us have seen on a few occasions now as part of its UK Summer tour. With the afterburner truly glowing in the fading light, it was without doubt in my opinion, the best display I had seen of it. A very well done to Fubar Aviation and Mateusz Strama for an excellent summer as they reach the end of their tour dates. |
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| John Dodd then took over as the Mig landed with the A-26 Invader closing out the warbird section of the evening. A great timings choice because we were starting to hit the days last light, and its reflective silver colour scheme helped highlight her against the darkening skies. It was here I managed to get my own perfect warbird moonshot that I am particularly happy with, as a series of passes perfectly aligned up. |
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| Finishing the evening display again this year were a pair of Grob-109s from Airborne Pyrotechnics. Sadly, this year due to the incredibly dry summer the UK has had, and the emergency alert that all scared us on our phones a couple of weeks prior, they were sans pyrotechnics for the evening. However, with their aircraft equipped with smoke and LED lighting on the fuselage and under the wings, brothers Tom and Ben Dews performed a romantic twilight aerobatic routine as the sun finally set on the day, leaving a blank canvas for the brothers to decorate with their light show. |
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With the Grobs landing, the flying display
had reached its conclusion. A very good evening display even
though it was lighter on displays and ran for less time compared
to previous years. That’s probably my only gripe of a wonderful
evening out at one of my favourite places. |
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Review by Nick Soan |