What a difference a week makes! The Shuttleworth season ended with a battle against the elements to put on an air display. In the end we’ll call it an honourable draw!
In Hangar 1 the Sea Hurricane has started its winter maintenance
Much has been said on TV of late, about the propensity of the Hurricane to catch fire when shot at, indeed most of the original Guinea Pig Club members flew Hawkers finest . What I didn’t realise is that the pilots feet actually sit under the forward fuel tank. You can see the rudder pedals in this shot
The rear view wasnt superb either
The Comper Swift’s wings have been removed and are being worked on
Elsewhere, someone has a new toy! And very nice it is too.
The flying programme was hastily re-written and the aircraft that could stand the rain were pushed out of the hangars
Its at times like this that its “all hands to the pumps” as they need careful handling on the wet tarmac and grass
The veteran vehicle parade took place, but they ran up and down the hard standing outside the hangars to avoid getting stuck on the grass
While the band played on
The flying started in the rain with the Jungmann
It soon stopped raining but the wind picked up, which made things interesting for the Tutor
Collective noun for a tractor load of Engineers? A Drench!
Piston Provost
The Ryan pair did superbly well considering the conditions, not surprisingly flying a tail chase rather than a formation.
First visiting act was the Nanchang CJ6, I presume the marking means the bird lost!
The Blackburn B2 flew an aerobatic display
Followed by the Tiger Moth and Chipmunk Barnstornimg
The ground crew had their work cut out walking the aircraft back with the wind at their backs
There was a slight gap in proceedings before the final act turned up. The local Kestrel took the opportunity to take centre stage. At least someone enjoyed the wind!
Finally, Peter Teichman rounded of the Display Season in fine style in the P51. Stonking!
The man himself
And that was it. The wind and ground conditions put paid to any more flying. It just leaves me to thank all the staff, volunteers, engineers, kitchen staff, ground crews, Air Traffickers, vehicle drivers, parking staff, pay booth staff oh and pilots (just kidding), for all their hard work this year. Its been a privilege to work with all of you this year.
As I left I stopped opposite the airfield and too a couple of pictures. As I did so the resident Buzzards flew over from the copse and took a look at what I was doing, calling to each other as they did so.
That summed it all up for me, Old Warden is simply magical.
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