Four days after the museum was allowed to re-open IWM Duxford held its first showcase day of the year. Since introducing these days they have proven popular, usually held with a theme the day sees a small air display in the afternoon usually from Duxford based aircraft. With the good weather a number of Duxford’s resident operators bought aircraft out of the hangers for static display. These included Plane Sailing’s Catalina flying boat while the Aircraft Restoration Company had their Spitfire XI, the NHS Spitfire, on display allowing visitors to see the names of NHS staff added to the aircraft. By the control tower there was a World War One themed display with the Historic Aircraft Collection’s DH9 being joined by a Hucks Starter and a replica Fokker Dreideker with reenactors wearing period uniform to complete the display talking to visitors. Proving very popular were a pair of P-51 Mustang’s that had recently returned to Duxford both in USAAF livery Berlin Express and Hun Hunter looked resplendent in the summer sun outside hanger 2. With a theme of the day being De Havilland’s Centenary there were also a number of visitors to the airfield that included some rare types built by De Havilland. As this was a normal working weekday at Duxford during the day there was also some non-display flying with Classic Wings Dragon Rapide and Tiger Moth giving pleasure flights through the day. In addition to this Anglia Aircraft Restorations Hawker Fury II, Propshop’s Spitfire IXT and THE Norwegian Spitfire Foundation’s Sea Fury T20. The latter unfortunately made the news later in the day when an engine failure saw a forced landing in a field near Duxford, fortunately both crew were able to walk away from the incident.

Around the site there was plenty of signage to advise social distancing and each hanger and indoor area had signs to wear a face mask. In addition to this staff around the site were also on hand to ensure visitors complied. All the exhibition areas were open with the exception of the Battle of Britain display and the Operations Room, both of which were in the process of being reworked ahead of the Battle of Britain Anniversary.  The pleasant summer weather provided the opportunity to look around and enjoy some of the outdoor displays and look around the site often missed on busier days or in adverse weather.

The flying element of the day was in two sections either side of a lunch break. This got underway with a solo display from the Norwegian Spitfire Foundation’s P-51d Mustang now in its new USAAF ‘warhorse’ scheme. This was followed up by a change of pace with a pair of small racing aircraft, the Cassutt Racer and Cosmic Wind ‘Ballerina’. These performed some fast passes as a pair before separating for solo displays. The opening section was completed by an aerobatic routine by a Yak-50 flown by Peter Kuypers. The second section got underway with another faster paced aerobatic display from James Hepner flying his Extra 300. Next up was an unusual formation giving a nod to the day’s theme of De Havilland with the DH89 Dragon Rapide leading the DHC-2 Beaver and DHC-1 Chipmunk. The trio performed passes in various formations before separating for their solo displays. The flying was closed with attribute to the Battle of Britain as Hurricane Heritage’s Hurricane I was joined by the IWM Spitfire Ia to perform passes in a pair before they too separated for solo displays.

In all it was a good day and we felt safe in the environment, not crowded. For just a small addition to the regular entrance fee it was worth it.

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Gary Malkin