96 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017Events
L
ike any airshow, Flying Legends has
evolved over the years. The most
obvious departure in 2017 was the
opening of Sunday’s show by the Red
Arrows, whose routine was interrupted for
several minutes by an airspace
infringement to the north of Duxford, and
was in any case aligned some way off to
crowd right in order to prevent overfl ight
of local avoids. But The Fighter
Collection’s annual celebration of historic
aircraft has changed in other ways, too.
Take the Balbo fi nale. Go back two
decades and the number of aircraft in it
regularly hit the high 30s. For 2017, 19
were mustered, all UK-based, plus of
course the gap-fi lling ‘Joker’ — or, rather,
‘Jokers’. For Saturday the role was
performed in spectacular fashion for the
fi rst time by Richard Grace in Anglia
Aircraft Restorations’ Fury ISS, but Sunday
saw him followed by Nick Grey in
Comanche Fighters’ Spitfi re Ia X4650,
back in its Dunkirk fi lm markings.
And while the Balbo itself may not be
so large as in the past, other elements of
the show have grown, such as the range
of early World War Two aircraft. For many,
the weekend’s highlight was the Battle of
Britain section. No fewer than fi ve
Hurricanes had been parked together on
Duxford’s grass — two of them, Hugh
Taylor’s P3717 and P2902 from Anglia
Aircraft Restorations, have of course been
completed in 2017, this being the public
debut for P2902 piloted by Stu
Goldspink. With them were Hurricane
Heritage’s R4118, the Shuttleworth Sea
Hurricane and the Historic Aircraft
Collection’s ‘P3700’. All fi ve took to the
air, accompanied by the Aircraft
Restoration Company’s Blenheim
and three Spitfi re Ias.As the others got into formation, Brian
Smith and Pete Kynsey in the two
Comanche Fighters Spitfi res gave a
polished performance as a pair before
departing to join the IWM’s N3200 at the
formation’s rear. On Saturday Hurricane
P2902 developed a minor problem after
take-off, which prevented Stu Goldspink
from joining up. Sunday, though, was
better, and we witnessed fi ve Hurricanes,
the Blenheim and three Spitfi res pass
overhead before they broke for separate
routines. It was not lost on some that the
grouping represented well in percentage
terms the numbers of each type on
Fighter Command strength during 1940.
More traditionally, the programme’s
warbird action was opened by an
excellent sequence involving nineSpitfi re/Seafi re variants, a series of
formation passes preceding a trademark
Duxford tailchase with one group
performing to the south while the other
fl ew passes closer to the crowd. On
Saturday they were followed into the air
by one of the show’s stars, P-51B Berlin
Express, but its appearance proved
fl eeting as the ‘Malcolm hood’ canopy
disintegrated just over the runway when
Nick Grey made his opening fast run-in.
With the Mustang safely on the ground,
there was then a delay while the airfi eld
fi re service searched for and removed the
debris. As Berlin Express was also due to
feature as one of the Horsemen team,
this item had unfortunately to be
cancelled from Saturday’s programme.
That evening, the Horsemen rehearsed
with Robert Tyrrell’s Miss Helen replacing
the damaged Berlin Express in what was
now a P-51D trio alongside the
Norwegian Spitfi re Foundation-operated
‘sharkmouth’ example and Comanche
Fighters’ other visitor, Frenesi. All was fi ne
for them to display on Sunday, and asFlying Legends Air Show
8 – 9
JULYMorten Andreassen fl ies the Dakota Norway
DC-3 like no-one else. HARRY MEASURESHurricanes on the grass,
the Balbo in the air:
wonderful moments at
Flying Legends 2017.
HARRY MEASURES96-99_AM_Events_Sept17_cc C.indd 96 31/07/2017 11:16