106 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JULY 20186
MAYShuttleworth Season Premiere Airshow
S
logan seen on a T-shirt
at the seaside during
the sun-drenched
Saturday of the May
Bank Holiday weekend: ‘Close
eyes. Dream. Smile. Repeat.’
And so the following day to
Old Warden, for the
Shuttleworth Collection RAF
100 show, the much-
anticipated fi rst event of the
year at the revered
Bedfordshire airfi eld. With a
prolonged period of high
pressure forecast, RAF
participation in the shape of
the Battle of Britain Memorial
Flight, a Eurofi ghter Typhoon
FGR4 and a static Westland
Puma HC2, plus the public
fl ying debut of the
Shuttleworth Sopwith Camel
reproduction and
reappearance of their Spitfi re
Vc AR501 after 12 years on the
ground, tickets had sold out
the previous week, a level of
demand only hitherto
generated at Old Warden by
appearances from the much-
missed Avro Vulcan XH558 and
the Red Arrows.
The RAF contingent enabled
the show organisers to present
a unique, 100-plus-year spread
of airborne British aviation
history, something that will not
be seen at any other location
during this centenary year.
Following a spectacular
opening to the show by Flt Lt
Jim Peterson in his No 29
(Reserve) Squadron Typhoon,the show proceeded largely in
a reverse chronological order,
starting with an Avro
formation, which saw the Old
Warden-based, BAE Systems-
owned Avro XIX G-AHKX —
making its debut in recently
applied post-war RAF
Coningsby Station Flight
markings (see News) —
formating on the BBMF
Lancaster I, PA474. Another
new colour scheme was to be
seen on the BBMF’s Spitfi re
XVI TE311, now painted in No
316 (Polish) Squadron
markings. The BBMF also
brought Chipmunk T10
WG486 for static display, the
ex-RAF Gatow Station Flight
machine forming part of an
exhibit on the intelligence-
gathering activities of BRIXMIS.Sadly, following its fi rst fl ight
on 20 March after a 10-plus-
year restoration, poor weather
and a sodden airfi eld had
prevented Spitfi re AR501 from
fl ying off suffi cient hours for a
permit to fl y, but two examples
arrived from Duxford, the Old
Flying Machine Company’s
MkIX MH434 being displayed
in a pairs routine with the
Imperial War Museums’ MkIa
N3200, fl own by Stu Goldspink
and Cliff Spink respectively.
John Romain gave his
customarily superlative display
in the Aircraft Restoration
Company’s Blenheim IF
‘L6739’, which — having joined
the Avro XIX for a single pass
— later took to the air for a
second time to make up a
formation fl ypast alongsideShuttleworth’s Sea Hurricane,
with Paul Stone at the helm,
and Hugh Taylor’s Old Warden-
based Hurricane I, P3717,
fl own by Stu Goldspink. The
two Shuttleworth pilots then
staged the second scintillating
World War Two fi ghter duo of
the day, warbird pairs routines
having become a much-
appreciated regular feature of
Old Warden shows over the
past year or two.
The inter-war period was
represented by Hawker Demon
and Tomtit, DH Tiger Moth
and Avro Tutor, the Gloster
Gladiator being relegated to
the maintenance hangar with
engine woes. A World War
One segment saw Airbus test
pilot Frank Chapman giving
the Avro 504K ‘night fi ghter’ a
good workout, with the Bristol
M1C fl own by Rob Millinship,
and the F2B by Clare Tector,
who has just converted to
type. Shuttleworth chief
engineer Jean-Michel Munn
was at the controls of the
SE5a, which was briefl y joined
by chief pilot ‘Dodge’ Bailey in
the Camel, after which it went
into its fi rst airshow display, 23
years since construction had
begun with the Northern
Aeroplane Workshops at
Batley, West Yorkshire.
To get the Edwardians up at
the fi rst show of the season is a
rarity, and after displays by
Paul Stone in the Bristol
Boxkite and Chris Huckstep inEvents
Peter Kosogorin in the
Avro XIX accompanies
the BBMF’s Lancaster,
fl own by Flt Lts Tim
Dunlop and Seb Davey,
around the Old Warden
bend. MIKE SHREEVEA surprise was the
appearance of repainted
Spitfi re XVI TE311 from
the BBMF. DARREN HARBARThis No 29(R) Squadron Typhoon FGR4 — sporting the RAF’s corporate
centenary markings — made the type’s fi rst Shuttleworth appearance,
in the hands of Flt Lt Jim Peterson. DARREN HARBAR106-107_AM_Events_July18 C.indd 106 04/06/2018 07:20