I left my friend's house about 09:50 on Sunday morning
for the short drive to Duxford. There was a queue already at the entrance, as
people were processed through the tills, but within about 15 to 20 minutes, I
was through and onto the airfield, where the first Spitfire of the day was
already preparing to take off. After it climbed away, I headed back to the
Victor, and into the Airspace hangar to see their Vulcan.
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The first eight pictures are of Duxford's two 'V'
Force bombers, Victor XH648 and Vulcan XJ824, along with two other Cold War
aircraft, the F-100 Super Sabre and F-4 Phantom.
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Since the American Air Museum is being refurbished,
most of the exhibits are spread out around the rest of the site. The B-17,
B-24, C-47, P-51, SR-71, UH-1 and T-33 were all in the end of the Airspace
Hangar.
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After a brief Spitfire display, it begand to rain more
heavily, so I made my way to the Fighter Collection Hangar. Here I saw their
P-40C for the first time, and the two MkI Spitfires, one of which I've seen
before, but not since its new coat of paint.
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For the rest of the morning, I was hopping in and out
of the hangars avoiding the rain, before going for lunch at noon, hoping it
would clear soon as forecast. Thankfully it did, and I was treated to three
other Spitfires flying, a Harvard, and I was delighted to see the B-17 and
Blenheim being prepared for flight. The last time I saw the Blenheim was three
years ago, and it was still in primer with many parts yet to be fitted. Later
in the afternoon, the OFMC P-51 Mustang was wheeled out and prepared for
flight too.
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The Vulcan was slightly early to Duxford and
gave a shorter display than the day before up North. With the sky heavily
overcast, the pictures aren't as nice, but still a good record of what will
possibly be the last time I see a Vulcan in the air. The last of the Vulcan
pictures shows it fading into the distance, and into memory, as the much older
B-17 is prepared to fly below it.
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Hawker Fury, Bristol Fighter, Royal Aircraft Factory
BE2 and Hawker Nimrod
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Bristol Blenheim, Consolidated PBY5a Catalina, Boeing
B-17 Fortress and Blenheim again.
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Battle of Britain themed pictures
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Boeing B-29A Superfortress, half out of its home since
1997. This aircraft looks so much bigger out of the crowded hangar
space.
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Boeing B-29A Superfortress, with the tail and wing of
the giant Boeing B-52D Stratofortress just visible on the left.
With tired feet, and the flying action over, I left
the museum at 5pm, but had a longer trip home than expected after the A1 North
was closed, and I had to divert to the M1, a little north of Cambridge. Around
four and a half hours later, I got home.
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