After weeks of dreadful weather, yesterday produced near-perfect conditions for Duxford's Flying Legends airshow. Many thought that the show would be at best a washout, at worst cancelled - instead, there was a real garden-party atmosphere and some great Warbird flying. Here's a small selection....

No trick photography here - these guys were very close together....




Typical of Legends variety....




A sight which automatically made me think 'Crete !'.....




An unusual colour scheme ( 'Malta' ) which doesn't blend too well with East Anglia...




No photoshop trickery here - this guy really is rolling a B-25......




And this genuine Duxford WWII veteran is about to be shipped over the Atlantic for the big Mustang show : two shots I rather like, which sum up the atmosphere of Legends 07.....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

..thanks Martin ..great shots....amazing how it can rain for weeks, thoroughly putting me off the idea of even attempting to go anywhere near Duxford ...and then the weather breaks just for the show.....glad you got a great day out ...
well, at the least the weather doesn't really matter for W&P....

Yes...yesterday was I think the definitive 'lucky break' as far as the weather was concerned.

There was quite a 'seafaring' theme to the entries, here's the smoky RNHF Sea Fury....




And Kennet Aviation's gorgeous Seafire.....




I even got a bit of a suntan !

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Thanx for the excellent pictures, Martin!

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Lucky bugger! Great pics, thanks a lot

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Terrific pictures Martin ! I really love the Spitfire with the Malta paint job on the grass. I have never seen a B-25 rolled before. Pretty good stuff. I did have a question about the national markings, what are they ?

Post some more if you have them.

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

The B-25 Mitchell is operated by 'The Duke of Brabant' Air Force. I couldn't hear the commentary for the engine noise but they look like Dutch flags.

It's the 'Brabant' B-25 which is based in Holland and crewed by a highly-enthusiastic group of Dutchmen. They come over for Flying Legends nearly every year and I don't recall seeing them do that manouevre before. My camera was trained on the aircraft when suddenly - over it went ! Even my Dad said 'Hey ! Did he just roll that thing.....?'

Here it is, the right-way up...

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Thanks Martin ! I was thinking of an orange triangle but I guess they dropped that after the Germans took over Holland.

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Martin the 78th fg P-51 HL * W has been to Duxford in the past yes ? great couple of shots as you got in real close it appears

yeah the Mustangs and Legends is coming up rapidly, and dang if you wouldn't know something has bound my schedule so tight I cannot attend and meet some of you guys/gals ......but I expect a great host of photos folk

E ~

Absolutely right, Erich - that P-51D is 44-63864 'Twilight Tear' which flew with the 78th FG out of Duxford from January 1945. Lt Hubert 'Bill' Davis flew 35 missions with her and gained the three victories indicated on the canopy frame.

Post-war, the aircraft went to Sweden and then Israel before being bought by the Duxford-based Fighter Collection. 'Twilight Tear' has been returned to her exact WWII colours so the pics above are of a true WWII veteran aircraft 'at home' on her original airfield......

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

that is just plain ol class as far as I am concerned, would love to get right up next to that hot rod for the pics, great part of history but like so many that have been able to land/take-off from Duxford and those that have been fortunate to view it all

now to find a pic of that bird ww2, have one somewhere

As she's so popular, here's just a couple more of Twilight Tear taken last Saturday....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

I see some really nice aircraft in the background ! Do you have any of the Victor or were there too many people standing around it ? In the 1980's I got to see one and they are a marvel, everything is curved and flowing. One of the crew was even nice enough to take some cockpit shots for me.

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Duxford are trying to get all aircraft 'inside' as they deteriorate fast in the East Anglia climate. The Victor was starting to get in poor shape and is , I believe, about to be restored followed by the Shackleton. I don't have any pics, I'm afraid (too busy enjoying the flying !) but maybe next time.....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Great Pics!!! You Great With Camera And Lucky Man To Have Time And Money To Take Wonderful Pictures To Share. Keep Em Coming. The Omega

Wonderful pictures! Thanks for posting. Especially like the B-25!

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"Don't be a fool and die for your country. Let the other sonofabitch die for his." George S. Patton

Hi Martin,
Great pictures, awesome event.
the Dutch guys with b-25 are crazy, met them at an airshow hand turning over the engines of the b-25 in the morning.

Great days.
Matt

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by far my favorite..............'tante ju'

Excellent pics and thanks again! I miss visiting Duxford especially now. It seems they have far more displays than 20 years ago.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Part of the reason for this is that state funding has been cut for the Imperial War Museum ( along with many other museums ) to help fund a large running-and-jumping event scheduled for 2012.

They therefore have to arrange more public displays to generate funds.....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Beautiful pics Martin, wish I could have been there. The Malta spit is gorgeous, love the B25 and Sea Fury too. Maybe next year I'll make it down in time.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.