Legends of the Air

75 years ago an epic air battle raged over Europe. When it was over, ‘The Battle of Britain’ swiftly ascended into legend. Vayu’s Angad Singh was in England during July 2015 to experience part of the UK summer air show season commemorating this incredible air war.

Shortly after the fall of France in June 1940, and well before the United States of America became ‘formally’ involved in the Second World War, it fell to British pilots and some from other Commonwealth and European countries, flying fighters from a small island nation across the Channel, to halt the Nazi Juggernaut that had made such short work of mainland Europe.

And halt them they did ! Although Prime Minister Winston Churchill had reposed great faith in the abilities of the men and women of Great Britain (and her allies) to stand successfully against the might of Hitler’s hitherto-undefeated army, it is unlikely that even he expected so incredible an effort–and result.

Hitler and his military leaders ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht – OKW ‘Supreme Command of the Armed Forces’) had judged – correctly – that for any invasion of Britain to succeed, control of the air and sea must first be assured. Towards this end, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring’s Luftwaffe threw everything they had at the RAF. For a little under four months, German air power struck repeatedly at Britain in a manner akin to a hammer on an anvil. From the outset, and indeed almost throughout the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe held the advantage in terms of absolute numerical superiority of both men and machines. However, superior RAF tactics, innovative aircraft design, better training and above all, sky-high morale, allowed the British to first hold the Luftwaffe off, and then decisively turn the tide of the battle.

This remarkable achievement is now considered as the crucial turning point of the Second World War, and is immortalised in Churchill’s eloquent statement : “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Unsurprisingly, the 75th anniversary of this great air campaign is being commemorated with great enthusiasm throughout the 2015 air show season in the UK. Vayu reports from two fantastic shows held back to back in July 2015.

75 years ago an epic air battle raged over Europe. When it was over, ‘The Battle of Britain’ swiftly ascended into legend. Vayu’s Angad Singh was in England during July 2015 to experience part of the

UK summer air show season commemorating this incredible air war.

Flying Legends

As the name suggests, the two- day Flying Legends air show at Duxford, near Cambridge, features only vintage aircraft, primarily those from WWII, with the odd interwar aircraft thrown in. The show is put on by The Fighter Collection, which also owns and operates one of the finest selections of ‘warbirds’ in the world. The aircraft and maintenance facilities are co-located with the famous Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford, making Flying Legends an excellent opportunity to take in the museum exhibits as well. Established in 1993, the event quickly became a hit on the European air show calendar. In fact, this year’s edition featured air enthusiasts visiting from as far afield as the USA, Australia– and India, this writer being informed that it is not uncommon for enthusiasts around the world to make the long journeys for the show.

The venue itself is also quite special. The RAF station at Duxford dates back to 1918, and was used as a fighter station in the interwar period. The resident No.19 Squadron then was the very first unit to receive the Supermarine Spitfire in 1938, and the station saw extensive activity during WWII, including during the epic Battle of Britain. It was here that the famed ace Douglas Bader rose to fame commanding No.242 Squadron. Duxford was also the site where Ronnie Harker, a Rolls-Royce test pilot, evaluated an Allison- engined P-51 Mustang and asserted that the fighter, though perfectly competent, could be made superlative with a Rolls- Royce Merlin powerplant. The rest, as they say, is history, with the Merlin- engined P- 51s ( P- 51B onward) proving absolutely invaluable to the Allied war effort from 1942 onward.

When the United States entered WWII, Duxford came under the US Army Air Force, with the 78th Fighter Group taking up residence here in April 1943 and through till end of the war. The base was returned to RAF control shortly after the war, and continued as an operational field until it was decommissioned in 1961. Duxford then played a major role in the star-studded 1968 movie ‘ Battle of Britain.’ By the late 1970s, after the UK MoD had sold off the airfield, the Imperial War Museum bought the property and there is now a thriving partnership between permanent museum exhibits and several vintage aircraft operators and restorers, including The Fighter Collection, The Aircraft Restoration Company, and Historic Flying Limited. Small wonder then, that it has become the de facto ‘mecca’ for warbird enthusiasts the world over !

2015 was a particularly exciting year for the Flying Legends. While there certainly have been larger editions of the show, the sheer variety of aircraft types represented among the 50 or so warbirds in attendance this time was staggering. A number of aircraft appeared in the UK for the first time, including a newly-restored Curtiss P-36C that had just made the long journey back to the UK from California, and a stunning Merlin- engined Supermarine Seafire Mk. III fresh from a mammoth twenty-year restoration. Also represented were a pair of Hispano HA-1112-M1L Buchón in markings representative of Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf-109s, along with an Airbus-owned Buchón restored to Bf-109G-4 specifications, including its Daimler-Benz DB605 engine. Other rare types in attendance included a Curtiss Hawk 75, Morane- Saulnier MS. 406, a graceful three- engine Junkers Ju- 52, a Lockheed P- 38 Lightning and a North American B-25 Mitchell, the latter pair owned and operated by the Austrian drinks company Red Bull and displayed in a phenomenal polished-metal finish.

Both show days began with an incredible ‘Spitfire Scramble’ involving eleven Spitfires

of various marks, led by four Rolls-Royce Griffon- engined examples, taking off together. After a few passes with all eleven in formation, the Spitfires then split into three individual elements—two groups of four and one of three—to conduct ‘tail chases’ over the airfield. The intermingled sounds of seven Merlins and four Griffons at varying throttle settings were simply heavenly !

These legends of British aviation were followed by an American trio of two Vought Corsairs and a Grumman Bearcat. The Bearcat, renowned as one of the fastest piston-engined aircraft ever built, put on a fantastic display, highlighting the sheer power delivered by the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp in the nose. The gullwinged Corsairs performed tail chases and formation aerobatics, with the matte-black F4U- 5NL looking particularly striking when paired with the blue- and- yellow Goodyear-built FG-1D variant.

Continuing the American theme after the naval fighters were done came one of the highlights of the show—the ‘Curtis Hawk Family Formation’ comprising a Hawk 75 in French ‘ Lafayette Escadrille’ markings, a P-36C in USAAC colours, an Allison 1710-engined P-40C Warhawk also in USAAC markings, and a Merlin-engined P-40F Kittyhawk in rather fetching desert camouflage. After a formation pass (a ‘family photo op’ if you will), the P-40s split off for a slightly higher-level aerobatic display while the P-36 and Hawk 75, the only surviving airworthy examples left in the world, stayed closer to the crowd, putting on some stunning low- level passes in formation. Toward the end of the display, the Curtiss aircraft were joined by the Morane HS.406, in Swiss Air Force marking.

Another incredible American showcase was a quartet of North American P-51 Mustangs, a pair of single- seat P- 51Ds and two twin-seat TF-51Ds. Three of the Mustangs conducted aerobatics and tail chases all over the airfield while the fourth conducted a solo aerobatic display over the runway. The P-51 segment was perhaps the most spirited of the entire show, with the trio of tail chasing Mustangs practically redefining the phrase ‘beating up an airfield.’ The crowd was raucous in its appreciation

of the fast passes and rapid transitions from high level to low, as the pilots threw their aircraft around with seemingly wild abandon.

As the Mustangs wrapped up, Europe’s last remaining airworthy Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress ( Sally B) took off and rendezvoused with a shark- mouthed Mustang flown by Lars Ness. Sally B was featured in the famous 1990 movie Memphis Belle and is a well-loved air show participant around the UK. After a few slow and low passes, with and without her fighter escort, the B-17 returned to terra firma to hand the display over to a trio of aircraft that three-quarters of a century ago would have been blasting holes in her with machine guns and cannon !

Two Hispano HA-1112-M1L Buchóns (Spanish-built Messerschmitt 109s with Merlin engines in place of the original Daimler-Benz DB-605) took off trailing Klaus Plasa of the Messerschmitt Stiftung, who flew Rote Sieben (Red Seven), a Buchón restored to Bf- 109G- 4 specification, complete with a Daimler- Benz engine. Plasa flew the Bf-109 fast and low near the crowd, which was a special treat, given the paucity of airworthy Bf-109s in the world, while the Buchóns carried out a parallel display higher up and a little further away. The British were clearly not parochial about having Axis fighters on display even with a

Battle of Britain commemorative theme, given how rare these aircraft are.

A short pre- war biplane display followed, with a Hawker Fury, a pair of Hawker Nimrods and two Gloster Gladiators taking to the air. After the fast and loud fighter displays that had characterised the first part of the show, this segment felt almost serene! Nevertheless, it was once again incredibly gratifying to see these aircraft not only cared for in a manner befitting their place in history, but actually airborne, as all aircraft are really meant to be.

Then followed a ‘ proper’ Battle of Britain formation: a Bristol Blenheim Mk.I, three Spitfire Mk.Is and a Hawker Hurricane Mk. XII. Not only did these represent the crucial aircraft types in service during the Battle of Britain, they also highlighted the incredible pace of aircraft development, from the early-1930s Blenheim to the high performance singleengined fighters of the Battle of Britain and later war period.

Formation flypasts gave way to a Blenheim solo piloted by the masterful John Romain of the Aircraft Restoration Company, followed by the Spitfire trio led by Paul Bonhomme with Steve Hinton and Dave

Ratcliffe on each wingtip, while Dave Harvey conducted higher level solo aerobatics above in his Hurricane. The Blenheim’s participation was particularly well received given the circumstances of its resurrection. As the sole airworthy Blenheim in the world, this aircraft crashed while landing at Duxford in August 2003. It was configured as a Blenheim Mk.IV at the time of the accident, but during the course of the restoration, it was decided to rebuild it as a ‘short nosed’ Mk.I. The task took eleven years, but the aircraft finally flew again in November 2014 and has been enthusiastically welcomed back to the show circuit in the UK.

The British gave way to the Americans in the form of the polished metal Red Bull duo of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning and a North American B-25J Mitchell. Although many purists decry non-authentic colour schemes and garish corporate logos on restored warbirds, if that is what it takes to get them back in the sky where they belong, so be it ! Indeed, seeing this pair in the sky over Duxford was an extraordinary pleasure, for the clattering roar of the B-25 is something that must be experienced in person, while the grace and form of the sleek P-38 are hard to match by anything, albeit in any colour scheme!

There was a brief return to naval aviation after the Red Bulls concluded their display, with a Grumman Avenger

and Hellcat taking off, before a stunning display by the Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 in pristine Royal Australian Navy colours. This was followed by a ‘liaison flight’ of three Piper L-4 Grasshoppers. These light non- combat types are far from the glamorous fighters one often sees at warbird shows such as Flying Legends, but were nonetheless very much part of the war effort and it was fitting to have them included in the display programme.

After the Pipers, Anna Walker took off in her Bücker Jungmann biplane to display along with a Ju-52 in Luftwaffe camouflage. A Breitling- owned DC- 3 continued the transport theme with a graceful solo display before the final segment, the finale that sets Flying Legends apart from every vintage air show—indeed any air show of any kind—in the world. It was now time for the Balbo.

Any massed aircraft formation is a thing of beauty, but the Balbo at Flying Legends is particularly special. While twenty- plus aircraft got airborne and began to form up over the north end of the airfield—a complicated and time consuming affair at the best of times—a single aircraft performed aerobatics to keep the crowd entertained. This aircraft is called the ‘Joker’ and at Flying Legends 2015, the honour of flying the ‘Joker’ went to Nick Grey, with a Gloster Gladiator as his steed. Nick conducted flawless, almost fluid, aerobatics with a musical composition by the Oscar-winning James Horner as accompaniment. Horner, who had been killed in a tragic flying accident just a few weeks prior to the show, was a keen aviator and a strong supporter of the Flying Legends air show. Using his work to lead into the Balbo on each show day was, in the view of this writer, a touching and fitting tribute to his association with the show and the aviation community at large.

Once the formation was ready, it droned in from the east, turning the lush Cambridge countryside for a few brief moments into a fantasy landscape, where Spitfires, Hurricanes, Bearcats, Corsairs, Blenheims, Messerschmitts and Mustangs flew together. Friends, former foes, large, small, bomber or fighter—there are few more uplifting celebrations of flight than this.

It is the stuff of, well, legends.