Duxford 75th Anniversary Airshow & Pistons & Props Event at Sywell this weekend !

I always consider the Autumn Airshow at Duxford as the beginning of the end of the airshow season each year.Obviously this year’s event was something very special as it commemorated the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Fortunately the weather was kind and as you will see from a few shots from the event below. It was a very  busy week last week all in all, with the Goodwood Revival Flypast and Duxford 75 and the shows will stay long in the memory and were a fitting tribute the the pilots of the Battle of Britain.

Fortunately there are still a few events still to take place between now and the end of the year, and the first one for me will be the Pistons & Props Event at my home base at Sywell. The event takes place this weekend and I have attached a link to the official website where you can take a look on what’s on offer. Please click on the link here to go to their website . As you will see, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will be there,the Great War Display Team,the Trig Aerobatic Team, the Grace Spitfire and the only airworthy Seafire in the world. I was able to take just a few shots of the two Spitfires as the light was fading and before they were put into the Hanger ready for tomorrow’s display.

The Grace Spitfire ML407 was originally built at Castle Bromwich in early 1944 as a Mark IX single seat fighter and served in the front line of battle throughout the last twelve months of World War II with six different allied Squadrons of the RAF’s 2nd Tactical Air Force. ML407 flew a total of 176 operational combat sorties amassing an impressive total 319 combat hours.  The Seafire MK III PP972 was one of 250 Type 358 Seafire L.F.III aircraft ordered from Westland Aircraft in July 1943. It left the works during September 1944.The aircraft was transferred to 809 Squadron Fleet Air Arm in November 1944 serving on HMS Stalker and then on HMS Attacker. PP972 then re-joined HMS Stalker in March 1945.HMS Stalker,with PP972 on board, left Gibraltar on the 7th of March 1945 for Trincomalee, Ceylon, with the 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron, arriving on the 20th of March. This then became part of the East Indies Fleet consisting of six CVE’s sent to re-occupy Singapore.During its time in Ceylon, operating from both HMS Stalker and from RNAS Trincomalee, PP972 was involved in numerous operations as part of Operation Tiderace, the British plan to retake Singapore.PP972 then sailed aboard HMS Stalker back to the UK arriving in October 1945 and then returned to RNAS Nutts Corner,Northern Ireland.Following the disbandment of 809 Sqdn in January 1946 it was taken by 767 Sqdn in May, initially at Easthaven, and eventually at Lossiemouth and Milltown where it received the Milltown code of 120/MV. The aircraft was then transferred to the French Aeronavale with code No. 12F2 then later to 1F9 when it was operated from the carrier “Arromanches” in Indo China. It was retired for instructional purposes in 1949.

Model News at Flying Tigers this week.

It has been a very busy week at the office this week. The Corgi Aviation Archive AA27202 1/72nd scale Avro Vulcan B2, XL321, 617 Squadron has “landed” this week and very nice it is too ! I am in the process of dispatching your models and by the end of next week you should have received yours. I have a lot to get through so I thank you in advance for your patience. If you haven’t ordered your yet then I would not delay. The limited edition size is only 1500 pieces worldwide and far fewer than the first release of XH558 !

 On Monday Flying Tigers will also be receiving 26 New Models from Hobbymaster and these will appear in the New Releases Section and will no longer appear in the Future Releases Section. I plan to get all of your Pre-Order models out quickly next week and the remainder will be put to stock. Those collectors who have not Pre-ordered the models and wish to purchase when the items are actually in stock are urged to order as soon as possible as many of these aircraft will only be available in limited quantities. I have previewed below some of these models that will be “landing” at Sywell on Monday. Those of you who collect Phantoms, and I know there are quite a lot of you, will be particularly interested in the “Phantom Phest” below !

This week’s Special offer Models.

There are a few ( but only a few ) models left from last week’s Offer of the week. Those of you that have already pre-ordered these models last week will have the models delivered next week as promised. The remaining models are likely to be snapped up quickly so I wouldn’t delay in placing orders if you are interested.

I have left the remaining models in the “Offer of the Week ” section, which can be accessed quickly by clicking the link here.

I have also added a few new models to the same section. Stock is limited so please don’t delay. I have added a few here to let you know what’s on offer.

That’s it for this week. I hope you all enjoy the models that will be winging their way to you next week.

Thank you for reading this week’s Newsletter.

Richard.

Flying Tigers.