Shuttleworth Military Airshow 2019 - perfection in airshow form

[Adam]

Airshow debrief #5

For an hour this afternoon, Old Warden was the best place in the world.

The main July airshow for the Shuttleworth Collection was the Military Airshow, and it transpired to be the best airshow I have ever attended. A set piece with seven Hurricanes (that's probably the largest Hurricane formation since 1946 and half the airworthy examples in the world) was the headline act, along with the Royal Jordanian Falcons.

The day was exactly as well-organised as you'd expect from people who host nine shows per year. I arrived at Biggleswade on the train at 10:55, caught the free 11:00 shuttlebus (no queue!) and the airfield came into view 8 minutes later. 90 seconds after that, I was walking through the showground choosing where to set up camp. I chose a spot just behind the bend in the crowdline, set back from the front and on a slight hill to get a good view of the runway, which was a good choice.

The Royal Jordanian Falcons were excellent and fit the small venue very well with their energetic routine. Two more visiting displays came early in the programme: P-47D "Nellie" and B-17G "Sally B". Both were much anticipated and I expected them to be highlights. In truth, while good, they weren't standout moments to me. Neither act really used the venue to its full potential, with few particularly potent topside passes.

Many of the other participating aircraft (mostly WWI-WWII era) flew in groups. They often performed simultaneous displays, with one aircraft doing high-altitude aerobatics and others doing low passes. At the same time, aircraft would take off or discreetly land, joining and leaving the fray. This meant the action was constant and ever-evolving, with almost no pauses, as there were usually several aircraft displaying, taking-off and landing concurrently. The result was that the show had as many acts in four hours as you'd usually expect in a show twice or three times as long. Highlights included the display debut of an SE5a, Spitfire Mk.Vc, Steiglitz, Polikarpov Po.2, two of Europe's three Avro 504s and much more. Many did several steep photo passes round the bend.

So far, an excellent airshow. But in the last hour, Old Warden quite simply being the best place on earth. As the sun sank behind the crowd, seven Hurricanes approached in close formation for a memorable flyby. One broke off for a solo display, then the six returned for another pass. The six-ship then broke into sets of three. The first three performed a tailchase, then the remaining three broke down again for a solo aerobatic display with simultaneous low, close, thunderous formation passes from the other two. Slowly the aircraft landed or departed off-slot until just the solo Hurricane remained. It was a superb piece of aerial theatre and a wonderful 20 minutes of action with no narration and no music. You could have heard a pin drop in that crowd if not for all those Merlins.

In amazing light and perfect weather, the Edwardians closed the show - Bristol Boxkite, Avro Triplane, Deperdussin and Blackburn Monoplane.

Ten minutes after the last plane flew, I was back on the shuttle bus, and on the railway station platform ten minutes after that. I edited this video on the train home. The whole day was just superb and was the closest to airshow perfection that I have come across. If you ever get the chance to go to a Shuttleworth airshow, do it. I took way too long getting there.

Video below - mostly in chronological order.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tN-Ma66XPY

[Adam]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goBNF2fGdo0