Little Gransden Air & Car Show 2021

[Adam]

Very much looking forward to trying the Little Gransden Air & Car Show for the first time tomorrow! I've heard many a good word about it and thought it's high time I try it out. I'm expecting it will be my last mainland UK show of the season. Sadly it's lost at least one of their headliners in the last couple of days, with the BBMF Lancaster replaced with a Spitfire and things looking like a bit of an uphill battle for the Vampire. Hopefully they can find something else exciting to fill the gap, if needed.

Date: Sunday 29th August
Location: Little Gransden, UK
Website: https://www.littlegransdenairshow.co.uk/

Flying display:
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight - Spitfire
Global Stars - x4 Extra 300/Extra 330/Cap-232
Red Sparrows - x3 DHC-1 Chipmunk
Little & Large - x1 Extra 300 & x1 scale model Extra 300
Reds Duo - x2 BAE Hawk scale models
AeroSuperBatics WingWalkers - x1 Boeing Stearman
Gipsy Pair - Auster AOP.6 & DHC-1 Chipmunk
de Havilland Vampire T.11 (TBC)
Spitfire Mk.XVI WZ-RR
Spitfire PR.XIX PS853
P-51D Mustang "War Horse"
P-51D Mustang "Miss Helen"
Yakovlev Yak-3 "White 27"
Hurricane Mk.I R4118
AT-6C Harvard
NA-64 Yale
SIAI-Marchetti F.260
Yakovlev Yak-50 (Mark Jefferies)
Pitts S2SE (Rich Goodwin)

Static display:
RAF Puma (TBC)
DHC-1 "Royal Chipmunk"

[Adam]

Little Gransden yesterday was very enjoyable, despite falling victim of the British airshow curse of having a thick layer of overcast during the show which broke into clear blue sky five minutes after it finished. Everyone always talks about the right-angled crowdline allowing for stunning topside passes, which was used to good effect, but equally notable to me was the fact the site layout allows people at the northern end to look almost directly down the runway, exceptionally close to aircraft landing or taking off. Departures at the end of the day, in full sun, was one of the best bits.

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There were a lot of cancellations (Yale, Vampire, Lancaster and one of the Spartan Executives), none of which were the show's fault at all. This was more than made up for with a huge number of unpublished flying display participants and the show was full to bursting, with acts added such as Tiger 9, the Miles Gemini, CAP-10, CAP-232 and Stinson Reliant. The star for me was Stu Blanchard's Miles Gemini display - low and compact, with steep banking turns. The Stinson Reliant and Spartan Executive were looking similarly good, but had such short slots that I didn't feel they could be fully appreciated. Of the warbirds, I thought all the displays were good, but none were outstanding. The Yak-3, making its airshow debut in UK ownership, did an odd but photographer-pleasing display consisting mainly of left-to-right photo passes followed by an orbit behind the crowd to repeat the process. The best of the bunch, I thought, were Eskil Amdal in P-51D "War Horse", Andy Goodall in T-6 "Wacky Wabbit" and (I can't believe I'm saying this) the BBMF's Spitfire, although there were no topside passes from the latter, of course.

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Then there were plenty of GA/aerobatic displays, as usual for Gransden. The AeroSuperBatics WingWalkers were present, Christophe Simone's CAP-10 routine was high, but excellent, Paul Freeland in the F.260 put in some stunning topsides and the Little & Large Extra Duo with a full-sized and scale model Extra 300 was entertaining as ever.

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The home team, the Global Stars, were fantastic. I always enjoy them tremendously, but some subtle changes to their routine made a big difference and this was the strongest showing I've seen from them. It was particularly nice to see a lot of loops, bomb bursts and other manoeuvres being directed straight at the crowd.

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Despite some very short slots, it is always far better for a show to have too many performers than too few! Cold, dark weather notwithstanding, it was a lovely day out at a very unique airshow venue. A show to keep an eye on in 2022, as I understand they are hoping to attract some big-name headliners next year!