Autumn Air Show, Duxford 8th October 2006

We say it every October don't we? "Where's the year gone?!" Well here it is the last show report for 2006, and what a show it was too!

The organisers of this years Autumn Air Show really excelled themselves by booking the famous Patrouille de France aerobatic team to perform at Duxford. Sadly the team had to perform a flat display which left out many of the teams trademark manoeuvers, but the routine was as polished as you would expect from one of the worlds finest teams. The aircraft were flown from Cambridge Airport as DX's runway isn't quite long enough, so after the show the crews were transported back to Duxford courtesy of the Royal Navy's Sea King HAS.6 (CR) and paraded down the crowd line in Willys Jeeps!

The show saw the last ever public airshow performance by a Belgian AF Fouga Magister. The display was flown by Lt Col Paul Roive, in which he gave a moving speech over the radio at the end of his routine, marking a rather sad occasion as this quirky little jet has been around since 1960.

Yet another first for Duxford was a display by another Belgian AF machine, this time a front line F-16MLU which put on the stunning display many airshow goers have come to expect from this aircraft. To top it all, the F-16 was flown in formation with a Spitfire XVIII, which on an interesting technical note the F-16 did not need to deploy his flaps to stay with the slower Spitfire, a testiment to the late Spitfire's high speed!

The flightline also included Historic Aircraft Collection's recently restored Hawker Nimrod, but the paper trail didn't quite catch up in time for the Nimrod to fly, so we'll now have to wait until next year.

A number of regulars were on hand including B-17G Sally B who has recently received a repaint. She was joined by three P-51's who flew a very polished routine with OFMC's P-51D "Ferocious Frankie" making a series of very low passes over Duxford.

The show was finished with the usual Spitfire stampede, something that will never be repetative or boring, it really is a sight and sound to behold!

As usual we would like to thank Tracy, Sally, and Ellie at Duxford's marketing dept for their undwindling support for UK Warbirds.net over the 2006 season.

So that's it for the 2006 air show season, now where's my gloves and woolly hat?

Click the images below for a larger image.

Thanks as always to the marketing team at Duxford for their assistance.

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