Historic aircraft to gather at several locations around UK

The de Havilland Moth Club has announced that its 2023 Vintage Air Tour is planned to take place on mid-week dates of Wednesday 21-Thursday 22 June. Inaugurated in 2003 initially to commemorate the centenary of flight, the tour has been run most years since. “The objective”, it says, “is to encourage vintage light aeroplanes to spread their wings and to live just a little more than is entailed by out-and-back flights to the established fly-ins. The Tour is aimed at de Havillands, of course, but other types may be considered. So far, for 2023 there are 23 registered aircraft, mainly Tiger Moths but with two Gipsy Moths, three Leopard Moths and four Hornet Moths, a Queen Bee, Jackaroo, Stampe, Travel Air and Chipmunk also joining in to render the line-up fully booked.

On Wednesday the tour travels from Enstone to visit Popham for morning coffee, arriving around 10.15; thence to Shobdon for a lunch stop at approximately 12.00 noon, departing Shobdon for Husbands Bosworth from 14.00 and returning to Enstone in the late afternoon. On Thursday the timings will be similar, the cavalcade departing from Enstone to Fenland for a coffee stop and on to Hinderclay Meadows in Suffolk for lunch. Finally, Old Warden in Bedfordshire is the venue for afternoon tea, where public access is freely available. All with similar timings to the Wednesday. Times, routes and participants are subject to weather and to change without prior notice. It is hoped that all the aircraft will visit all, or most, of the points of the tour but for obvious reasons there can be no guarantees.