South Cambs would shoot themselves in the foot if they allowed Duxford to cease flying, the prospect of seeing anything flying there probably attracts more visitors to the place than a static, mothballed museum would do, and the major events must surely boost the local economy, especially the Red Lion by all accounts.
Quite frankly, apart from being a bit slow, which is the norm these days anyway, I find the South Cambs planners quite easy and productive to talk to.
I will have to speak to Nigel Bleasby, the planning officer for the area, this week on another matter, I’ll sound him out on Duxford, which I may be able to do informally and decide on the basis of that, how to form a concise objection.
I’ll let you know what he says.

The last Mildenhall Airshow I went to see turned out to be memorable for all the wrong reasons. On the way to the show it was raining heavily,and it didn’t stop until the afternoon. It was tricky getting into the base because it was very muddy, USAF personnel guided us towards the parking area in heavy rain, and there was a cold wind blowing, as well. Never experienced conditions like this before. Anyhow eventually we (my son and I) managed to park the car. We were fortunate to be able to park on a concrete area. Felt sorry for those that parked on the grass, because there was mud everywhere. In fact we saw one car which was completely covered in mud ,and the driver and passenger were sitting in there to keep out of that rain.I can only assume that a car in front of them had got stuck in the mud and sprayed their car with mud, what a sight that was.
Now being Mildenhall, and not RIAT, the show had to go on,which really impressed me. Cloud level was below 1000ft which would make flying difficult, and I would have thought impossible. But no, amazingly an F16 roared along the runway in that rain and once airbourne flew around the base.It was raining heavily and by now we had left the car and ran towards the crowd barrier.Watching that F16 was brilliant, never seen an F16 flying in the rain before. The pilot even managed a barrol roll, that really surprised me.
Then it was the B1 Lancers turn,this wet flying demonstration I will remember forever because it was so aggresive. One pass was very fast, wow the B1 was surrounded by a cloud, it looked just like a ghost, truly the most amazing sight I have ever seen. Congratulations to the pilot for that one,fantastic display. As the day progressed the rain stopped ,and the clouds cleared. The rest of the show was fabulous,even saw my first SAAB DRAKEN flying display, which never having seen one flying before , was truly memorable. Incidently , during the afternoon we noticed that there were some Thunderstorms a few miles away ,and there were dark clouds on both sides of the base,and yet above us there was blue sky for the rest of the day, most peculiar.
Mildenhall will go down as one of the best shows ever.
On the way out joining the traffic queue, USAF personnel were waving goodby to us .They sure know how to entertain us Brits.

I too was at the airshow that day and, yes, it was a fantastic airshow for all the wrong reasons.
We took lots of groundsheets and a windbreak and built a shelter on the fenceline which actually kept us dry, apart from the odd drip, it was very strange to be sitting there with no-one for miles on either side, I’ve never seen the place so empty, most people were lurking under the shelters round the barbecues, I made sure I wasn’t far from one so I could make a dash in my cape to top up with that heavenly grub.
I seem to recall that it was the first time that a B2 had landed in Britain and it was positioned up the far end surrounded by dripping guards.
I was even more impressed when it took off in the rain, the sight of the water shooting over those wings was amazing.
As far as I remember most of the flying display did take place, despite the weather, I did manage to get some good video footage which makes interesting viewing.
With regard to Alconbury, we were once allowed in to Famillies Day, the day before the actual public show itself, I just phoned up and they told me I was quite welcome to go in.
It was the first show after the First Gulf War and the resident Warthogs were resplendant in all their artwork, there were no barriers around the a/c and you were actively encouraged to sit in the cockpits, which I gleefully took full advantage of, the one that surprised me was being allowed to clamber all over an EC-111 Raven and I recall being surprised at the lack of sophistication of the cockpit layout.
While all this was happening the airshow practices were being carried out and TFC/OFMC arrived with their Warbirds, I was in the cockpit of a C-141 at the time and all the aircrew ran out to watch Ray Hannah perform a routine in MH434, they were very impressed.
That was probably the most unusual and unexpected airshow that I ever went to.

There is a working Tiger 1 at Bovington Tank museum Peter.

Yes, I’ve seen it, but the difference between a Tiger 1 and a King Tiger is like comparing a Chieftan to a Challenger.

A Bridge Too Far

For the benefit of AG I did take some pics last night at 19:30, though given the state of my computer they might not appear.
The poor, sweaty looking youth on the back of the truck is the Dutch driver who kept himself going all day with bottles of water and dodgy looking roll ups. The whole entourage finally left at 20:00 hours.
I was speaking to my mate Gary in the garage this morning and it appears the Dutch driver asked him for directions to RAF Wethersfield at 7:30 yesterday and Gary told him in no uncertain terms NOT to attempt to cross the bridge with his load, thats what happens when you don’t take advice from locals.
No sign of any gliders, I would have thought that the thermals would have been magic today, perhaps they are too embarrased to use their new piece of kit.
Sorry, it’s telling me that the picture file is too large, now what.

The pilot in the comic you refer to was Johny Red, although I always thought he was in Battle comic. He flew a blood red Hurricane, and later a solid nosed blood red Mossie……nice!

Yes, it could well have been ‘Battle’ rather than ‘Warlord’, did he speak Russian or the squadron speak English, it was never clear, sorry to degenerate this thread, can’t remember the Mossie, but then I was an old git reading my sons comics and drifting back to the days of Matt Braddock VC and 100 bars who flew everything rather well without pilots notes. Remember the story when the balloon hawser caught on his Hurricane over Calais and the engine fell off, but he managed to glide back to the safety of the White Cliffs of Dover, obviously had a profound affect on my life, oops, Freudian slip.
Sigh.

😀 Wish I was there! I did ring Dad and see if he wanted to take a look, but he’s staying in the cool. Can you blame him!

AG

Tell him not to bother, it’s like a furnace here, it’s just done me in to walk 100 yards to see the next laughable events.
The traffic, particularly the school buses, are in chaos, a flat bed truck with hydraulic crane has arrived and parked on the little green opposite the Causeway tea shop amidst much arm waving and Dutch expletives, but I don’t know what that is going to achieve.
I keep waiting for Wethersfield to launch 6 gliders at once and do a fly past.