Would have been nice of you to give me credit for sharing my video without my permission – thanks! And John Blake was far better then Mead any day.

I was at this show with my Dad and Brother, arrived early to find the Mossie just being pushed out of the old T2 hanger on the field. Watched George Aird start her up and taxy to the flight line, so close I could have touched her. Shame the film clip doesn’t show him looping RR299 in the show, only time I ever saw the Mossie perform aero’s when he flew it. The VC10 display was the best display ever of the big 10, my brother later went flying with the BA Training Captain who flew it on the day and on asking apparently said he couldn’t have lowered the gear even if he wanted! We will never see the like of it again!

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Slightly strange to see WH589 (or at least some parts of her) back at Duxford after about forty years!, happy memories of OHB parting the corn in her.

To answer Tempest414 and Tempestnut I also have seen this Hunter display on a number of occasions and do not recall seeing this type of manoeuvre before. I was stood on the beach near the point where the display axis bisects the beach. I heard the Hunter coming from behind where I turned round to see he had clearly transited round the coast from the east. He turned and ran in nearly overhead and ran down the display line. Didn’t get a shot initially as the sun was in the way but I watched him all the way down. He made a slight correction to port then reversed it slightly which would have put him in conflict with the high ground to the north. I assumed at first when he went and rolled slightly to port he intended to run right through and up through the gap between Lancing College and the opposite hill into a wide climbing turn and return back down the display line.
I was surprised when he corrected to sbd slightly and then pulled it up into a loop. Instead of completing the loop, rolling off the top and diving back down towards the sea he rolled about 90 degrees to starbord and pulled it over towards the east as if trying to do a quarter clover or cuban. He seemed to hesitate slightly at the apex and fall out of the manouvre. Then it appeared from my position to dive almost vertically back down whilst attempting to roll back towards the airfield when I lost sight just before the point of impact. At the time I thought it a strange manoeuvre, from the angle of the recovery it seemed unlikely to succeed. When he ran in overhead I noted that he had flap set, which I thought strange and he was not going particularly quick, no change in engine note, as if still in the transit, which is why I initially thought he was just going to run through.
Having read PPrune and the threads on a number of sites it seems that 20 degrees of flap aids manouvering in ACM at low speeds but above 240 knots may induce unwanted aerodynamic effects and possibly the so called ‘phantom dive’. The last clip I saw clearly show a marked dive just before impact and I would not be at all surprised if this was not the case here. As with all situations of this nature there are going to be a number of contributing factors including perhaps the ambient air temperature on the day? None of which answers why the manoeuvre was attempted and yes it clearly looked wrong.

Whatever you do just go, its more than worth it! Get as close as you like to the Sea Hurricane, this shot was taken last visit. Went to see the four airworthy Miles Magisters, a sight I have never seen before and I’ve been going every year since 1979!

Always something worth seeing at Old Warden………………….

Mr Stan Smith I would like to second the previous comments about your superb DH Dragon, I got to fly with you in her back in 2006. An amazing experience and a highlight of my aviation experiences. Many thanks for all your efforts in maintaining such wonderful aircraft, long may it continue. By far the earliest airliner I have been in.

From what I have read it seems she is destined to go to France to join a certain gentleman who already owns a Hawker Fury! (WG599 – ES3617 ex D-CACY, VH-SFY)