As a I know all the 3 bladers were like Penguins and did not fly!

They were purely there to taxy and pose in the ground scenes.

Warbirds may well have had their best days, for the time being at least!

When I first went to a display at Duxford in 1983, I was more than happy to just see Sally B, a Harvard, Varsity and an Auster AOP 9 display!

The airshow circuit does not need 6 Mustangs and 10 Spitfires and alike, it needs variety and quality pilots. Shows like Great Warbirds and the Fighter Meet did not have the numbers of aircraft that Legends has. These inovative displays had themes and set peices which kept the enthusiasts and joe public both happy.

Surely it is time for the display organisers to shake things up, and look for some fresh ideas. They cant keep on relying on a new display aircraft or 6 Mustangs and 10 Spits etc.. turning up to keep people happy. Shows need to evolve just as the Classic Fighter Display which was organised by both OFMC and TFC became the Flying Legends Display. We should not be served up the same shows year in year out.

I have attended airshows since the mid 70’s but on a regular basis since 1983. It is all is too easy to become jaded by seing the same aircraft perform the same display at shows throughout the country. Its not a numbers game its all about quality and variety.

I disagree with Warbird Uk on the point relating to aircraft display or pilot display, as an enthusiast Its always great to see an aircraft being well flown. Ray Hanna and John Lewis in Spits comes to mind. I have seen many poor Warbird displays over the years (mostly owner/ drivers) and I have also seen many so called boring aircaft types displayed with great style. It is a combination of the two that matters most.

The Warbird scene may well be smaller than it was 10 years ago but its still massive compared to 20 years ago. Who knows what the next 20 years will hold for the warbird enthusiast.

The greatest display pilot of all !

It will be a very sad day when Ray calls it a day.

Here’s a rare shot of the master in the Buchon G-BOML.

Old Warden is always looking for ways to improve so we may be in luck.

I did hear that Old Warden was going to re develop the area currently occupied by the shop and restaurant. The work was due to be carried out during this winter.

I agree though, Old Warden does need more food outlets, at one time they used to have a vendor selling Dutch chips! I dont know what it costs to hire a pitch at Old Warden, maybe its just too epensive to make it worthwhile!

I suppose it all comes down to money at the end of the day, The collection ideally wants every visitor to buy something from both the shop and restaurant. One way to do this is to monopolise the food outlets. If it is a deliberate ploy, you cant blame them for doing this, other events have been doing this for years.

But please no more Burger vans, I had a bad experience at DX with a so called Cheese burger.