Legends News Day #4

After all the excitement of yesterday enthusiasts can be forgiven for thinking today would have been more of the same. With blazing sun and clear skies it is somewhat surprising that activity was somewhat diminished in comparison to the previous day.

It started off in the best possible way with the focus being on The Fighter Collections P-47G Thunderbolt "Snafu/War Eagle" out on the grass for engine tests. Not long after she was taken up for a local flight and then, to the delight of photographers, put through her paces in a display over the airfield.

From there it went unusually quiet. Apart from HAC's Nimrod conducted yet more engine runs on the field there was very little Warbird action throughout the museum for several hours.

Later in the afternoon things picked up when P-40F "Lee's Hope" and the P-40B were positioned on the live side of the field. The Pearl Harbour survivor had the panels off and the engine was run and tweaked. The P-40F was taken for a flight and a display following repairs made after yesterday's shut down and jacking.

After another brief gap Spit EP120 and TF-51D Mustang "Miss Velma" were prepped for a formation practice display. During this time another Spitfire & Mustang formation called up on the radio making for some very comical communications between lead pilots and the tower. The visitors, after being told many times to not use the call sign "Mustang & Spitfire formation", turned out to be MeierMotors/Max Alpha fighter Spitfire Mk.VIII and their plainly marked TF-51D Mustang. The first arrivals in two days!

With a large number of European and UK arrivals still expected tomorrow, dubbed "Arrivals Day", could be very busy indeed!

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Legends News Day #3

The so called "media day" is usually a quiet affair with a few demonstrations, engine runs an many fluorescent jackets. Where the latter remained true the other factors usually associated with the Wednesday prior to the show were not.

Historic Aircraft Collections Hawker Nimrod stood on the flightline all day with numerous engine runs and plenty of tinkering. A question mark probably now hangs over the fighter's head as to it's availability for the show.

The Fighter Collection have been hard at work preparing this airworthy aircraft and "The Boss" Stephen Grey was certainly having fun with his toys.
After taxiing out the Corsair he reported a tech problem and returned to the parking spot. Instead he jumped in Spitfire V EP120 and took her for a spin instead! Putting a wonderful display and likewise later in TF-51D Mustang "Miss Velma". Steve Hinton later took the Mustang up and reported a leak from the radiator forcing him to return to the airfield.

One of the "stars" of this years show did it's bit for the media. The Sikorsky S.38 flying boat put in wonderfully low display and parked up in a fine photographic position by the control tower.

Later in the afternoon TFC's P-40F was put through it's paces and put in a great display. Unfortunately the fighter had to be shut down at the end of the runway owing to tech difficulties. After being towed to the hangar the fighter was put on jacks with the undercarriage retracted.

The only arrivals today were Yak-3 reproduction "White 100" and Spitfire TD248. Plenty more to come!

As the day came to a close the HAC Nimrod was still under going engine runs and ARCo Battle Of Britain Hispano Buchon was taken up for a twilight display.

Remember you can follow live updates from the airfield at www.twitter.com/aviationclassic

Horseman named!

The Horseman P-51 Display team are returning to Flying Legends for 2011's spectacular show; as an added bonus for enthusiasts they will be bringing two of their own aircraft from the USA to participate. It has been announced that these aircraft are both P-51D's and go by the names of "February" (top) and "Fragile But Agile". Pictures courtesy of www.mustangsmustangs.com

A-36A Flies

Very rare ground attack Mustang variant, A-36, flew for the first time in seven years at Chino, California, on May 11th. The aircraft is owned by Friedkin Family Warbirds.