Airframes
Benevolens Magister
As part of the 75th anniversary D-Day commemorations, Daks over Duxford, the first part of the Daks over Normandy event, took place at the IWM Duxford this week (June 4th and 5th), with the aircraft departing for the Normandy DZ on Wednesday evening.
Unfortunately, the weather on Tuesday was bordering on abysmal, with low cloud, rain, and a stiff wind, which resulted in the planned mass para drop being cancelled, although the aircraft did take off, with the 'paras' aboard, to asses the wind conditions, making a few passes over the airfield in trail.
This was disappointing for me, as I went specifically to photograph the drop, but the wind was over limits for round canopy (civilian) drops, especially considering the DZ location, right on the edge of the M11 Motorway, so completely understandable.
I well remember doing military jumps in worse wind conditions, at a much lower altitude, onto much rougher DZ's, and I can truly say that it is not a pleasant experience !
Regardless of the weather, the rest of the show went on, with some of the Daks flying as singletons, and in formation, and the fighters, and other aircraft, also put on some fine displays of flying, in trying conditions, with rain and a strong crosswind, and congratulations must be given to the pilots and crews involved.
The weather did make for difficult photographic conditions, and I'll freely admit that those photos I managed to get are certainly not my best work - by mid afternoon I'd almost had enough, as I was stiff, cold, damp and aching all over.
My only (mild) complaint about this event would be concerning the parking. Normally, at airshows, the VIP and Disabled parking is on the airfield itself, but for some reason (possibly due to staff requirements, being mid-week), this time the Disabled car park was around the back of the TFC hangar, with no direct view of the flight line, and lots of obstructions in the way of stalls, flags etc.
However, that is a minor point, so I'll get on with posting the first few photos, taken in the morning, before the weather really got bad.
These are general shots of some of the first Daks to get airborne to open the show, and note that the Norwegian aircraft, which was due to do it's normal impressive 'solo' act, had to abort and make a precautionary return and landing, on one engine.
I'll sort and post more pics over the weekend, meanwhile, I hope you enjoy these 'tasters'.
Unfortunately, the weather on Tuesday was bordering on abysmal, with low cloud, rain, and a stiff wind, which resulted in the planned mass para drop being cancelled, although the aircraft did take off, with the 'paras' aboard, to asses the wind conditions, making a few passes over the airfield in trail.
This was disappointing for me, as I went specifically to photograph the drop, but the wind was over limits for round canopy (civilian) drops, especially considering the DZ location, right on the edge of the M11 Motorway, so completely understandable.
I well remember doing military jumps in worse wind conditions, at a much lower altitude, onto much rougher DZ's, and I can truly say that it is not a pleasant experience !
Regardless of the weather, the rest of the show went on, with some of the Daks flying as singletons, and in formation, and the fighters, and other aircraft, also put on some fine displays of flying, in trying conditions, with rain and a strong crosswind, and congratulations must be given to the pilots and crews involved.
The weather did make for difficult photographic conditions, and I'll freely admit that those photos I managed to get are certainly not my best work - by mid afternoon I'd almost had enough, as I was stiff, cold, damp and aching all over.
My only (mild) complaint about this event would be concerning the parking. Normally, at airshows, the VIP and Disabled parking is on the airfield itself, but for some reason (possibly due to staff requirements, being mid-week), this time the Disabled car park was around the back of the TFC hangar, with no direct view of the flight line, and lots of obstructions in the way of stalls, flags etc.
However, that is a minor point, so I'll get on with posting the first few photos, taken in the morning, before the weather really got bad.
These are general shots of some of the first Daks to get airborne to open the show, and note that the Norwegian aircraft, which was due to do it's normal impressive 'solo' act, had to abort and make a precautionary return and landing, on one engine.
I'll sort and post more pics over the weekend, meanwhile, I hope you enjoy these 'tasters'.
