Hurricane and 'Buchon'.
More Duxford residents, with the Hurricane MkXIIa and the Hispano 'Buchon', who put on a bit of a 'dog fight' over the field.
The Hurricane, registered as G-HURI, is a Canadian-built MkXIIa, roughly equivalent to the MkIIa, and was restored to flying condition a few years ago. Up for auction by Bonham's last December, the aircraft remains at Duxford, and is operated on behalf of the owner, by 'The Fighter Collection'.
The 'Buchon', basically a Bf109G with a Merlin engine, was built under licence by Hispano in Spain, getting it's nickname from the bulbous intake cowling required by the Merlin, which resembles a deep-breasted pigeon native to Spain.
Like all 'Buchons' flying to day, this one owes its survival to Hamish Mahadie, who was tasked with finding and collecting WW2 aircraft for the movie 'The Battle of Britain', much of which was filmed at Duxford during 1968, and in fact the reason Duxford, and the 'War Bird' movement, are alive and well today.
The aircraft were modified, for the movie, to resemble as close as possible the Bf109E, and the wing tips were 'clipped', struts added to the tail planes, and the aircraft painted in authentic BoB camouflage, although the Geschwader badges used are fictitious, and the camouflage pattern deliberately different, the latter to aid visibility when filming!
The dummy wing cannons, which some people criticised for being too long, were deliberately made longer to be more noticeable on the 'big screen', in order that the viewing public could more easily identify friend from foe in the dramatic dog fight scenes, and also to acknowledge the different armament used by the opposing air forces at the time.
This particular aircraft, G-HUNN, has been seen on the air show circuit in a couple of different colour schemes over the years, but, after careful research, she was re-painted in the colours worn in the movie, for the 70th anniversary of the BoB, in 2010, although the original 'Bf109G' wing tips have been re-fitted, and she no longer has the tail plane bracing struts.
Much of the display was in the form of a 'dog fight', and therefore almost impossible to photograph effectively, but I've included one such shot, third from the end, just for the hell of it!
Next batch will show some more of the ground attractions, followed by the 'Spitfire Scramble.