AFTERNOON FLYING DISPLAY

 Hurricane R4118 was delivered new to 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron at Drem on 17 August 1940. During the Battle of Britain it flew 49 sorties from Croydon and shot down five enemy aircraft. In December 1943, R4118 was crated at Cardiff and shipped to India as a training aircraft but sat outside exposed to the elements until 1996, when retired businessman and restoration enthusiast Peter Vacher began his remarkable quest to bring R4118 home to restore to flight.

The Hurricane is privately owned by Hurricane Heritage: www.hurricaneheritage.com

Built at the end of 1944 at Keevil, this Spitfire Mk XIV was stored by the RAF until early 1945. It was sent, from 33MU at RAF Lyneham, to India where details of whatever service she saw have been lost in the mists of time – and the Royal Indian Air Force records system. She was recovered to England in the early seventies and formed part of a UK collection. 

The restoration was completed in August of 1992 and the aircraft has been operational ever since. 

More information can be found at:  www.warbirdflights.co.uk

The Westland Scout was developed from the Saunders-Roe P531 and the British Army was immediately interested in a light battlefield helicopter. The pre-production and development variant flew in 1960 and proved so successful that only one month later, the Army placed its initial order for the Scout AH1. 

The Historic Army Aircraft Flights Scout XT626 served from 1963 until the late 1980s, seeing out its service with the Territorial Army at Netheravon. She has continued to fly since then. 

More information:  www.haaf.uk 

The Yakolev Yak52 is a russian built highly aerobatic trainer which first flew in 1976. It was produced in Romania from 1977 to 1998 by Aerostar, as Iak-52, which gained manufacturing rights under agreement within the former COMECON socialist trade organisation.

Many Yak52s exist and are a very popular aircraft for competition aerobatics and are also a popular aircraft in private hands in the UK.

Fairey Swordfish W5856 is the oldest surviving airworthy Fairey Swordfish in the world. She first flew on Trafalgar Day (21 October) 1941 and was a “Blackfish”, built by Blackburn Aircraft at Sherburn-in-Elmet & served with the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet for a year. Used also for advanced flying training and trials, W5856 was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1944 and again used in a training role, then stored in reserve after the War’s end & subsequently disposed of to various private owners, finally being purchased by BAE Brough to bring her to full flying condition. She is the worlds only flying torpedo bomber & with Navy Wings at Yeovilton.

More information:  www.navywings.org.uk

The Westland Gazelle first flew in April 1967 and has been widely used by various air arms as a lightweight observation helicopter but later was adapted for utility and reconnaissance roles.

The Gazelle squadron is ran by a number of serving and ex military aircrew and groundcrew and now can do either a two ship or four ship display.

More information:  www.gazellesquadron.co.uk

The Yakolev Yak3 was a single-engine, single-seat world war two fighter. Robust and easy to maintain, it was much liked by both pilots and ground crew. 

One of the smallest and lightest combat fighters fielded by any combatant during the war, its high power to weight ratio gave it excellent performance and it proved to be a formidable dogfighter. 

The North American Harvard trainer was built in greater numbers than most combat aircraft during World War Two, 17096 being produced. By the end of the War over 5000 had been supplied to British and Commonwealth Air Forces. 

The Royal Air Force soon turned to the United States to acquire the trainer aircraft needed to equip the Scheme. The Harvard was one of the first American aircraft ordered by the RAF when a contract for two-hundred was placed in June 1938. British purchasing contracts reached 1100 before American Lend Lease arrangements began. 

The Pitts Special is a highly aerobatic aircraft which was designed by a Mr Curtis Pitts in the United States. Variations of this aircraft range from the Pitts S1 - S2 series and many were used in competition aerobatics.

This particular Pitts known as the 'Jubilee Pitts' was built in 1977 and is based not too far away down at Cotswold Airport, Glos.

Classic jets radio controlled model group was formed by Mr Richard Spreadbury whom over the years have used Abingdon Airfield for their frequent meetings.

At these meetings you can find large scale models in which they are superbly detailed with the group flying types that in real life retired a long time ago. Hours of building goes into each model and we are very grateful to again host a small number of the group headed by Richard to fly a selection of models during the day.