MAFVA Nationals, IWM Duxford Follow Up

I was planning to write this at the beginning of the week, but a couple of late finishes and evening commitments has stopped me from doing this.

So, onto last Sunday. Well the rain stayed away for the day and with the damp ground underfoot, we did not have to suffer from dust being kicked up onto the models in the marquee. We had a good turnout on the club stand this year, nine club members and my grandson Kyran. I had a little worry in the days leading up to the show that there would not be enough models to go onto the club stand, so I packed a good selection including my KV-1 diorama. But I had not need to worry about this as there was a good selection brought by fellow members.

My plan was to try and take plenty of photos of models on display along with aircraft and armour in the museum, but Kyran had different plans! So we spent a vast period of the day running around mainly the American Forces Hanger for Kyran to look at these aircraft. And for him to do some posing for photos in front of them, he just loves being in front of a camera as you will see below.

At least with Kyran wanting to spend time in this hanger, I could spend time to get some detail photos taken of some of the aircraft in my stockpile of un-built kits like the B-52 Stratofortress, B-24 Liberator and B-29 Superfortress, just to name a few. I got some great shots like this one below of the B-52's front undercarriage bay and gear.

My plans for photo taking were soon changed by Kyran again! wanting to go off to explore behind the hangers, he discovered the vehicle speed detectors on the access road that run along behind the WWII hangers. So now starts the new sport of "Can I break the speed limit?". This consists of running towards the detector trying to register a speed on the display. For an eight year old, he was constantly hitting 11MPH with a few time clocking 12MPH. I was made to do this myself and did a measly 13MPH, but try running with a SLR camera hanging around your neck! As Kyran continued with his new sport, other children joined in with it and a few parent too. One father especially embarrassing himself with a slow 7MPH. After half a hour of this, I managed to drag Kyran away but only to end up back here two more times during the day.

Out on the airfield, this were a little quiet with just a few private aircraft popping in and out, and a Harvard taking off. The usual flights of the Tiger Moth were going ahead, but the De Havilland Dragon Rapide was having engine troubles so there was no flights with it. 

But my highlight of the day was watching the two seater Spitfire take off for a flight and then return a short time later. I missed its fly past where it rolled above the airfield, that would have been a sight to catch. So to finish this entry off, here is a few of the Spitfire taking off last Sunday.