Duxford Delights
Other adjacent hanger spaces house small displays, and provide space for a number of preservation groups to work on their aircraft, and for some larger groups to store their operational aircraft. These include Plane Sailing with their Catalina, The Old Flying Machine Company (who operate a Spitfire, Corsair and Mustang amongst others), and both Aircraft Preservation Limited and Historic Flying Limited who primarily undertake restoration of classic aircraft – HFHFL concentrating almost exclusively on Spitfires. Consequently you may be lucky to see unusual visitors from time to time, a recent example being a Flugwerk FW190 A9-N – maybe not the real thing, but nevertheless never seen in the UK in flying trim. Another airworthy resident at Duxford is B-17 ‘Sally-B’ of B-17 Preservation, always a crowd puller at airshows.
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Plane Sailing’s Catalina turns in for a low pass
B-17 ‘Sally B’ on takeoff from Duxford
Old Flying Machine Company P-51D ‘Ferocious Frankie’
Historic Flying Limited’s Spitfire T9 in Irish AirCorps colours
The largest group operating from Duxford is the Fighter Collection, whose stable of aircraft includes a Hawker Nimrod, various marks of Spitfire, an Aircobra and a selection of American WW2 carrier based fighters – Wildcat, Hellcat, Bearcat, Corsair and Tigercat (although the latter was sold on to a collector in the USA at the end of 2006). Recent restorations include a Curtiss Hawk and TFC also have a number of aircraft currently being restored including an Italian CR42 fighter and a Beaufighter – which is an expensive business! There are also a collection of damaged parts which will, it is hoped one day, be reunited into the form of a Nakajima K143 Oscar.
Fighter Collection Grumman F8F-2P Bearcat, fast pass…
…and P47D Thunderbolt ‘No guts, no glory’ – now in the US
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