It was around 4:30 pm that fine Sunday 19 September and we were at section 8 out of 10. Something different…
…and called “The Coming of the Second World War”. This shows something of what was in the air of pre-WWII.
In those days it would have been a Piper Cub but we were given a Super Cub (introduced 1949) and it was towing two gliders, first…
…a Slingsby Kirby Kite. a single-seat sport glider produced from 1935. It was used by the Royal Air Force as a training aircraft for assault glider pilots but also to assess the ability of the Chain Home radar system to detect aircraft largely constructed of wood. Only few survived and this is one of them!
The second glider is a Slingsby Petrel. It was a single-seat competition glider built by Slingsby Sailplanes as a development of the German DFS Rhonadler just before World War II. The prototype first flew in December 1938 but the Petrel was still a competitor at the 1953 British National Championships.
An old glider pilot myself i really enjoy seeing these veteran gliders in the air!
The Calidus Autogyro may seem a little odd in this display but it was here to remind of the Cierva C 30 autogyro’s built by Avro, used by the RAF and and flying at Duxford in 1940.
Another performer in this section was this DH87B Hornet Moth…
…built in 1936 and many (like G-AELO here) were used in military service during World War II by the RAF as a liaison aircraft.
