EAST KIRKBY AIRSHOW , 7TH AUGUST 2021

[andy1267]

With the weather forecast for the weekend of East Kirkby Airshow looking dodgy to say the least, the weather on the day itself was almost perfect, just a bit on the breezy side, and the rain held off till 5pm, so got away with it for virtually the whole day. The flying display itself was excellent even with a few cancellations due to weather in other parts of the country and servicability issues with the Hawker Fury G-CBEL, which was pulled from the show the previous week, but was replaced by Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 'Sally B' which put on an excellent display in great conditions. To start the flying display we had Auster AOP.6 TW536/G-BNGE performing an Aerial Observation Display complete with Pyrotechnics. Other highlights of the day included Yakovlev Yak-50, G-BVVO which flew in from its base at Spanhoe for its display, making a fantastic 'Topside' entrance to its exhilarating display, but did not land on. Another item which did not land and also from Spanhoe was the newly restored Nord NC856A Norvigie, which put on a lovely gentle display, having only made its first post restoration flight earlier this year. As well as the based stars of the show, Avro Lancaster NX611 'Just Jane' and DH Mosquito HJ711, making their usual Taxi Runs, there were 'The Blades' in their 4 Extra EA.300/L aircraft, putting on an excellent showing and operating from the grass strip too. Also making flying display appearances and putting on excellent displays was Miles M.65A Gemini, G-AHKP, which put on a very energetic display, Aeronca 7AC Champion G-ATHK putting on a Barnstorming Display while towing a 500ft long ribbon, and also got a warning off the Flying Display Director for flying too low during his display. Another item in the display was the Extra EA.300/S G-EXIL 'Little and Large' duo. Later in the day came the SIAI Marchetti SF.260, G-RAZI which performed a delightful display in the sunshine with plenty topside passes thrown in. Closing the show at 5pm when the rains came were the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Douglas Dakota C.3 ZA947 and this was followed quite surprisingly given the conditions, VS.390 Spitfire PR.XIX PM631 and VS.361 Spitfire LF.XVIe, TE311 which performed an excellent, shortened pairs routine to bring to an end what was a fantastic day at the beautiful airfield which is East Kirkby.

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