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This spectacular image of Grosvenor House could grace any magazine cover. The aircraft is the last of her breed still flying, although the remains of another example, named Black Magic, are under restoration back to flying condition. Black Magic also took part in the MacRobertson Air Race, with Jim Mollison and his then-wife, the extraordinary aviator Amy Johnson, being the pilots. (photo by George Land)
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by George Land
On July 18th, 2020, the Shuttleworth Collection held the first air display in the United Kingdom under Covid 19 regulations over their home airfield at Old Warden in Bedfordshire, England. The organizing team came up with a novel solution to the significant problems involved with putting on an enjoyable event and entertaining display while making sure everyone present was as safe as practical in these serious times of airborne disease.
The unique idea they came up with was to lay out a grid of 3 metre boxes along the length and breadth of the airfield’s non flying area. Visitors would drive their cars onto the grounds and park in their assigned box, with the idea being that everyone would stay in the box with the car they came in. There was plenty of room to sit and picnic safely within this area and take photographs of the action in the skies above. Furthermore, they divided regions of boxes into zones; each zone had additional catering and comfort break facilities laid on with wide alleys between each row leading to the facilities. This allowed for socializing at a safe distance when visiting said amenities. Another bonus to Shuttleworth’s solution was that show-boss commentary came via the airwaves, which you could tune in to (or not) on your radio – and this allowed the music of aircraft engines to prevail over the usually mindless chatter and annoying soundtracks which typically dominate any air show with loudspeaker systems announcing them.
This is how the Drive-In Air Show looked at Old Warden on July 18th. Each car had its specially marked slot. The car parked on the left side of the slot, allowing its occupants to sit on the right side, with perfect social distancing from any adjacent attendees. The large lane in front of the cars allowed people to walk to any necessary conveniences (catering or rest rooms) in a socially distanced manner. This could serve as a model for future aerial events during the pandemic. (image by George Land)
Both entry and exit from the show ran smoothly, with friendly and well-organized handling from Shuttleworth volunteers and staff.To me, the whole experience was an overriding success which has set the standard that other similar shows will need to match. The unusual seating arrangement in no way detracted from enjoyment of the event, and in someways it was better, because we had the comfort of our own space. It was especially helpful to anyone with heavy camera equipment too, as you didn’t have to carry all your gear wherever you went – it could all stay at the ready with your car.
For this arrangement to work, tickets were sold per car, with no limit to the number of occupants per vehicle. This made it quite economical for groups, but it was a little pricier for those attending alone. In all honesty though, it was well worth the money to attend the show. Shuttleworth always puts on a magnificent event!
The aerial component of the display followed the normal pattern of a typical Shuttleworth Air Show, minus the static displays which typically are available before the performers take to the skies. Participating aircraft came exclusively from the locally-based fleet because of the present restrictions and time scale not allowing for many visiting aircraft or pilots. Apart from John Romain in the Aircraft Restorations Company’s Supermarine Spitfire PR.XI and the Mew Gull replica, the other participating aircraft either belonged to Shuttleworth, or were resident at Old Warden under their care.
Now for the best bit, the air show itself, which started on the dot at 3:00pm with an unmatched display of precision flying, grace and power from John Romain in ARCo’s recently-restored Spitfire PR.Xl PL983.
In a marvelous tribute to the heroic healthcare workers of Britain’s National Health Service, ARCo had taped the letters “THANK NHS” underneath PL983’s wings. (photo by George Land)
John Romain taking off in the recently restored Supermarine Spitfire PR.XI. This aircraft is a very rare photo-reconnaissance variant of Britain’s most famous fighter aircraft. (photo by George Land)
A nice aerial shot of the Spitfire PR.XI PL983. (photo by George Land)
PL983 makes a photo-pass down the crowd line. (photo by George Land)
PL983 makes a menacing approach at Old Warden. (photo by George Land)
PL983 about to touch down after a superb opening act at this year’s opening air show for the Shuttleworth Collection. (photo by George Land)
Participating aircraft included the following (including information about the significance of their liveries/histories):
A.V.Roe & Co 621 Tutor, K3241, G-AHSA, Central Flying School Aerobatics Team.
Bristol M.1C Monoplane, C491, 8G-BWJM
deHavilland D.H.51, G-EBIR, Aircraft Transport & Travel Ltd, Miss Kenya
deHavilland D.H.60X Moth, G-EBWD – G
deHavilland (Morris Motors Ltd), D.H.82a Tigermoth, T6818, G-ANKT, as K2585 RAF Central Flying School Aerobatic Team
deHavilland D.H.88 Comet Racer, G-ACSS, Grosvenor House (evaluated by RAF as K5084)
Supermarine (Vickers Armstrong) Spitfire P.R.Xl, PL983-L, G-PRXl c/w THANK U NHS under wing
Westland Lysander IIIa, V9552, G-AZWT, Schemed as a Special Duties aircraft V9367 MA-B No161 Squadron RAF Tempsford and Tangmere
The program was a varied and balanced show of classic and historic aircraft covering all aspects of flying from the Great war through the 1950’s covering warbirds, air racers, general aviation and trainers – both powered and free flight. Overall the performances were marvelous and the new attendance arrangement was in no way detrimental to my enjoyment. The following images should give you and idea of how magnificent the flying was in the skies over Old Warden!
Shuttleworth’s marvelous Westland Lysander M.IIIa V9552 configured as a Special Duties variant with No.161 Squadron. (photo by George Land)
In this configuration, the all-black Westland Lysanders would fly operations into enemy territory to make clandestine liasons with resistance fighters, drop off supplies, spies, or even to pick up agents coming home. (photo by George Land)
A Polikarpov Po-2 Kukuruznik flying in formation with Piper L-4J Grasshopper 42-38384. (photo by George Land)
The Po-2 coming in for a photo-pass. (photo by George Land)
The Grasshopper during its photo-pass. (photo by George Land)
A nice profile shot of the Po-2 just before she touched down on the grass runway at Old Warden. (photo by George Land)
The Grasshopper on final approach. (photo by George Land)
The Lysander just crossing the runway threshold on her landing. (photo by George Land)
The Elliots EON type S.G.38 glider (a copy of a 1936 Schneider SG38) is towed into the air for its performance. (photo by George Land)
A unique survivor, Shuttleworth’s exquisite Parnell Elf ll takes to the air. (photo by George Land)
Another nice shot of the Parnell Elf. (photo by George Land)
The S.G.38 glider during its performance showing just how exposed the pilot is, but what a marvelous way to experience the feeling of flight! (photo by George Land)
Pitts S-15 G-SWON strutting her stuff. (photo by George Land)
Miles M14a Magister N3788. Once a common sight training RAF airmen during WWII, there are just a handful of these elegant aircraft still flying. (photo by George Land)
Percival Hunting Provost, T. Mk.1 XF603 in the middle of performing a loop. (photo by George Land)
Hundreds of Percival Provosts once served in the RAF, training pilots in the art of flying. Just a handful are still airworthy today. (photo by George Land)
An ultra-rare deHavilland DH.51 marked as “Miss Kenya” in the elegant livery of Aircraft Transport & Travel Ltd.. (photo by George Land)
deHavilland DH.60X Moth G-EBWD makes a photo pass. (photo by George Land)
The Moth pealing away from the crowd. (photo by George Land)
Originally built as a Sopwith Dove two-seater in 1919, a variant of the earlier Sopwith Pup fighter plane, this aircraft received a conversion reverting it into a Pup during the 1930s. The aircraft is presently marked to represent a Beardmore-built version of the Pup which served aboard HMS Manxman, one of the primitive ‘seaplane carriers’ which emerged during WWI. (photo by George Land)
The Pup making a photo-pass. (photo by George Land)
While just two examples of the famous Sopwith Triplane still survive, Sir Thomas Sopwith, whose company designed and manufactured the type during WWI declared that Shuttleworth Collection’s replica was so finely reproduced that it should be considered as a ‘late-production’ example. (photo by George Land)
Marked as N6290 ‘Dixie II’ of No.8 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service, the Shuttleworth Collection’s Sopwith Triplane banks away from the crowd. (photo by George Land)
Dixie II coming in for her photo-pass. The Triplane was such a sensation when the RAF introduced them into service that other manufacturers, including Fokker, followed their lead. This lead to the well-known Fokker Dr.I triplane of ‘Red Baron’ fame. (photo by George Land)
The ‘Pup’ coming in for a high speed pass. (photo by George Land)
Britains last example of a Desoutter Mk.I, G-AAPZ, takes to the skies, elegantly marked in her National Flying Services livery. (photo by George Land)
The remarkable Fauvel AV-36 flying wing glider performing at Old Warden. (photo by George Land)
With wing-tip smoke systems, the Fauvel AV-36 cuts an elegant trail in the sky. (photo by George Land)
The wingtip systems were still creating red smoke after the Fauvel AV-36 landed. (photo by George Land)
A glorious flypast of pre-war racing aircraft; two Percival Mew Gulls are lead by a deHavilland DH.88 Comet. (photo by George Land)
The raceplane formation banks in close harmony. (photo by George Land)
Another shot of the racers. (photo by George Land)
This particular Mew Gull is a replica, but no less elegant than her original forebears. (photo by George Land)
The Percival Mew Gull may be tiny, but it did extremely well in pre-war air race events. (photo by George Land)
Percival Mew Gull G-AEXF was owned and flown by the legendary pre-war race pilot, and WWII test pilot, Alex Henshaw. He made several remarkable feats in this particular aircraft, winning the 1,000+ mile Kings Cup Race in 1938, and setting the London-to-Cape Town record the following year. The latter record bears some thinking – Henshaw flew the roughly 6,400 mile distane in this cramped little aeroplane in just 39 hours over two days – a remarkable feat of endurance even today! (photo by George Land)
deHavilland Comet ‘Grosvenor House’ is on of just five examples of the breed ever built, but it was a remarkable aircraft in its day, winning the famous MacRobertson Air Race between London, England and Sydney, Australia in 1934. (photo by George Land)
This spectacular image of Grosvenor House could grace any magazine cover. The aircraft is the last of her breed still flying, although the remains of another example, named Black Magic, are under restoration back to flying condition. Black Magic also took part in the MacRobertson Air Race, with Jim Mollison and his then-wife, the extraordinary aviator Amy Johnson, being the pilots. (photo by George Land)
Avro 621 Tutor K3241 wearing her Central Flying School Aerobatics Team livery. (photo by George Land)
A beautiful shot of the tutor, a contemporary of the deHavilland Tiger Moth, strutting her stuff. Unlike the Tiger Moth, only a handful of Tutors still survive. (photo by George Land)
A gorgeous shot of the Tutor in the summer skies over Old Warden. (photo by George Land)
Tutor K3241 showing off the beautiful livery on her wings. (photo by George Land)
K3241 rolling out after landing. (photo by George Land)
Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub G-SVAS served as an aerial tug for the gilders which performed at the show. (photo by George Land)
The pilot of this deHavilland DH.82a Tiger Moth is about to drop a flour bomb. The aircraft served in the RAF as T6818, but is marked here as K2585 of the RAF Central Flying School. (photo by George Land)
Another nice shot of Miles M14a Magister N3788. (photo by George Land)
deHavilland Canada DHC-1 Chupmunk Mk.22 served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as RCAF 671. (photo by George Land)
Doing the Limbo! The Piper Super Cub flies beneath the bunting held up by SVAS volunteers. (photo by George Land)
The Tiger Moth takes her turn flying under the limbo line. (photo by George Land)
And then the Magister rolls through! (photo by George Land)
A lovely sight of four trainers in motion, with the Tiger Moth leading the way in the Flying Circus. (photo by George Land)
The Chipmunk making her photo-pass. (photo by George Land)
Hawker Sea Hurricane F.Mk.Ib, Z7015 takes to the skies. (photo by George Land)
A magnificent replica of a Sopwith Camel F.1 over Old Warden. The aircraft is marked to represent D1851, an example serving with No.70 Squadron. (photo by George Land)
The Camel roaring past the crowd. You can see that it has a period-correct, rotary engine in place, as you can clearly see the blur as the whole engine spins around the crank shaft. (photo by George Land)
Sporting the nickname “Ikanopit” the Camel comes back for another pass. Ikanopit is an unusual name, but rather amusing when you realize that the phonetic pronunciation resembles “I can hop it”, a vernacular phrase essentially meaning “I can go fast!” (photo by George Land)
The Camel and Bristol M.1C Monoplane replicas moving past the flight line. (photo by George Land)
The Bristol M.1C Monoplane was one of the first monoplane fighters to serve in the Royal Flying Corps. Despite its dramatically superior speed to contemporary fighters, the type did not see widespread use, sadly, due to the distrust of pilots and the Air Ministry for monoplane designs. (photo by George Land)
There is only one original Bristol M.1C Monoplane surviving today, this being C5001 on display at the Harry Butler Memorial near Adelaide, Australia. The example in the Shuttleworth Collection pictured here is a faithful replica sporting an original Le Rhone rotary engine. She wears the markings of C4918 which flew with C Flight of No.72 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. (photo by George Land)
An interesting, nearly head-on shot of the Bristol M.1C Monoplane over Old Warden. The small profile of this speedy fighter must have been difficult to hit, and given that it could fire its machine gun through the propeller arc, it must have been a pretty effective fighter. Even so, the only a couple of dozen M.1Cs saw combat, and this was mainly in the Middle East and the Balkans. Even so, one pilot, Captain Frederick Dudley Travers, became an ace on the type while serving with No.150 Squadron in Macedonia. (photo by George Land)
the Shuttleworth Collection’s Hawker Sea Hurricane Mk.Ib and Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc in formation over Old Warden. (photo by George Land)
Coming in tight down the flightline at Old Warden, you can almost feel the roar of their Merlin engines as the Sea Hurricane and Spitfire streak past! (photo by George Land)
Sea Hurricane Z7015 and Spitfire AR501 pull in close for their photo-pass. (photo by George Land)
Another nice shot of the fighters. (photo by George Land)
An aerial duet of Merlin music over Old Warden. (photo by George Land)
Sea Hurricane Mk.Ib is one of a handful of navalized variants of the fighter to survive. While the type was predominantly intended for launching of rocket-assisted catapults on specially modified freighters to defend ocean convoys from marauding German bombers, the Mk.Ib variant also had an arrestor hook, which you cna just see poking from the lower rear fuselage, so the aircraft could land on an aircraft carrier. Z7015 is painted to represent an example which served with No.880 Squadron in the Fleet Air Arm aboard the fleet carrier HMS Indomitable. (photo by George Land)
The Sea Hurricane making her solo photo pass. You can just see the curve of the tail hook in silhouette on the lower fuselage just in front of the tail gear fillet. (photo by George Land)
Z7015 making a perfect photo pass. (photo by George Land)
The Sea Hurricane roaring back up to altitude after her pass. (photo by George Land)
A beautiful belly shot of the Shuttleworth Collection’s Westland-built Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc AR501. (photo by George Land)
AR501 pulling up for a loop. (photo by George Land)
The Spitfire on the back side of the loop. (photo by George Land)
Another interesting shot of AR501. (photo by George Land)
Spitfire Mk.Vc AR501 roaring past the crowd. (photo by George Land)
Another wonderful image of the Spitfire as she passes show center. (photo by George Land)
Sea Hurricane Mk.Ib Z7015 at the close of the show. (photo by George Land)
Even with the new restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the show was an outstanding success and showed what could be achieved with careful thought and hard work. The Shuttleworth Veteran Aviation Society are to be heartily congratulated for their vision and hard work. Well done to all at Shuttleworth!
Many thanks indeed to George Land for this marvelous report on the Drive-In air show at Old Warden. It is nice to see a little normalcy returned to our aviation world, even if under unusual circumstances. Thanks again George!
Richard Mallory Allnutt's aviation passion ignited at the 1974 Farnborough Airshow. Raised in 1970s Britain, he was immersed in WWII aviation lore. Moving to Washington DC, he frequented the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, meeting aviation legends.
After grad school, Richard worked for Lockheed-Martin but stayed devoted to aviation, volunteering at museums and honing his photography skills. In 2013, he became the founding editor of Warbirds News, now Vintage Aviation News. With around 800 articles written, he focuses on supporting grassroots aviation groups.
Richard values the connections made in the aviation community and is proud to help grow Vintage Aviation News.
