Shuttleworth
Super Shuttleworth
Blue sky, summer breeze, magical aircraft in flight… Brian Hope reports on a very special, and much-welcomed, airshow. Pictures by Nigel Hitchman.
T
he Association has had links with The Shuttleworth Collection for many years, a significant number of their lighter aircraft operating on the LAA Permit to Fly scheme. In 2019 an LAA Flying For Fun themed evening airshow was organised and proved very popular, with activities throughout the afternoon in one of the hangars, including the LAA-supported Young People’s Aviation Art area, LAA YES activities and an Association stand where people could find out more about the opportunities open to them to make flying more affordable. We were able to repeat the event again this year, thanks to Shuttleworth’s innovative Covid distancing parking system, where visitors had an enlarged individual parking space from which to watch the airshow. This ensures social distancing is maintained, and it works remarkably well. Unfortunately, it was not possible to repeat the hangar exhibits this time, but we still were able to have a line-up of LAA aircraft open to the public where they could learn about our kind of flying. For many visitors, the real charm of the evening airshows is the intention to fly some of the oldest types in the Collection, the Edwardians, WWI types and the Lympne Trials types, provided the weather is suitable. The forecast was good, and so it turned out to be, with a blue-sky day and a light but refreshing breeze throughout the afternoon which took the fierceness out of the hot sun. The show included many of the Shuttleworth favourites, including the Comet, the Hawk Speed Six and the Mew Gulls, Spitfire and Lysander, Replica Fokker Triplane and SE5A and more, but as the sun went down, what little breeze there was almost dissipated completely, and a hush descended across the airfield as the anticipation rose that this was going to be a very special evening. Over the final hour or so, some of the oldest aeroplanes in the world flew. They didn’t just make a brief hop down the runway, they flew in all their glory, just as they had over 100 years ago. It was magical and a privilege to have seen it, and certainly as the display ended in the gloom at 2130, the audience drifted away mesmerised by what they had witnessed, grateful to the Shuttleworth Collection for keeping these magnificent machines airworthy rather than locking them away in a dusty, lifeless museum. ■
50 | LIGHT AVIATION | August 2021
Above A truly iconic light aircraft, the Alex Henshaw Gravesend – Cape Town – Gravesend configured Percival Mew Gull. If you have never read Henshaw’s account of his record four-day 1939 flight, do yourself a favour and get a copy of Flight of the Mew Gull. An incredible pilot and a superbly capable machine.
Above The 1910 Deperdussin monoplane (G-AANH) is believed to be the Laon, France based factory’s 43rd example produced. It is powered by a 30hp Anzani Y-Type 30 three-cylinder radial engine.
