gary1701 Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 (edited) Gents, A mixture of the various warbirds that attended the annual Rougham show. Rougham is a former 8th Air Force B-26 and B-17 base (the well known second B-26 mission in the European theatre was flown from here, with none of the aircraft that reached Holland returning). The airfield is now a industrial park, but the tower is preserved in good condition and contains a museum and a grass airstrip also remains. The shows have grown from a relatively small event some years ago to quite a large event now, regularly drawing RAF displays and even some jets. Three of the four Stearmans present taking off for a three ship display. One of the Strikemasters from the recently formed 'Team Viper' performing solo. Duford based 'Sally B' has had a traumatic last 18 months. She's the only B-17 flying in the UK, with the French 'Pink Lady' being the only other B-17 still flying in Europe, and her future is in some doubt. 'Sally B' lost the whole of the 2008 season due to two engine failures, and with two replacements fitted was back for the start of the 2009 season, only to have one of these fail after just a couple of appearances! She was grounded again and with another replacement and change she flew her first test flight just 24 hours before appearing at Rougham last sunday. Hopefully now this terrible luck is behind the small group who keep this B-17 flying. Salute to the 8th Air Force. Another Duxford resident, the Historic Aircraft Collection's (note the aircraft's code) Mk12 Hurricane. The Golden Apple F-86A (believed to be the only F-86A model flying) was a late extra item that the organisers some how managed to arrange due to the aircraft also performing at Eastborne. As another poster saw, the aircraft is based at Duxford but unfortunately not for much longer. The aircraft has been sold to the US and will leave the UK before the end of 2009. There is no other Sabre flying in Europe so that's almost certainly the first and last time a Sabre will perform at Rougham. I still haven't got a decent well lit topside shot of it! Old Flying Machine Company Spitfire winding up short of the grass strip. This aircraft (MkIX MH434) used to be the favoured mount of the late Ray Hanna, unargurably the finest of all Spitfire display pilots post war. Gary Edited August 21, 2009 by gary1701 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MikeC Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 Gary, Thanks for posting these superb pics. Why oh why did nobody ever do that at Rougham when I was growing up in Bury????? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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