The Shuttleworth Collection

One of the "must see" collection in England is the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Airfield, Bigglewade Bedfordshire. Unfortunately, most of us will never get to see this collection and the quintessential between-the-wars grass airfield. Luckily, they have produced a wonderful series of video talks in which the aircraft, their history and their quirks are displayed by the pilots who fly them. Here is a link to the series of videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Shuttleworth2010/videos

One of the "must see" collection in England is the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Airfield, Bigglewade Bedfordshire.

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/Shuttleworth2010/videos

Totally agree!

It also now houses an original 1913 BE2A/B propeller which my grandmother bought in the 1930s, and which my brother and I donated after our mother passed away a few years ago. As a result we managed to negotiate our way into the following weekend's flying display for nothing as well! Luckily the weather was good and we saw the Edwardian planes flying as well the more recent ones. Brilliant and unforgettable.

Cheers,

Neil

I can only agree, having seen the whole display including Edwardian twice in glorious sunshine. The pilot of one of the Edwardians left the field to reappear in a Vampire! That would require some flexibility.

We were there just before the D-Day week at Duxford last year. A great show with the Red Arrows and seeing Alex Henshaw's Mew Gull was very special.

Agree - great collection and a lovely airfield to fly into visit when not a display day.

Watch the Pilot's Talk for the Bleriot 10

Just consider those early pilots in the 1910's trying to fly the Bleriot. The display pilot makes it really clear that these early planes were frightening things to be in. At the end of the talk, you really get to understand, from a pilot's point of view, how incredible Bleriot's cross-Channel flight was. 20-odd miles across a flat landscape in perfect weather would have been considered a great effort.

Don't you think that the Shuttleworth pilot has the appearance of the epitome of "old bloke down the airfield"?

An ex Hawker Hurricane pilot I flew with a lot used to say "It went off the rails when they got rid of wing warping"...Nev

I had a day at Old Warden and the nearby RAF base which is a flying museum for military aircraft. A really good day out.

Another great museum was at the old Fleet Air Arm base near Taunton, which had Harriers flying the day I visited, sadly I ran out of time there and nearly got locked in for the night.

I think the RAF museum you are referring to is the Imperial War Museum - Duxford. A great day out..

RNAS Yeovilton is near me.. The museum is fantastic and I have flown in into its Airshow twice.. Great day..

We are pretty lucky in the UK with flying collections and museums.