Old Buckenham Air show 2018 By Juri Keyter I have attended a few of the well-known air shows in the UK this year and I decided to visit one of the smaller air events, the Old Buckenham Air show in Norfolk on 28 July this year. Built as the wartime home of the USAAF 453rd Bombardment Group, today Old Buckenham is one of the most famous and vibrant centres of aviation in the UK. I still can't decide if it is big or small because the little I saw at the field made it look small but considering the amount of people at the event, or the amount of cars in the car park, it must be big. Like any other air show, Old Buckenham had many stalls offering memorabilia, food, clothing and books. This event however, took us far back to the World War II era with vintage military tanks offering rides to the public, vintage cars, even entertainment dating back to the era of heroes. Although the air show acts list was not very long, it was certainly unique. Being an original USAF base, I did expect some American aircraft but never expected a full display by a B17 Flying Fortress. Old Buckenham was home to B-24's but the B-17 would have been a familiar sight in the skies during the war and we felt what it was like 80 years ago. Other American military aircraft such as a P-51 Mustang, a T6 Harvard and a Fairchild Argus was also nice to see. A Hawker Hurricane and a Messerschmitt ME108 flew separate displays before combining for a dogfight simulation. The Beechcraft Staggerwing has always been one of my favourite aircraft but apart from taking off and landing, I have not seen much of this aircraft's capabilities until this day. Don't be fooled by this aircrafts beautiful purr. It is a remarkable aircraft with serious capability but I guess "High Maintenance" as this aircraft is dubbed is probably the reality of this beauty. "141% Extra" was my favourite on the day. This is a formation duo by an Extra 300 and a 41% scale remote controlled Extra 300. In extremely windy conditions they flew a remarkable display.

Events 2018 Best of Britain

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