Duxford in a Different Light – Scramble! The Summer of 1940
Each winter, IWM Duxford puts together a spotlight exhibition featuring privately owned airworthy aircraft. For Winter 2025 the exhibition in the Conservation Hall of AirSpace focussed on the events leading to the Battle of Britain with the moniker ‘Scramble! The Summer of 1940.’ Aircraft were drawn from the Fighter Collection, Fighter Aviation Engineering Ltd, The Aircraft Restoration Company, Hurricane Heritage as well as the IWM’s own Supermarine Spitfire Ia N3200. During January, Duxford hosted an evening photoshoot for photographers to capture the exhibition and the AirSpace Hangar in very different lighting.
Paul Johnson/Flightline UK reports. All photography by the author.
A welcome addition to Imperial War Museum Duxford’s annual calendar has been the winter Spotlight Exhibitions. These showcase various aircraft from the privately owned historic aircraft based at Duxford to highlight a specific theme. The inaugural exhibition showcased the development of the Spitfire and was followed the next year by a celebration of the Hawker Hurricane. Last year, the role of aviation in aerial reconnaissance was showcased which linked in with the exhibition.
For 2025 the Winter Spotlight exhibition was themed around the aerial campaigns that took place in the summer of 1940, namely the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. 85 years ago, the then RAF Duxford and its fighter squadrons were engaged in both air battles. Leading the line-up of aircraft was the IWM’s own Supermarine Spitfire Ia N3200. On 26th May 1940, N3200 was flown by Squadron Leader Geoffrey Stephenson on operations in support of the Dunkirk evacuations. After an engagement with a Ju87 Stuka, Stephenson was hit by a Bf109 forcing him to crash land on a beach near Calais. Stephenson was captured and spent the rest of the war as a Prisoner of War. The remains of airframe sank into the sands only to be discovered in the 1980s. After being acquired by Thomas Kaplan and Simon Marsh, the aircraft flew again in 2014 following extensive restoration work by the Aircraft Restoration Company. In 2015 she was gifted to the IWM. Joining N3200 was a second Spitfire Ia, X4650 operated by Comanche Fighters.
Alongside the Spitfires were two Hawker Hurricane Is. Fighter Aviation Engineering Ltd’s Hurricane I P2902 is another aircraft which was lost during the Dunkirk evacuations when its pilot, Pilot Officer Kenneth McGlashan was hit by a Bf109 and badly wounded. He managed to land on a beach and get to one of the evacuation boats. He went on to serve throughout the Battle of Britain and survived the war. Posed alongside P2902 was a MG Midget TA ‘GPC 671.’ This little sports car was registered to Douglas Bader in January 1938 and remained in his ownership under 1946. During 1940, Bader commanded 242(Canadian) Squadron and the car’s logbook revealed it was registered to three different addresses as the squadron moved to different airfields including RAF Duxford and Coltishall in Norfolk. It was while at Duxford that Bader led the famous ‘Big Wing’ of five squadrons from Duxford in September 1940,
Hurricane I R4118 is a Battle of Britain veteran serving with 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron based at RAF Drem and then RAF Croydon. Peter Vacher retrieved R4118 from India in 2001 and it flew again in 2004. She is now owned by Hurricane Heritage flying from IWM Duxford and White Waltham.
Completing the line-up of Royal Air Force fighters was the Aircraft Restoration Company’s Bristol Blenheim 1F. Though a composite airframe, the nose section of the aircraft is from a Battle of Britain night fighter, L6739. This aircraft flew from Collyweston in Northamptonshire with 23 Squadron.
The L’armee de l’air fought valiantly during the Battle of France in May 1940 with support from Royal Air Force units. However, both were unable to stem the rapid advance of the German forces, The Fighter Collection contributed their Curtiss Hawk 75A-1 to the exhibition. This aircraft was part of the first batch of Curtiss Hawks delivered to France in 1939 and flew with 1ere Escadrille, Group de Combat II/5 ‘Lafayette’ at Reims. Following the surrender of France, the aircraft passed to the air arm of Vichy France with whom it engaged RAF and US Navy aircraft in North Africa between 1940 and 1942!
The sole ‘representative’ of Luftwaffe air power during 1940 was the Aircraft Restoration Company’s Hispano HA1112-M1L Buchon. The Buchon is a post war development of the licence-built Bf109s produced in Spain but was made famous by playing the role Luftwaffe Bf109E fighters in the movie ‘Battle of Britain.’ More recently this airframe featured in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and BBC’s SAS: Rogue Heroes.
‘Scramble! The Summer of 1940’ opened after the Christmas break. During January, IWM Duxford hosted one of its “Duxford in a Different Light’ photoshoots allowing photographers exclusive ‘after-hours’ access to the exhibition and the Airspace hanger to capture the aircraft under various lighting effects. It was also the last photography event to be held in AirSpace before a three-year renewal project takes place with many of the aircraft moving around the museum site while the hangar is reconfigured. In the short term at least many of the moves will only see aircraft move within the AirSpace complex with the conservation hall section become a holding area for many airframes while others move around the main exhibition space. While there will be periods of closure over the three years, there will be times where AirSpace will be re-opened to public access allowing people to view the aircraft.
‘Scramble! The Summer of 1940” remains open until the 23rd February in the Conservation Hall of AirSpace. On the 8th February the exhibition will host a ‘Visitor Day’ featuring stands and stalls with historic aircraft operators, volunteer talks, aircraft modelling groups and family activities.
