Shuttleworth Season Premiere Air Show
The Shuttleworth Collection’s Season Premiere Air Show concluded a busy first weekend of the display season in very sunny, albeit rather windy weather. The event marked the start of a revamped flying season which sees further changes on top of those brought in for 2024. A big part of those changes is more visiting display aircraft for the flying displays and that was certainly the case for the Premiere which included the public display debut of Supermarine Spitfire IX LZ842.
Paul Johnson/Flightline UK reports. All photography by the author.
The air displays at the Shuttleworth Collection have long been the backbone the UK flying display season. However, recent ups and downs have brought the sustainability and the long-term future of Shuttleworth flying display events into sharp focus. At the centre of the changes is the need to attract newer and bigger audiences.
While 2024 saw a redrawing of the shape of the display season at Old Warden with fewer but bigger displays, 2025 sees further changes with the major displays in Late May, July and August events all moving to Saturdays and those displays also seeing separate evening displays added to the day to maximize the chance of seeing the Shuttleworth Collection’s famous ‘Edwardians’ take to the skies. Also returning is the two-day Festival of Flight. However, the Season Premiere (and Race Day in October) retain their usual Sunday billing with just afternoon flying displays on offer. 2024 did prove to relatively successful for Shuttleworth so it will be interesting how the further changes for 2025 work out.
Event regulation and trying to make Old Warden more family friendly also led to further changes to the ‘showground’ layout. While most were minor and inoffensive, I’m not sure the new layout of fun fair, catering and traders was a positive change. It cut the paddock in two and took away one of the main bonuses of Old Warden’s paddock; that being the usually unobstructed view of the entire fence-line and the parked display aircraft. If you were to the right on the traders, you could no longer see anything happening behind the control tower and up towards the hangars. The wall of gazebos and vans also forced most of the crowd down to the airfield fence-line which even with Old Warden’s modest crowd size felt crowded.
A highlight of the ground show was the first Old Warden appearance of the year by the Commemorative Air Force Forth Worth Wing’s Douglas R4D-6S. This aircraft is at the start of it’s ‘Navy to Victory’ tour which encompasses visits to events in the UK, Channel Islands, France and the Netherlands during the first half of the display season. At later Shuttleworth events, the aircraft will participate in the flying displays but for the Premiere it was open for cabin tours during the morning.
Flying wise this was undoubtedly one of the very best ‘Season Premiere’ Air Shows even with rather a stiff crosswind across the main runway. That did mean some of the lighter and more sensitive aircraft planned to fly were unable to do so and it was completely out of limits for any Edwardian flying.
Though there were more visiting displays, that didn’t did mean the home team didn’t put in some superb appearances of their own. These got underway with the classic Shuttleworth Barnstorming routine featuring the Southern Marlet, Blackburn B2, Miles Magister and de Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk. There also the obligatory vintage glider display from the Fauvel AW36 flown brilliantly by Graham Saw plus pleasing solo routines from the de Havilland DH88 Comet, Percival Provost T1, Polikarpov Po2 and Miles Hawk Speed VI.
There were some themed displays. The 100th Anniversary of the ADC (Aircraft Disposal Company) Cirrus aero engine was marked with a Shuttleworth trio of Desoutter I, de Havilland DH60X Cirrus Moth and Parnell Elf. There was also a nod to the 100th Anniversary of the Dde Havilland Moth with the de Havilland DH51 joining the former BAE Systems Heritage Flight DH60 Moth for an impressive routine of formation and opposition passes. A Second World War tableaux saw the Gloster Gladiator fly alongside the Supermarine Spitfire LFVc.
Some of the afternoon highlights saw the Shuttleworth Collection aircraft joined by the visiting historic aircraft. Sadly, the winds meant much of the First World War aircraft remained grounded. However, what promised to the star great war aircraft, the Historic Aircraft Collection’s Airco DH9, did participate in the flying display with Clive Denney operating the aircraft from its base at IWM Duxford. This is currently the world’s only original First World War bomber to be in airworthy condition. Ever since it first appeared after its restoration by Guy Black and his team, an appearance at Old Warden has been highly anticipated. Though the bumpy winds kept the aircraft slightly high, it was a joy to see in the Bedfordshire skies, particularly when it was joined by the Collection’s own Bristol F2b Fighter.
Another unique formation was dubbed ‘Spies’ and marked special operations conducted both before and after the Second World War. This saw the Shuttleworth Collection’s Westland Lysander III joined by Fighter Aviation Engineering Ltd’s Lockheed 12A Electa Junior. While the Lysnader’s role in supporting clandestine operations by the Special Operations Executive are well known, the Electra’s role in gathering intelligence before the war is perhaps slightly less so. This very aircraft, G-AFTL, was operated by Sir Sidney Cotton in the 1930’s as war started to look inevitable to gather vital intelligence on German forces with hidden cameras under the cover of business activities.
A very colourful and dynamic visiting display came from Danny Williams flying the Pitts S-1D Special. He gave a superb aerobatic account of his diminutive aerobatic biplane which was formally part of the Trig Aerobatic Team and still wears their very smart deep purple and yellow colour scheme.
There were also three very memorable visiting solo warbird displays during the afternoon. The displays were opened by three flypasts by Flt Lt Andy Preece in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Supermarine Spitfire XVI TE311. While BBMF flypasts are a regular feature of Old Warden displays, this display was the first since the BBMF fighters returned to flight earlier this year following the tragic accident in May 2024 in which Sqn Ldr Mark Long was lost. Appropriately, TE311 wears dual markings – the port side marks 322 ‘Dutch’ Squadron while the starboard side has the squadron code L-NG as a tribute to Mark. The ‘NG’ codes were worn by Spitfire XVIs operated by 604 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force from 1946 to 1950.
Northwind’s North American P-51D Mustang ‘Marinell’ also made its Old Warden debut flying a very photogenic display in the hands of Isobel Rutland. This aircraft was originally restored and operated by Maurice Hammond’s Hardwick Warbirds operation displaying across East Anglia before it was bought by Italian owner. It returned to the UK in 2023 and is now operated by Northwind and is based with Aircraft Restoration Company at Duxford.
The finale to the flying was a UK public flying display debut – Supermarine Spitfire IX LZ842. It is the second oldest Mk. IX Spitfire flying and the only such aircraft flying with a Merlin 63 engine. Shipped to Casablanca in 1943 for service with the Middle East Air Force, it also flew on operations in Malta and Sicily. It was restored at Biggin Hill by Peter Monk and returned to the markings of 232 Squadron and is very original including the addition of a water tank for the pilot – something only fitted to aircraft operated in hot climates. It is owned and flown by Mark Bennett. It has appeared on static display at the RAF Cosford Air Show previously, but this was Mark’s first public display in his stunning looking aircraft.
This was a very strong start to the Shuttleworth flying season which is promising some great highlights throughout the summer. The next event is the Military Air Show on 31st August.
