Old Buckenham Airshow 2026
The Old Buckenham Airshow returned for 2026 at the end of July. The small general aviation aerodrome, once home to the 453rd Bombardment Group of the USAAF, in the heart of Norfolk once again presented a wide range of flying displays from some very diminutive civilian sporting types right through to the heaviest warbirds from the Second World War.
Paul Johnson/Flightline UK reports from the second day. All photography by the author.
As with 2025, Old Buckenham faced a weekend of two halves in 2026. The best conditions this year were reserved for the Saturday which saw fine, and very warm conditions throughout. While Sunday remained 99% dry for the show, a weather front which had crossed the UK overnight had left in its wake some pretty brisk winds which sadly proved to be crosswinds at Old Buckenham, RAF Coningsby and the IWM Duxford airfield which hosted many of the more potent types in the display. This did mean Sunday’s display did lose some acts such as the Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress Sally-B, Fighter Aviation Engineering’s Lockheed 12A Electra Junior, the BBMF Douglas Dakota and the RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team. Unserviceability also meant that on both days the pair of P-51D Mustangs due for the show, the P-47D Thunderbolt and the Oil Spill Response Boeing 727 were unavailable.
However, even with those losses it was a hugely enjoyable afternoon display which opened with a trio of Supermarine Spitfires – Lilham Aviation’s Supermarine Spitfire IX flown by Jim Schofield, George Haye flying his Spitfire XVIe and on the Sunday only, the Spitfire Company’s Spitfire IX TA805 flown by James Hepnar. Saturday’s display had seen Fighter Aviation Engineering’s Spitfire Vc in place of TA805. A trio of Spitfire wheeling around the sky was a superb, and very strong start to the display.
The display then turned to some of lighter types. The Turbulent Team always entertains with their barnstorming display. However, it is often when conditions are less than ideal that the team are at their best. That they flew, and completed the full limbo flying, balloon bursting and flour bombing routine in such windy conditions was incredible and they certainly deserved the huge round of applause they received as they taxied back in. There was further Tiger Club contributions by Alex Raynier in his very attractive Currie Wot biplane and on Saturday in the lighter winds, Christophe Simon in the Mudry CAP10.
An new display for Old Buckenham and one that really did enjoy the breeze was the Calidus Autogyro flown by Peter Davies. Old Buckenham is the perfect venue for his display which keeps the small, but almost futuristic looking gyrocopter close to crowd highlighted just what a superb flying machine it is. The wind allowed for some hovering between steep spiral descent, impossibly tight turns and Peter’s trademark “hook landing.’
Old Buckenham has often presented new display acts to the circuit. One of these was Jason Buglass giving an elegant display in his Diamond DA42 Twin Star. It is an unusual type for a flying display and Jason made several passes highlighting the modern lines of the twin engine touring and training aircraft. Another ‘new’ act of was the solo aerobatic Vans RV8 flown by Mark Linney. Mark is now stranger to the display circuit and is perhaps best known for his displays in the Golden Apple Trust’s North American F-86A Sabre when it was based at Duxford. His RV8 is beautifully presenting wearing a scheme not too dissimilar to that worn by the P-51 Mustangs of the 352nd Fighter Group. In the gusty conditions, Mark put on a smooth, flowing routine of aerobatics.
But the ultimate aerobatic display came from Rich Goodwin in his Pitts S-2SE Special – ‘The Jet Pitts.’ This is always an amazing display to witness, but the roar of the jet turbines is more visceral at a venue with a relatively short display line when the Pitts powers into the sky or hovers motionless at show centre.
A late addition to Sunday’s display was the North American Harvard IIa, operated by Anglian Flight Centres, wearing an eye-catching US Navy scheme. Pilot Nigel Willson put the American trainer through its paces in a smooth aerobatic routine. Further historic trainers came in the form of a three-ship of de Havilland Canada Chipmunk T10s flown by Alex Lewton, Simon Tilling and Tom Turner. This was Old Buckenham’s own unique nod to the 80th Anniversary of the legendary training aircraft with which many in the UK have an affinity with as it was their first experience of flying in a light aircraft. Despite the gusty conditions, the three-ship put on a nice series of formation passes and with Tom providing a short aerobatic routine to show the excellent handling of the aircraft. Further ‘light’ historic aircraft came in the form of “The Last Dogfight” Team who have become a regular sight of Old Buckenham with Sam Whatmough flying the Slepcev Storch and trying to avoid the sidearms of Andrew Bendowski piloting his Piper L4 Grasshopper.
The bumpy conditions were no problem for Plane Sailing’s Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina operating from Duxford. The big amphibian aircraft looked majestic illuminated by the late afternoon sun against the dark clouds. Another Duxford warbird which gave a spirited display was the Aircraft Restoration Company’s Westland Lysander IIIa in the hands of Mike Collett. As well as plenty of curved passes and wingovers showing the Lysanders top surfaces and stub armament wings off, Mike also showed the Lysanders ability to fly slowly into wind.
Sunday’s display was concluded by the 1930’s elegance of a pair of Beech D17S Staggerwings. Old Buckenham is home to two of these executive aircraft, and one of the these known as “High Maintenance” was flown by Nigel Willson and joined the military marked Staggerwing owned and flown by Peter Kuypers for a display of formation passes and tailchase flying to round off the day.
However, the star of the weekend was combat veteran Supermarine Spitfire IX MH434 operated by the Old Flying Machine Company. This, the most famous of all airworthy Spitfires, has been a regular at recent Old Buckenham Airshows whether as a solo display or as part of bigger formation of aircraft. MH434 featured front and centre of the pre-event publicity and around the central VIP area which was decorated with many images from MH434’s history. As well as its wartime record and post-war military service with the Belgian and Dutch Air Forces, MH434 represents an incredible legacy in the history of airshows. She is perhaps most famous for her displays in the hands of Ray Hanna and his son Mark. So often was MH434 the focal point of an airshow weekend whether it was the solo Spitfire finale at Biggin Hill, part of the incredible Breitling Fighters team, participating in mass warbird formations at Duxford, displaying at the Goodwood Revival or Ray leading the Red Arrows in ‘MH’ during a spectacular low flypast at the 1996 Royal International Air Tattoo. Ray, Mark and MH434 were also stars of the big and small screen featuring in several well-known productions such as Piece of Cake, Over Here, A Bridge Too Far, Land Girls, The Longest Day and Hercule Poirot’s Casebook. For the airshow weekend, she was flown in great style by Stu Goldspink who had a busy weekend flying MH434 both at Old Buckenham, but also at Old Warden on the Saturday.
This was a slightly different show compared to recent editions due to changes in the display calendar, notably the change of date for the Wales Airshow which sucked in many of the military displays. However, despite losing some aircraft due to weather and unserviceability Old Buckenham still presented a superb, entertaining flying display in wonderful surroundings thanks to the efforts of the pilots and flying control committee. We great look forward to future editions of the show.
