Family day out at the Imperial War Museum Summer Air Show at Duxford

We were provided with press tickets to the Imperial War Museum Summer Air Show at Duxford for this post however all opinions are my own.

We don’t need asking twice if we would like to visit the Imperial War Museum Duxford, especially when there’s an air show on!

Our son, Jacob, 11, is aircraft obsessed! Having a particular love of Spitfires.

The Imperial War Museum Duxford is a truly spectacular place even when there isn’t an air show on. It is Europe’s largest air museum and there is so much to see.

A great place to spend a family day out.

Jacob got a good look at the British Aircraft Corporation Strikemaster pair

Situated in Cambridgeshire, just off the M11, it is accessible by car, bus, train or by air!

This historic site includes a vast range of enormous hangars, gigantic aircraft, a live airfield and a wide collection of personal stories of those who have lived, fought and died in conflict from the First World War to the present day.

IWM Duxford also served as a base for many of the Spitfire and Hurricane pilots during the Second World War.

Jacob loved listening to the engineer talk about the Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15UTI. It has a max speed of 652 mph! Wow!

We are lucky enough to be visiting IWM Duxford on the second day of the Summer Air Show.

This is the third time we have visited now, and we still haven’t seen everything IWM Duxford has to offer.

Jacob was lucky enough to say hello to this brilliant re-enactment group at IWM Duxford Summer Air Show.

Getting there early is a must for us. We like to do the Flightline Walk which is open to the public before the air displays commence and you get a great, up close look at the aircraft taking part in the show. I definitely recommend doing this.

We really enjoyed the air display of the Calidus Autogyro by the Gyro Air Displays. Amazing that the aircraft has to be moving forward for the rota blades to move as they are free spinning.

Image: IWM Duxford

As we got there early, we had time to see the amazing sites on offer. This list of aircraft, vehicles, boats and artillery exhibits is mind-blowing.

There are 10 permanent exhibitions at IWM Duxford

• AirSpace

• Flying Aircraft

• Historic Duxford

• Air and Sea

• Battle of Britain

• Conservation in Action

• Battle of Britain: Ops Block

• American Air Museum

• Land Warfare

• The British Airliner Collection including 13 commercial airliners.

As we had found a good spot (anywhere is a good spot to be honest), we set up our camping chairs and headed down to AirSpace, hangar 1, to see the impressive nose drop on Concorde and all the other amazing large and small aircraft from every era on display. It still baffles me how they got all those massive aircraft in there. That must have been some jigsaw puzzle!

Found our spot for the day. Jacob is very excited to see the Summer Air Show at IWM Duxford

There are different options for you to choose from for seating, you can go all out and opt for the Gold Experience giving exclusive access to the marquee, including a picnic hamper full of goodies, a Duxford Summer Air Show programme and VIP parking. You can also opt to sit in the grandstand, or, like us, we grabbed our camping chairs and a spot by the fence on the air side.

You can also become a member and get discounts, great offers and much more.

There are so many food and drink stalls, Jacob opted for a yummy pizza as you can see, it didn’t last long!

There’s plenty of food and drink on offer, lots of stands selling everything from pizza, burgers, hotdogs, to doughnuts, coffee and a bar.

Before the show, we bought tickets for The British Airliner Collection. This is also something I would recommend doing. £6 for adults and £3 for a child, this is really worth seeing. I pretended to be air crew walking through these commercial airliners. It’s great to see them from years gone by and see how air travel has changed.

There was plenty of other things to see and do. There was live entertainment with music and songs from a bygone era. There was vintage cars and WWI aircraft. You can try some circus skills, listen to IWM Duxford volunteers, have a ride on the traditional steam fair, try your hand at woodturning, or get up close to real live exotic animals in the Zoolab. It really is a great family day out.

The now famous blue Spitfire PL983 ‘L’ Thank U NHS from the Aircraft Restoration Company

We were so exited for the main event. The air show is truly breathtaking.

Being able to see so many different air craft take to the skies is something we never get bored of. It is an amazing sight to see.

The show opened with a very impressive parachute display from The Royal Air Force Falcons Parachute Team from RAF Brize Norton. A fantastic demonstration of precision freefall and canopy skills. Just wow!

The Royal Air Force Falcons Parachute Display Team’s impressive opener to the air show.

We were lucky enough to see the following air craft displays. Check out this flight list.

• Grob Tutor T1 from Royal Air Force Tutor Display Team

• Leonardo Helicopters Wildcat HMA2 from Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton

• The Blades Extra EA-300

• Fokker S-11 Instructor Stichting Fokker Four from the Royal Netherlands Air Force

• Richard Goodwin flying the Pitts S-2S biplane

• British Aircraft Corporation Strikemaster Pair from Strikemaster Display UK

• Calidus Autogyro from Gyro Air Displays

• Vans RV-8 x6 from Team Raven aerobatic display

• North American TF-51D Mustang from Anglia Aircraft Restoration Ltd

• Republic P-47D Thunderbolt from Anglia Aircraft Restorations Ltd

• Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15UTI from Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron

• de Havilland Vampire FB.52 from Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron

• Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina from Plane Sailing

• Sopwith Triplane, SE5a, Avro 504K, Fokker Dr1, Junkers CL1 from the Bremont Great War Display Team

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (Sally B) from B-17 Preservation

• North American T-6 x2 from Aircraft Restoration Company Anglian War Birds

• Spitfire PL983 ‘L’ from Aircraft Restoration Company.

We took so many photos of the fantastic air show. Here are some of the best

It was a great day out, we really enjoyed every part of it, especially the air show.

They have events on all year round, check out upcoming air shows and flying days.

We can’t wait to visit again soon.

Thank you Imperial war Museum Duxford for an unforgettable family day out.

Family day out at the Imperial War Museum Battle of Britain Air Show Duxford

We were provided with press tickets to the Imperial War Museum Air Show at Duxford for this post however all opinions are my own.

Our 10-year-old son, Jacob, absolutely loves Spitfires. Imagine his delight when we were invited to the famous Imperial War Museum Battle of Britain Air Show at Duxford.

He has lots of models, enjoys building Airfix kits and loves to draw them. Jacob's interest in Spitfires started around the age of 3 years old. He is the Young Ambassador of The Battle of Britain Memorial Trust at Capel-Le-Ferne, near Folkestone in Kent. He helps the Trust keep the memory of the aircrew known as 'The Few' alive.

We got up super early as we wanted to spend as much time there as possible and by early I mean 5am!

IWM Duxford is Europe's largest air museum located in Cambridgeshire, just off the M11 and accessible by car, train, bus, or by air! Also, served as a base for many of the Spitfire and Hurricane pilots during the Second World War.

This historic site includes a vast range of enormous hangars, gigantic aircraft, a live airfield and a wide collection of personal stories of those who have lived, fought and died in conflict from the First World War to the present day.

You could feel the excitement as we parked our car and walked through the ticket booths. People carrying camping chairs and everything they needed for an exciting day watching the show.

We attended the second day of the 2-day event.

As we got there early, we were able to walk the Flightline which I would definitely recommend.

What a fantastic sight. To see all those aircraft up close was amazing.

Walking down the Flightline we could see the amazing flying machines in detail, how often do you get to see a Spitfire that close!

You can see how much they are cared for and it's really humbling to see them and realise their history.

Alongside the many Spitfires, there were Hawker Hurricanes, a Corsair, a Bearcat, 2 Mustangs, a Thunderbolt, a B-17G Flying Fortress, a Curtiss Hawk, a Curtiss Warhawk, 3 Hispano Buchons, a Catalina, a Swordfish, a Curtiss P-36C the First World War replica Sopwith Triplane, a Fokker and The Junkers, the Vans from Team Raven and not forgetting the Westland Whirlwind, Westland Wessex and the Westland Sea King which was featured on BBC One's TV drama Vigil starring Suranne Jones.

From the 10th July to 31st October 1940, The Battle of Britain took place in the skies over the English Channel against the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe.

The Battle of Britain was a huge victory in our history with just under 3000 pilots and other aircrew of Fighter Command always remembered for their heroics.

Jacob took great pleasure in looking at the aircraft and educating me and dad, Mark, on which aircraft was which.

The fantastic line-up included Spitfires, Hawker Hurricanes and so much more.

We also saw the Aircraft Restoration Company's blue Spitfire with 'THANK U NHS' painted on the underside of those iconic wings, and all the handwritten names from people who have donated to NHS Charities Together.

As the flying display was due to begin at 1 pm, this gave us lots of time to look around the rest of what IWM Duxford has to offer.

There was so much to see and do, you could have a vintage hairdo, dance at the stage area, listen to one of the Dazzle Talks by the IWM volunteers, have fun in the vintage fairground, spend some money on the stalls (Jacob bought an IWM Spitfire flipbook and a book on how to draw Warplanes from the IWM gift shop tent) and, check out the different Living History Groups and even play Crazy Golf!

Photo: IWM

There are 10 key elements to IWM Duxford that are permanent exhibitions.

• AirSpace

• Flying Aircraft

• Historic Duxford

• Air and Sea

• Battle of Britain

• Conservation in Action

• Battle of Britain: Ops Block

• American Air Museum

• Land Warfare

• The British Airliner Collection including 13 commercial airliners.

After we had found a good spot (to be honest, anywhere is a good spot here) and set up our camping chairs ready for the air show later, we headed down to the biggest hangar on the site, AirSpace.

AirSpace is huge!

Seeing the Avro Lancaster Bomber, famous for its role in the Dambusters raid, standing under the belly of the impressive Avro Vulcan and walking through Concorde and seeing that iconic nose was a great start to the day.

In AirSpace, you can get up-close to some of the most famous aircraft in the world and get to know how they fly, how they’re made and discover the impact they’ve made on our world.

Whether you are a plane enthusiast or not, you will be in awe at these amazing flying machines.

Also in AirSpace you will find the Airborne Assault Museum. Airborne Assault is the Regimental Museum of the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces and tells the stories of the soldiers who go to war from the air.

Grabbing a drink in The Armoury Cafe & Kitchen just next to the entrance of the AirSpace hangar, we headed to the opposite end of the IWM Duxford site and into Land Warfare.

Land Warfare is where you can walk through scenes from the First World War through to modern conflicts.

Walking through the Normandy Experience you can listen to an audio reconstruction of what the invasion would have been like on D-Day itself in 1944, see what equipment they used and what it would have been like from the point of view of people who took part.

The scenes of devastation looked very real.

And to our surprise, out of the back of Land Warfare, there were actual real tanks, where you could have a ride in one!

As the air display start time was fast approaching, we didn't even think about food as we were so busy looking at the vast amount of things at Duxford! We quickly popped to grab some food, there was a great selection of food and drinks to choose from. Jacob opted for a yummy pizza, I had a juicy cheeseburger and Mark had a tasty hotdog.

We got back to our seats just in time to hear the unmistakable famous Rolls-Royce Merlin engines fire up as the Spitfires opened the show.

Check out the display flight schedule, what an incredible line-up that lasted for over 4 hours!

• 1.00pm – Supermarine Spitfires – Supermarine Spitfire Mk I, Mk IX & Mk XIV

• 1.13pm – Hurricane Formation – 4 x Hawker Hurricane

• 1.30pm – Battle of Britain Memorial Flight – Lancaster, Hawker Hurricane & Supermarine Spitfire

• 1.52pm – Russian Spitfire – Supermarine Spitfire MkIX

• 2.02pm – Curtis Fighters Curtiss P-36C, Curtiss Hawk 75 & Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

• 2.16pm – B-17 Sally B – Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

• 2.30pm – Buchons & US Fighters – 2 x Buchons, 1 x P-47D Thunderbolt, P-51D and TF-51D Mustang

• 2.47pm – Team Raven – 5 x Vans RV-8

• 3.09pm – Great War Display Team – 7 x First World War aircraft, Sopwith Triplane, SE5a, Avro 504k, Fokker DR1 & Junkers CL

• 3.31pm – Spitfire – Spitfire MkV

• 3.43pm – Historic helicopters – Wessex & Sea King

• 
4.03pm – Historic Army Aircraft Flight – Army Historic Beaver, Sioux, Auster

• 
4.19pm – Catalina – Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina

• 
4.29pm – US Navy Fighters – Goodyear FG-1D Corsair & Grumman F8F-2P Bearcat

• 
4.41pm – Spitfire Joker

• 
4.43pm – Spitfire Balbo – 12 Spitfires & 4 Hawker Hurricanes

• 
5.18pm – Spitfire Solo – Supermarine Spitfire Mk PRXI with 'THANK U NHS'

Jacob, insisted on me listing the full schedule for the air show so you can see just how impressive the show was.

The air show was absolutely fantastic.

We were treated to an amazing display by each and every one of the aircraft mentioned above.

We watched in awe as the various planes took to the skies.

The explosions and gunfire from the pyrotechnics when the Great War Display team had a dog fight which was exciting.

Team Raven's display was brilliant, and we loved the heart manoeuvre which was very impressive and made the crowd do a collective ‘Ahhhh’.

Check out the gallery of photos below. We took so many pictures!

The commentators did a great job and gave the crowd so much information on each display and played music from the era.

The most breathtaking site was seeing 13 Spitfires and 4 Hawker Hurricanes all flying together in The Big Wing formation.

You could hear a pin drop as the crowd fell silent, transfixed at this stunning sight.

After the 18 months we have all had with Covid, it was great to be able to attend the air show with lots of other people enjoying their day and seeing the Supermarine Spitfire Mk PRXI with 'THANK U NHS' was a fitting end to the air show display.

We were right next to the live side, as the planes came into land and were taxiing, lots came past us.

Jacob waved and gave thumbs-up as they went by and was unbelievably happy when he put his thumb up at the Spitfire pilots after they had finished their amazing final display, The Big Wing, and he got a wave from the pilots in return, his little face was a picture!

Overall it was a fantastic family day out that will be remembered and one I would definitely recommend. There really is so much for all ages to see and do. We didn’t even get to see half of it!

It was such an organised event and all the staff and volunteers were more than happy to help and chat.

We did a joint total of around 53,000 steps between the three of us!

Can't wait for another visit to see the rest of the site.

We had such a fantastic day. Just before Jacob fell asleep in the car, he said ‘BEST, DAY, EVER!’.

Thank you IWM Duxford for a day to remember. Until next time!