Page 37 - World Airshow News Autumn 2024

Feature and photography by Jim Froneberger

Top: A B-17G Flying Fortress
in the American Air Museum
at IWM Duxford with a P-47
escort above.
Bottom: Aircraft Restoration
Company pilot Jon Gowdy
puts the Spitfire T.IX through
its paces in a simulated
dogfight flown especially for
our “Masters of the Air” tour
group.

the home of the Imperial War Museum
Duxford. Generally regarded as one of the
best aviation museums in the world, IWM
Duxford features multiple exhibit hangars
full of unique and historic aircraft dating
from before World War II to the present
day. IWM Duxford’s American Air Mu-
seum hangar houses what may be the best
collection of American military aircraft
outside of North America.
Duxford is also home to Aircraft Res-
toration Company (ARCo), which spe-
cializes in the restoration, maintenance,
and operation of vintage aircraft. To con-
clude our day at Duxford, ARCo pilots
Lee Proudfoot and Jon Gowdy treated our
group to a fully aerobatic simulated dog-
fight, with Gowdy flying a Spitfire T.IX
and Proudfoot flying a Messerschmitt
air war, but also how Tom Hanks, Steven Churchill’s home, Chartwell, located out- Bf109e. It was a thrilling exhibition that
Spielberg, and the Playtone Productions side of the city in Kent. took us back in time to what it might have
team brought the miniseries to life. been like to see these planes flying in the
Our tour didn’t disappoint. We visit- DuXFORD skies of occupied Europe.
ed one of the world’s great aviation mu- Duxford Airfield is the only airfield After a great day at Duxford, what
seums at Duxford airfield, toured mu- we visited that is still operational today. could be better than drinks and a meal
seums chock full of squadron artifacts While it traces its roots back to 1917 dur- at the famous RAF Bar at The Eagle Pub
at three former Eighth Air Force bases, ing World War I, during World War II it in Cambridge? Allied airmen, who drank
and paid our respects to over 3,800 air- was initially home to many of the Royal and socialized at The Eagle during the
men, soldiers, and sailors buried in the Air Force Hurricane and Spitfire fighters war, used candles, lighters, and lipstick to
Cambridge American Cemetery. We also that were key to victory in the Battle of write their squadron numbers and other
visited Bletchley Park, where British co- Britain. In 1943, Duxford was transferred graffiti onto the ceiling of the bar. The
debreakers broke the Nazi Enigma code. to the U.S. Eighth Air Force and became walls are now also covered with squadron
Our trip concluded in London, where we the home of the 78 Fighter Group, fly- patches, signatures, and other memora-
th
toured the Imperial War Museum Lon- ing P-47 Thunderbolts and, by the end of bilia from the many current and former
don, had a group dinner in Churchill’s 1944, P-51 Mustangs. military pilots who have frequented the
underground War Rooms, and toured Today, Duxford may be best known as pub since the war.

World Airshow News 37 Quarter 4, 2024