Imperial War Museum Duxford, 4th August 2002

Duxford is very much a "laid-back" event on the calendar - just being a day trip restricts the distances people will travel to go there, but it's well attended by the public and the location cannot be faulted for other things to see.

It was also well attended by EMLRA, but it was difficult to work out where we finished and others began as no specific area had been set aside for us - "Land Rovers" was a general term referring to an acre of mown grass.

As well as aircraft, Duxford also homes the Land Warfare Museum, and so has a large number of large things to play with - and don't they! When I walked over to the tank testing ground at the rear of the LWM, a 432APC was being put through its paces with a fare-paying crowd on board. They were all having a whale of a time in the sea of mud until the 432 threw a track and came to a grinding halt... in the middle of the sea of mud.

The passengers had to be transferred into another APC for the sixty yard journey to "shore" and the hapless 432 was dragged from the arena, presumably to be attacked by large hammers until it gave in away from the public gaze.

As with previous years at Duxford, the highlight for us was the run around the runway. For this, the Rules state "25mph, no over-taking". That may apply - for a while - on the apron adjacent to the crowd line, but the return leg up the runway is a Military Grand Prix. I was quite happy to have my V8 110 running along at an indicated 75mph (which was 70mph according to the GPS) when something stormed past me - Les Adams in his 101 Radio Body. The only time I've had my 101 at that speed was using the hill on the Newbury by-pass, and Duxford's runway isn't exactly steep!

After four or five laps we were all persuaded back in to the display area, and just in time - before we'd all made it back the skies opened and finished the afternoon off with some disturbing thunder and lightning (particularly disturbing when you look at all the long aerials around you) and rain that would have made Moses give in.

Just another August day in Cambridgeshire...