The Victory Show, Cosby 2016

The annual Victory Show at Cosby in Leicestershire is mainly a show for military hardware of the Second World War, from a variety of nations. The days are noisy filled with the sound of heavy engines driving tanks and armoured vehicles and the firing of large and small guns and machine guns. During the afternoon there is an airshow that is an enthusiasts dream, especially those amongst us that enjoy a bit of aviation photography. This, of course, is due to the proximity to the action, runway and the static aircraft. 

This year the weather was nowhere near as good as last year and there had been some cancellations of aircraft that have been part of the air display in recent years. The biggest disappointment was the move of the display line from the runway to the road at the southern end of the runway, leaving those of us at the top end of the runway with takeoff and some early landing shots as the wind direction changed marginally favouring landings from the bottom end of the runway.

Ken Ellis explained to me why the display had to be moved and the direction of the display line was not a direct result of the new regulations following the Shoreham disaster last year, but and indirect result to do with the farm situated on the the eastern side of the runway. This was explained to me again by Rod Dean, who is the Display Director at Cosby.

Here are some of the images of the static, mainly taken with my mobile phone.

Let's start with some of the great large scale models.

And then the real stuff.....

There was a strong crosswind in the morning and some pilots, notably Charlie Brown in that lovely war veteran Spitfire, were thrown about a bit before touching down. Peter Teichman in his P-40 Warhawk had obviously decided to make a turning approach before settling on the Cosby grass. No such issues for John Romain in the Blenheim.

  

And finally, some black and white images........

.....so, as P-51D Miss Helen cleared the Cosby runway on her way to Goodwood, the show came to an end. There was no point rushing to the car as the exit routes were already filled with vehicles of all sorts queueing to be on their way home. 

Theo Claassen
1 October 2016