A favourite Duxford resident, Sally B, displays at most Duxford airshows
In recent years, The Imperial War Museum (IWM), Duxford, has had major airshows at least three times each year.
In recent 'normal' times, the May show has been themed: since 2017 the theme has been simply 'Air Festival'. The Fighter Collection's 'Flying Legends' has been held in the middle of July and the main Duxford Air Show has been held in September. This is also themed: since 2017 it has been the 'Battle of Britain Air Show'.
These 'normals' were disrupted in 2020 by Covid-19, when May's Duxford Air Festival and July's Flying Legends were cancelled. Then, in August, The Fighter Collection and the Imperial War Museum announced that Flying Legends would not return. Flying Legends is now being held at Sywell. It was expected that The Battle of Britain Airshow would go ahead until very close to the show date, when it, too, was cancelled.
Smaller airshows, called 'Showcase Days', were also in the schedule. These have much less flying than major airshows and a lower ticket price - free to IWM Members.
For 2021 the Festival has moved from its normal May slot to nearer the July date that has traditionally been occupied by Flying Legends but the Battle of Britain Airshow retains its September date.
Showcase Days are retained but will be called 'Flying Days'
Select a specific airshow from the top menu, or click a link in the table below, for more details.
| Duxford Airshows 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Flying Day | April 24th |
| Flying Day | May 8th |
| Flying Day | May 22nd |
| Flying Day | June 6th |
| Flying Day | June 20th |
| Flying Day | July 3rd |
| Duxford Festival | July 24-25 |
| Flying Day | August 4th |
| Flying Day | August 11th |
| Flying Day | August 19th |
| Duxford Battle of Britain Air Show | September 18-19 |
| Flying Day | October 9th |
| Alternatively, see the British Airshows calendar for a list of all known British airshows. | |
Duxford was an airfield in the First World War and was an RAF fighter station and then an American fighter base in the second. It was the base of the first operational Spitfire squadron during WW2.
It is now home to the Imperial War Museum with aviation, tanks, military vehicles and naval exhibits as well as the Fighter Collection, The Old Flying Machine Company, The Aircraft Restoration Company, Historic Aircraft Collection, B-17 Preservation Society and others.
Duxford is in Cambridgeshire, off Junction 10 of the M11. If you are coming from the north, a signposted alternative is to leave at Junction 11 and take the A10 to Royston, then the A505. This is a much longer route designed to split the traffic up. The Post Code (for Sat Nav) is CB22 4QR but some systems will only recognise the older code CB2 4QR. There is a park and ride at Junction 11 of the M11 on show days. The bus is free (you have to show your airshow ticket) but parking isn't.
There are links to other route planners in the Travel Advice column if you prefer to plan ahead or don't have sat nav.
The easiest (but not the closest) train station is Cambridge, which has a direct service from London. A courtesy bus runs between the show and Cambridge station on show days.
The variety of rail tickets and fares can be very confusing. Trainline and Raileasy web sites list all ticket and fare options for the time and day of travel you choose but they both levy an admin fee. Click either of the blue ticket agency names to go to their web site.
It is best to book as far as possible in advance. This is not only because nearby hotels and guest houses tend get booked up well before the date of an airshow but also because prices can be better when you book early online.
There are plenty of booking agencies. We find that many of the well known ones are better at finding hotels from international or larger UK chains and may suggest hotels in main towns or cities quite a distance from the show site.
Expedia list a good selection of smaller, as well as bigger, hotels and will find accommodation in villages and small towns as well as the main centres. They also give, and take, Nectar points.
There are three Premier Inn hotels in Cambridge and another four within about 20 miles of the show.
The International Hotels Group have a Holiday Inn Express near the airshow but it sells out very quickly for airshow dates. There is another Holiday Inn Express in Cambridge about 9 miles away and a Holiday Inn Express in Stanstead about 20 miles to the south.
Travelodge have one hotel about 4 miles from the show, which tends to be available a little bit longer after other low-cost hotels have been fully booked. There are three more Travelodge hotels in and around Cambridge
Click any of the blue names to go to the corresponding web site. Most of the links already have the location built in, but please check, and change as necessary, the dates, number of rooms and number of guests.
A full 7 day Duxford weather forecast from the UK Met Office
The Met office 7-day forecast includes actual and "feels like" temperatures, the likelihood of rain, wind speed, wind direction, wind gusts and visibility: the latter can have an impact on the viability of displays.
The BBC's 14-day forecast has overall conditions including and hourly estimate of temperature, wind direction, wind speed and UV range.
Click the blue-text link to go to the forecast. The location is already built into the links.
For dates of shows in 2021, see the '2021 Shows' tab
Sat Nav CB22 4QR
For links to travel and route planning web sites, click the 'Getting there' tab
© British Airshows