In A Different Light

By Jason Gore

When Duxford announced their winter showcase event was going to be 7 airworthy Hawker Hurricanes, I was thrilled. About time this workhorse got some solo time. I was less than thrilled to see it was subtitled “Unsung Hero”.

How come, 80 years since the Battle of Britain, is this mainstay of Britains defence still in the shadows?

Speak to many enthusiasts, and they’ll all agree, it isn’t unsung. However, it rarely seems to be able to escape the shadow of its cousin the Spitfire, so the opportunity to have so many under the one roof was too much to pass up. And what a collection put together, the only ones missing from the UK based ones were the BBMFs.

It was good to see BE505 “Pegs” the old Hangar11 operated Hurribomber now converted to a 2 seater – the only one in the world – Originally I was appalled by the idea, there has never been a 2 seater. It’s sacrilege, but having seen her a couple of times now, and alongside a ‘normal’ Hurri, the conversion is wonderful, and far more sympathetic than those done to the Spitfire, with the lines retained and no bubble canopy, the passenger sits just in front of the fuselage slope, but still getting a good view out.

A Sea Hurricane, a Battle of Britain veteran, a 2 seater, it has been a marvellous collection. Added to that were a Hawker Hind and Fury to create a “Hawker Story”.

Then Duxford announced the gathering would be in their photo event “Under a Different Light”. In January 2022, they had done the Spitfire – 11 airworthy examples in the Conservation Hanger – and a fine display it was, then in the autumn they did the American Air Museum.
For me, a bit of a purist, the thought of Hurricanes under multicoloured lights was just not cricket, when the Spitfires were done, a fair few had said ‘you must be kidding’ ‘it’ll be awful’. My reply originally was, well, the museum has to bring money in, and they’re trying something new, after all, not every event has to be aimed at the pure photographer, some (like this) has to be aimed at enthusiasts.
With the 3rd event on the cards, it was time to put my money where my mouth was and try it, so with an open mind i bought a ticket, as did a lot of people. I don’t know if it was sold out, but the room was packed for the evening.
Bumping into Steve Comber early in the day it was also great seeing a master at work with his iPhone as we walked around Duxford, – that’s a tale for another day. When we arrived at the event itself, the lighting wasn’t as bad as i had feared, although the red was a little harsh, and some colouring didn’t ‘work’, but with Steve on hand to offer suggestions, the schemes were changed through the evening.

The event started with a random mix of colours, and it was horrid, pinks and greens overlapping, orange barely showing up. But as the evening progressed, each “section” of Hurricane got a dedicated colour, much better all against one wall were red lit, the middle in green and the otherside in pink. Later it went all white, then to close out red everywhere. The only ones not to change were the three early Hawkers at the far end in Red White and ‘Blue’.

With the audience cleared between each change, it was time to either look at the Sea Fury and Mk1 outside, or walk through the rest of Airspace, the IWM team had lit a few other objects, for me the engines in purples and red worked, the green on all black Lysander was lost, but, if you don’t try???

At the end of the evening, I had to admit that I had enjoyed myself. But to do the multicolours it’d need to be a subject I have an interest in. If they were to permanently do funky lighting, then I believe they’d lose people, but a one off photo event isn’t going to hurt. And if they don’t try to encourage visitors other than just the hardcore photographer avgeek, and include the enthusiast how will they attract new people?

If museums don’t try to encourage people to visit, then surely the museums will fall.
If you build it etc. Well, they built it, and people came, and I am sure will return for another one.