2009 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Richard Shuttleworth, founder of what is now the Shuttleworth collection. Although there was no rain, the season opener was not blessed with the best of weather conditions as strong winds prevented the displaying of a number of the more fragile items. Those items that did manage to take to the air provided a great opportunity to see these historic aircraft displayed with great skill in difficult conditions.

The DH88 Comet racer was to have opened the show with a taxi run but an electrical fault meant that spectators had to be satisfied with just looking at this beautiful, historic aircraft, resplendent in red and gleaming in the occasional burst of spring sunshine.