Duxford VE Day Flying Event

Today was the first flying event at Duxford this year and as members entry is free so I reserved tickets a little while back. I like these events as there is some flying - about a dozen aircraft today - and the museum is open as normal for a wander around. The crowds are smaller than a full blown airshow and they don't have all the extra commercialised side of things so all together more relaxed. Todays event was sold out so the car parks were full but as there is no mass exodus getting out was easy.

Today we were lucky with the weather and although the flying tends to be from aircraft resident at Duxford this time we had a Staggerwing that I had not seen before.

More pictures are posted on the In Reach of The Skies website - link on right

Lancaster Memorial Tour

The BBMF Lancaster has been on a memorial tour over Belgium and the Netherlands today overflying around a dozen memorials to Lancasters that crashed in WWII as part of a tour of 19 sites. This has been quite an undertaking with around 7 hours flying time before the Lanc returned to Coningsby this evening.

Unfortunately I was nowhere near any of the action so here are a few pictures from last October.

Plans for 2022

 As freedom of movement in the UK seems less restricted this year plans have been made and tickets booked. So, pending any dreadful weather or unforeseen cancellations it will be off to Duxford next month for their VE Day Flying Day event. Early June will see us heading off to Ragley Hall for the Midlands Air Festival, which will be a first, and then in July its over to Shuttleworth for the return of their Fly Navy show.

August will see me on holiday but I hope to get to the heritage centre at Montrose Air Station which was the location of Great Britain's first military airfield back in 1913.Nothing confirmed for September as yet but I will keep tabs on the Battle of Britain air show at Duxford. And of course I will keep my eyes peeled through the year for anything else of interest.

Watch this space!

Bomber Command Memorial

Over by the Imperial War Museum yesterday I had some time to kill on my own so headed over to the Bomber Command Memorial on the edge of The Green Park. It was about 2.5 miles away but there's no parking nearby so I walked.

The memorial was unveiled almost 10 years ago and is an impressive tribute to the 55,573 bomber crew who lost their lives in WWII. The roof replicates the geodetic structure of the Wellington bomber and incorporates sections of aluminium from a Halifax bomber that crashed in 1944.

Imperial War Museum, Lambeth

In London today for a largely pointless hospital visit for the wingman we pitched up close to the IWM and I'm ashamed to say that the last time I went was on a school trip a good few years ago. So I took the opportunity for a look around. The museum remains free to visit. I had to get a couple of shots of the 15" naval guns that 'guard' the museum.

The museum in the main covers WWI and WWII with some smaller sections on other conflicts such as the Falklands war. The main galleries take you through a chronological sequence of events for each war with artefacts supporting the stories being told. Full size aircraft are limited to the Mk1a Spitfire, Harrier and Sopwith Camel although there are also flying bombs and aircraft sections some of which have previously been at Duxford for short periods. Among aircraft artefacts are the wing of a Lend Lease Airacobra, McCuddens windscreen, a Halifax section with Disney characters and another Halifax section showing the bomb tally of a crashed Halifax. The final bomb with skull was added by the Germans.

Beaufort and Hampden Memorial

Mousehold Heath in Norwich was a decoy landing area in WWII and currently there is a memorial to Bristol Beaufort DE121,  from 1 Flight Ferry Training Unit that crashed on 25.7.42 taking the lives of all four crew.

Also remembered on the memorial is the pilot of Handley Page Hampden AE141 that crashed on 12th February 1942. It had been damaged by flak on  Operation Fuller or the Channel Dash as it is better known. See here for a memorial to Swordfish crews also lost on this operation.