Lympne Airfield

 Lympne airfield in Kent became active in WWI, coming into use in 1916. Civilianised in 1919 it became a front line field in WWII initially with the Fleet Air Arm and then the RAF. It was heavily bombed in the Battle of Britain and put out of action for a while and, as it was so near to the coast, it was considered too much of a risk for squadrons to be based there but never the less played an important role.

The airfield returned to civilian use after the war with Skyways operating trips to France but over time services moved to nearby Lydd and Lympne ceased to operate in 1984.

Today there are a few buildings on the edge of a wildlife park but an industrial estate has grown up on part of the field and really there is very little to see that suggests an airfield ever existed, save for a plaque on a nearby local pub.

Return to Newchurch

I visited the Advanced Landing Ground at Newchurch a couple of years ago but recently the memorial area there has seen the addition of a couple of glass panels placed in front of the former airfield to give an idea of what you would have seen back in 1944. It's quite a clever idea and as it was a nice day today we took a little drive over. There is also a new bench in the shape of a Hawker Tempest, courtesy of the National Lottery Fund.

A Special Mention

 Last weekend was a pleasant start to the season at Duxford although the flying content was basically some of the 'usual suspects'. Nothing wrong with that and I was happy to see the displays but the stand out was probably the Staggerwing that was not included on the listed flying schedule. I noticed it on the flight line when we arrived but had no expectation of seeing it in the air. However it eventually taxied out and performed and was a welcome addition to the display.

I believe that it is 40 years since it was last at Duxford and, as far as I can gather, has recently been in the Netherlands for some restoration work. It would be nice to think it might display with the TFC Staggerwing at some point. For now here are a few more pictures.

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.