BBMF Lancaster

[Oggie2620]

Just to make you Aint I a lucky girl

[Adrian Roberts]

A perk of the job?! Or "knowing the right people"?!

Somehow it all seems so familiar; which when there are so few left out of 7677 (if memory serves) built, it somehow shouldn't.

[Andy Wright]

Very lucky to do that, Dee. Well done. I hope you had the chance/time, as you inspected each position, to reflect on the various stories you had read about recently and put them into some perspective. It really hits home, doesn't it?

[Oggie2620]

Yes AWWW you are right it does put it into perspective especially that rear turret. I am not huge (though bigger than the guy in the orange jacket LOL) and I struggled to get in and out with no huge great flying suit etc..... Yes it really hits home just what they went through. She is a very beautiful bird and I love her more for it....
Adrian-Was working as a volunteer at RIAT so it was a perk of the job but you have to ask the right people and I know the guys in the crew club who very kindly asked on my behalf! It was a fun week and well worth thinking about.
Dee

[Andy Wright]

Dee, I'm really glad you got to do this as not only will it put your recent reading into perspective but it will add value to whatever reading you do in the future. You'll be able to visualise the positions and what it was like climbing around inside the fuselage and even remember the smells of a living aircraft. I've sat in a Spitfire (albeit the restored fuselage was on the ground so not quite the right 'feel') and flown in several wartime-era aircraft but the experience that really hit home was when I was visiting the restoration hangar at RAAF Amberley in 2001. They still had the two A-20s and the Catalina there and I was allowed into both types but climbing up to the former 22 Sqn Boston and slipping it on by climbing into the single cockpit was a moment of clarity for me. I sat there with all of the controls within easy reach and could look over at the nacelles either side of me. For such a big aircraft, it really was like wearing it. I was 24 at the time so knowing that chaps either side of my age sat where I sat and flew the thing at tree-top height (don't forget, former 22 Sqn a/c) was humbling. I found out several years later that 'Jessica' was the mount of Charles Learmonth - our greatest bomber leader in the Pacific, IMHO - and he'd flown the majority of his trips in her (maybe even Newton VC flew her) and that, well, I was speechless.

[wayne]

Hi Dee,
I'm glad you had the chance to get aboard PA474.
It's something you'll remember for ever.
Although I have spent many happy hours helping to restore a Lanc, I've never actually seen one flying, except on video, so envy you so much.
Do you have any more pics of the weekend ?

Wayne.

[Oggie2620]

Wayne
Nope not really as I was working most of the time... The Vulcan was awesome as was the F22 300ft off the runway and straight up from there! The Air Tattoo site will have lots I should imagine as will their page on Facebook...
Andy you are so right. Just the smell of the plane was evocative.
Dee

[MT606]

your lot do that show aswell then, I 'worked' there in 2008 in the transport sect, in the show that never was! like you say the F22 is awesome and loud when they wack in warpspeed from a slow pass......

[Judith]

Wow Dee - what an experience. We have seen the BoBMF both on the ground and in the air and much as I love the sound of them all it is 'The Old Lady' that gets me every time. Having read accounts of the conditions inside on bombing raids in WW2 it must be quite an experience to actually get in one. Once saw the Vulcan fly low over the Open Day at RAF Halton and bomb doors open to accompanying music - awesome. Thanks for the photos. Judith

[Andy Wright]

Just had a vision of the bomb doors opening to the theme of A Space Odyssey - whatever that piece of music is called.