Canadian Lancaster to visit UK in August 2014!

Weatherwise not looking good for Southport today..............

 

Bet you're glad you made the effort to go and see them, I know I am.......... humbled by the very sight & sound of them.......and the snails crawl to get home after, annoying as it is is a small price to pay.

They are a fitting tribute to the men who flew them, and what they went through for the lives we have today............ if only the young could understand or even care about what they represent........

 

Today at Southport was superb, a very good show. The Lancs were magic as usual and it was the first time in the tour I'd seen them with the fighters. Ralph is right, the Typhoon was LOUD. I just love the noise of jets in full reheat. Then there was the Vulcan - a real bonus for me as she was booked originally for Saturday but poor weather kept her on the ground back at her home base. The train was wedged leaving Southport but had thinned out a bit by the time we got to Manchester. The Cross Country Voyager back south was packed to bursting but thankfully we had reserved seats. A very long day out but well worth it to see Thumper and Vera again.

 

A very moving day.....my friend's father who was with me, flew as an engineer in 617 squadron and survived...........

 

Ralph, the music was the Dambusters March when it did play and I can't think of a more fitting piece of music to accompany two Lancs. They didn't play music all of the time though. Plenty of opportunity to listen to the music of the Merlins.

 

I'm not normally in favour of musical accompaniment to flying displays but one or two acts are enhanced by the right choice of music IMO and The Dambusters March fitted the moment perfectly. They did the same at the Shuttleworth Flying Proms and the audience was delighted. Most shows that I've been to though have let the Lancs make their own music. Now a question of a very early start tomorrow to wave goodbye to Vera. In light of political events last week, "Will ye no come back again?" We're gonna miss you old girl but it was great having you.

 

the following link may be of use to you ralph? mark
http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/news/index.cfm?storyid=296DA4B8-5056-A318-A874F73E6FFDAC88

 

Same way as she arrived, flying back over the Atlantic. Further to Mark's post, talk is of the BBMF escorting her as far as RAF Scampton and then bidding her "bon voyage".

 

Stripping down and reassembling a Lanc for transport is not something that's considered seriously.

 

I would have loved to have got my father to the Derwent Dams to see the Lancaster flypast as they returned from Southport. Dad was an engine fitter on Lancasters at RAF Scampton during the war.
Unfortunately dementia and overall frailty means he no longer leaves the house. He will be 99 in December. Fortunately a few years ago my sister arranged to take him to Scampton, where he was treated with great courtesy by the museum people there ( pre-book only by the way) and he even went into the now "listed" hangar where he used to work. He recalls being blown across the hanger on his tool box trolley when the bomb dump way across the airfield blew up.(Of the poor chap testing the bombs, Dad says they only found his shoes....)

46118

 

Vera is up and away on her trip back.

 

Two Lancasters, two Spitfires and two Hurricanes. Very nice!

 

A good morning on the mound at Coningsby. Amazing sound, a dozen Merlins, as two Spitfire, two Hurricanes and the BBMF's Lancaster escorted Vera around Lincolnshire. Nice to see her leading for a change too. Hope she comes back soon, preferably when Just Jane is flying!

 

What a sight and sound that must have been. I intended to be there but couldn't make it in the end.

 

Now safely in Iceland on her way home.