Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
This is The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flying over Folkestone Leas on Sunday. It’s the usual formation of a Lancaster bomber flanked by a Hurricane and a Spitfire. They cannot fail to bring about a lump in the throat of any patriotic Brit.
Hurricane and Spitfire fighters fought in the Battle of Britain [but not these particular ones], but not the Lancaster bomber. The formal dates for the Battle are between 10 July 1940 and 31 October 1940, and the first Lancaster flew on 31 October 1941.
For those of you interested in these things:
The Lancaster PA474 is one of only two Lancaster aircraft remaining in airworthy condition out of the 7,377 that were built [the other is in Canada]. It was built in mid-1945 and assigned to reconnaissance duties after appearing too late to take part in the bombing of Japan.
20,341 Spitfires were built in 22 different variants (excluding the navalised Seafire) and the aircraft remained in production for 12 years.The Spitfire here is AB910, a Mk Vb . It escorted convoys in the Battle of the Atlantic, flew escort patrols during bombing raids on the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, fought in the Dieppe Raid, and flew cover patrols over the Normandy beaches on D-Day and in the subsequent weeks.
The Hawker Hurricane is one of the classic fighters of all time. It was at the forefront of Britain’s defence in 1940 when relatively few Spitfires were in service. Today, there are only 12 Hurricanes still airworthy worldwide; only 6 of those in UK. The plane here is LF363, a Mk IIc and the last Hurricane to have entered service with the RAF. It first flew in January 1944 and served with No 63 Squadron at Turnhouse, No 309 (Polish) Squadron at Drem, where it was used on shipping protection patrols off the east coast of Scotland, and No 26 Squadron with whom it flew naval artillery spotting and reconnaissance sorties before the end of the War.
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
This is The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flying over Folkestone Leas on Sunday. It’s the usual formation of a Lancaster bomber flanked by a Hurricane and a Spitfire. They cannot fail to bring about a lump in the throat of any patriotic Brit.
Hurricane and Spitfire fighters fought in the Battle of Britain [but not these particular ones], but not the Lancaster bomber. The formal dates for the Battle are between 10 July 1940 and 31 October 1940, and the first Lancaster flew on 31 October 1941.
For those of you interested in these things:
The Lancaster PA474 is one of only two Lancaster aircraft remaining in airworthy condition out of the 7,377 that were built [the other is in Canada]. It was built in mid-1945 and assigned to reconnaissance duties after appearing too late to take part in the bombing of Japan.
20,341 Spitfires were built in 22 different variants (excluding the navalised Seafire) and the aircraft remained in production for 12 years.The Spitfire here is AB910, a Mk Vb . It escorted convoys in the Battle of the Atlantic, flew escort patrols during bombing raids on the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, fought in the Dieppe Raid, and flew cover patrols over the Normandy beaches on D-Day and in the subsequent weeks.
The Hawker Hurricane is one of the classic fighters of all time. It was at the forefront of Britain’s defence in 1940 when relatively few Spitfires were in service. Today, there are only 12 Hurricanes still airworthy worldwide; only 6 of those in UK. The plane here is LF363, a Mk IIc and the last Hurricane to have entered service with the RAF. It first flew in January 1944 and served with No 63 Squadron at Turnhouse, No 309 (Polish) Squadron at Drem, where it was used on shipping protection patrols off the east coast of Scotland, and No 26 Squadron with whom it flew naval artillery spotting and reconnaissance sorties before the end of the War.