Advance notice for those in the area - a Spitfire will be flying 'along the Thames' on Sat July 9th as part of the Grand Fete; see www.cavershamfestival.co.uk/ Programme. Not sure what height though.
I'll be there with son who's playing with his brass band, if anyone fancies a non-virtual chat.
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Shame, I'll be out of town that afternoon. Would have liked to have seen that.
I wonder if it will attempt to fly under Caversham Bridge? That'd be really worth seeing! ;-)
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2 years ago there was flypast over the Ineos/Sino (ex BP) Refinery @ Grangemouth - Motoring Link!! Parts of Petro-Chemical plant built on the former airfield.
Magnificent flypast by a Spitfire, Hurricane and a Lancaster - the noise of the Lancaster shook everything
The airfield was used for pilot/navigator training in WW2.
A few hundred yards away from chez-mois are the graves of many trainees from UK, Canada, Australia, Poland etc who died during training/operations.
(The local council make an excellent job of maintaining the graves of these young men.)
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I am pleased to hear that the graves are tended and cared for but I think you will find the work is funded by the Imperial War Graves Commission, even if the council are providing the labour. The graves in France, Belgium and Holland, among others are immaculate
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Are you a Telegraph reader, Meldrew? It's been the Commonwealth War Graves Commission since 1960.
};---)
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Thu 30 Jun 11 at 14:36
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Spitfire flypasts will be a feature of the 70th anniversary celebrations at RAF Woodvale (near Southport) this Sunday, July 3rd.
The base was used to house and maintain Spitfires which tackled the German bombers attacking Liverpool during the Second World War. It's still an operational air base.
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Actually I do a bit of grave tending for them myself but as I don't get paid for it I don't see their name on a P60! You are of course correct - Imperial is a very non PC word in these unenlightened times!
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Any idea of from where to where and rough timing Focus? I shall be in the area but am not needing the pop concert element|!
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Actually, so will I, and near the river too - although it's awfully bendy round here. Just as well the Spitfire is famed for its manoeuvrability.
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>> Actually, so will I, and near the river too - although it's awfully bendy round
>> here. Just as well the Spitfire is famed for its manoeuvrability.
Personally I would like to see it make a little excursion up that river that goes through the Oracle shopping centre. That would wake the shoppers up.
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'Pop concert' mmm... I know they did a quite nice arrangement of John Miles' 'Music' last term, but I'm not sure what we've got to look forward to this time.
Sorry, I only know what's in that link I posted:
"3.15-3.30pm - FLYPAST along the Thames by a Spitfire from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight "
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The display schedule for the BBMF is inevitably on the web:
www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/displayinfo/
including an excel sheet for the whole season. Reveals that the Dak over my gaff last weekend was en route for a flypast at Silverstone.
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>> The display schedule for the BBMF is inevitably on the web:
Thanks B - states the time for Caversham is 3:20, although doesn't give any other info.
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At our village gala, held every year on the playing field, there is always a fly-past of the Spitfires and the Lancaster. They make two passes. A Lancaster is featured on the village sign. During WWII, Lancasters flew on bombing raids from the nearby airfield ~ which is now a housing estate. Older residents relate tales of counting the number of bombers taking off in the evening and the number of those fortunate enough to make it back again the following morning.
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The two-day Southport Air Show, moved forward to this month from its previous September dates (the weather has been dreadful for many recent years' displays), is to once more feature the Vulcan, another stunning aircraft in every respect.
The general belief is that this may well be the last year that the sole remaining example may have to be grounded after this year due to the immense cost of maintaining it and obtaining an airworthiness certificate...:-(((
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Spitfire fly past, Reading/Caversham July 9th - Alanovich
