RAF Museum- Dornier 17Z tall @ Potteries Museum Stoke

08/05/2015 - Friday night lecture on the recovery and restoration of the downed German Dornier 17Z which is undergoing restoration at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford.

Remembrance Sunday

A pre-post for remembrance Sunday which I'm hoping to spend at the Stafford Memorial, no one likes war, but some had no choice.

Book/Gallery Launch - War, Art & Surgery

On the 14th of October I was lucky enough to be invited to the Royal College of Surgeons - Huntarian Museum for the launch of War, Art and Surgery galley and book showing 70+ Henry Tonks drawings of WW1 injuries which were treated under Harold Gillies and more modern drawings which Julia Midgley had done of injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan . The event was attended by surgeons and consultants from around Europe, Dr Bamji who compiled the Gillies Archive and helped me discover my Great Grandfathers Archive there and family members of Gillies patients. It was a wonderful, yet emotion evening which really drove home the important work that Gillies did for the patients and modern surgery, but also the sacrifice these young men made.

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight - Hanger tour and Canadian Lancaster Viewing

On Tuesday 16th September I was lucky enough to secure the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight hanger tour, specifically to see the Canadian Lancaster bomber VRA (or Vera!). The day started off with some bad news as Vera had made an emergency stop over in Humberside due to overheating brakes, but was due back that morning...... We arrived at the BBMF hanger at RAF Coningsby at 11:00 which gave us some time to watch a Typhoon being prepped and washed and the Dakota taking off for a practice run, they also do a super coffee in the merlin cafe! There was a huge buzz around the base with spectators eagerly awaiting the Canadian Lancaster to return. Our tour started at 12:30 with great speculation around the hanger as flight staff said vera would return shortly, our tour guide said she was on her way! The tour starts in the BBMF hanger and as we entered the Dakota was on her way back in (youtube video below).

We saw an excellent selection of the BBMF planes including both Hurricanes, Spitfires and engines with excellent technical and historic information from our guide, we then left the hanger to get up close with the two spitfires and BBMF lancaster parked outside the hanger.

At 13:10 we were all quite eager to see Vera come in, but no news and time was running out - we were lucky to see the Chief of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight jump into his Spitfire with D Day invasion stripes and give the crowds an impromptu show (youtube video of his taxi below).

We also saw the oldest Spitfire in the BBMF which actually flew during the famous battle, and of course the BBMF Lancaster which was having flight maintenance work being carried out.

We managed to stay watching the show until 14:00 when our guide said it was time for the next tour, as we slowly walked back to the museum/entrance excited BBMF staff shouted that Vera was on her way and would be here in around 30 minutes - perfect time for a quick shop and sandwich! As I tucked into my cheese an onion sarnie the sound of 4 lanc engines rumbled in the distance, then suddenly over the top of our heads Vera appeared!

We made a dash for the viewing entrance to see her land, she made a slow steady approach across the road and a perfect landing, as she started taxiing across to the holding area the Dakota made a run for takeoff, as Vera pulled next to the BBMF Lancaster the Dakota made several overhead passes (as seen in the video below) giving an amazing image, before making an extremely low pass over us on its way to RAF Waddington.

An excellent day indeed!

 

Stone Centenary Plaque - 100 Years

Following on from my last post, here is the plaque which will placed at the War Memorial in Stone, Staffordshire.

Stone Centenary Service

We had the pleasure of attending the "Service to commemorate the Marching of the Stone men to the fighting of the great war" on the 3rd of August. This was an excellent service split into two sections, firstly a reading of all the Stone men who died during the great war - followed by the last post played on a bugle which was on the western front during the great the war. The second was an unveiling of Stone's centenary plaque to honour those men who went to war. Great event attended by local historians, British legion members, local councilors and families of those who died. 

Ex-Royal Flying Corp & Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve - World War Two

Photo of Ex-RFC & RAF Volunteer Reserve - Taken around 1940/41 on the Isle of Man - On the reverse are signatures, comments and nicknames of the men shown in the photo. Some of the pilots are from the US & Canada according to the nicknames.