Forum for residents of St Georges Park and Long Leys Road Lincoln

[john shipton]

To those interested in aviation heritage...

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) and the Red Arrows are the Royal Air Force ambassadors for Great Britain and hopefully they will remain that way in years to come. Concentrating on the BBMF, which is administratively part of No 1 Group, provides an aerial display group comprising a Avro Lancaster, a number of Supermarine Spitfires, two Hawker Hurricanes, a Dakota, and two Chipmonks. The Lancaster, Spitfire, and Hurricane are regularly seen at events commemorating World War Two, upon British State occasions, the famous Trooping the Colour, were recently seen flying over Buckingham Palace celebrating the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, and to include air displays throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. They should be seen flying at the coming RAF Waddington International Air Show in July..

Flying out of RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, these aircraft are a must for those interested in aviation and its heritage. The BBMF was formed at Biggin Hill on 11th July 1957 and was originally known as the Historic Aircraft Flight. The BBMF is a flying memorial to the thousands of Royal Air Force personnel who died during WW2 to secure Britain's future.

Aviation enthusiasts are in for a special treat from the Officer Commanding of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight on Wednesday, 22nd June, beginning at 7.30pm, whereby of this rare occassion, Squadron Leader Ian Smith will be giving a talk called "he Royal Air Force BBMF" to the Friends of Metheringham Airfield.

S/L Smith joined the RAF in 1983 and since then has now more than 6,000 flying hours entered in his flight log book. Ian has flown many jet aircraft to include the Jaguar over Iraq and Bosnia. Since then, the Jaguar has been withdrawn from service due to its age.

He has been part of the Red Arrows display aircraft which was followed on by a spell as Team Manager of the Saudi Arabia Hawks Aerobatice Team. He has completed a tour at RAF Cranwell instructing pilots flying Tutors and has been at the controls of the BBMF WW2 aeroplanes based at RAF Coningsby.

Ian's career includes piloting Chinooks in Germany, Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands as well.

Because of his experience and leadership, this led him to be selected as OC for the BBMF whereby one of this responsibilites is for the training of BBMF aircrew, its pilots, and the testing of the vintage aircraft.

This will be a lecture not to be missed!

Admission is £5.00 to visitors to included refreshments. It is free to Friends of Metheringham Airfield and veterans of 106 Squadron.

For further enquiries contact 01526 378270 or 378604.