Last week I was working at RAF Scampton and saw these wonderful WWII planes. With the band playing the Dambuster's march, there was barely a dry eye in the place. I don't know what it is, but national pride just goes through the roof when you mix those two ingredients. Unfortunately (here come the excuses already) I was working on the live show so any snaps I took were a bit hurried and in the overcast conditions, I overdid the shutter speed and ended up freezing the propeller rotation. :(

The Spitfire is blue because it was used for high altitude (by WWII standards) and they thought blue was a better colour to match the sky (at least that's what the RAF archivist chap told me). Anyhoo if you want to see more of the Lancaster pics, then click on the pic and you should be sent to my Flickr account were they all live and if you then click again on the picture you should get a slightly larger image with a black background which is much better for viewing piccies. Best viewed with military band music playing in the background

Ok so they had a couple of Tornados there too

IMG_1278-18 by Geordie Amanda, on Flickr

2 x Spifires in very close formation

IMG_1323-33 by Geordie Amanda, on Flickr

Stand up and be proud

IMG_1349-49 by Geordie Amanda, on Flickr

IMG_1416-74 by Geordie Amanda, on Flickr

IMG_1436-78 by Geordie Amanda, on Flickr

IMG_1446-83 by Geordie Amanda, on Flickr

How did he squeeze in there!!!

IMG_1448-84 by Geordie Amanda, on Flickr

Even the RAF had to get a better look

IMG_1450-85 by Geordie Amanda, on Flickr

IMG_1470-91 by Geordie Amanda, on Flickr

This was the only shot I got of the Spifire parked up and not surrounded by cars and people :(

IMG_1484-97 by Geordie Amanda, on Flickr

Edited 19 May, 201313 yr by Lady Elanore

Nice shots, Amanda

And, yes, I AM jealous that you were on base at the time..........couldn't you have smuggled me in somehow :(

Ta I couldn't believe how tight the security was. As far as I know the base is only used for the Red Arrows nowadays, but they had drafted in extra military types who kept eagle eyes on us. The Lancaster bomber (described as the only one flying in Europe currently) was a Dambu8seter one, as it had the gun position on the top of its back/fuselage thingie and also still had bomb bay doors fitted. God those things were enormous!

Cracking shots

The Lancaster is indeed the only one flying in the UK, there is another one (Just Jane) based at East Kirkby, which is used for taxi runs

It's doubtful that the one pictured above was actually a Dambusters raid plane, as they DIDN'T have the middle turret

It's doubtful that the one pictured above was actually a Dambusters raid plane, as they DIDN'T have the middle turret

Oops I realise my post miss spelled the word 'wasn't'. It makes much more sense then and as you see I agree about the top turret My bad :(

Edited 19 May, 201313 yr by Lady Elanore

Looks like yahoo has properly stuffed Flickr :( Flickr needed a revamp, but when one of their CEOs said there weren't any pro photographers left these days and seemed to forget a lot of pro photographers still used the site, I think she signed the death knell for Flickr. Now the muppets have stopped us signing in to get at our accounts. I did pay the pro rate as it gave bigger storage and no adverts, but now they want to double the fee and you don't get any more storage than the none paying members. Reckon I am finished with them once my contact runs out, although I will still put stuff on their for free if I am bored. Shame on you Yahoo :(

Amazing pictures thank you!

Amazing pictures thank you!

Thanks

Sorry to jump in on this post but as i love the sound of the merlin engine and have some pretty good pictures of the BBMF myself i thought it might be worth mentioning that the Lancaster at East Kirkby has had its main spar replaced and could now be made airworthy as that was the only thing that was stopping them from getting it in the air, so fingers crossed we could have two Lancs flying in Lincolnshire this time next year.

Excellent pictures to...

Sorry to jump in on this post but as i love the sound of the merlin engine and have some pretty good pictures of the BBMF myself i thought it might be worth mentioning that the Lancaster at East Kirkby has had its main spar replaced and could now be made airworthy as that was the only thing that was stopping them from getting it in the air, so fingers crossed we could have two Lancs flying in Lincolnshire this time next year.

Excellent pictures to...

Whoo hoo, we cant have too many Lancaster flying about

The "Upkeep" Lancasters were standard production machines with the mid-upper turret removed to get some weight off, and the bomb-bay adapted (doors removed; fairings added both ends) specially for that mission.

617 later went on to use the B1 (Special) with no mid-upper and bulged bay doors for Tallboy, and with the nose turret and bay doors removed for Grand Slam. If this stuff interests you, there are several unit histories, and Guy Gibson's biography "Enemy Coast Ahead".

Edited 17 June, 201313 yr by KenONeill

While I was down there, I got chatting to one of the curators of the museum. Fascinating chap and very free with lots of great trivia, the sort of stuff that makes the aircraft and men who flew them, much more 'real'. No question was too tough (we did try to find something he didn't know ) and I can thoroughly recommend going to see Guy Gibson's office too and the view out of his window looks upon his dogs grave. Not totally sure how you go about getting to see it all though as it is still on an RAF base.

Lovely photos, thank you for posting them up.

I have a few taken from my garden, I get a free air show every year. Wings and wheels Dunsfold park (formally Dunsfold aerodrome the home of the harrier)

looking forward to another display this year

Cracking photos Amanda- visited the RJ Mitchell exhibition in Stoke a while back - inspirational guy . :0) Wonderful to see these planes in flight .