Aeroplane Magazine, July 2022 Issue

Travelling down the East Coast Main Line, en route to Old Warden for the evening display in mid-May, I couldn’t help but catch sight of a familiar shape on the horizon. It was the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Lancaster, performing flypasts over Grantham to kick off a busy weekend of commitments. Nothing too unexpected there; such occasions are little out-of-the-ordinary. But the public interest in it, as seen on social media and in more traditional print and broadcast outlets, did seem exceptional. Given that the sight of a large aeroplane passing normally over a town now, for some reason, seems to constitute a news story, perhaps my surprise was unwarranted. After all, the main local paper in my area, the Sheffield Star, felt it necessary a few years ago to run a piece saying, “residents were shocked to see a huge low-flying plane flying over the city’,' adding, “Some eye-witnesses said the plane was so low they could 'see the pilot’s eyes”,' the subject being one of the Oil Spill Response Boeing 727s overflying at a perfectly normal altitude. But I digress. It was quite delightful that so many people were obviously excited and moved by the sight of the Lancaster in their vicinity, and a tribute to the ethos of the BBMF in getting it out and Hit was delightful that so many people were excited and moved by the sight of the Lancaster • •
about so widely. PA474 made 25 flypast appearances that weekend, and must have been witnessed by tens of thousands, at the very least. This is the epitome of live aviation heritage in action.
The power of encounters with such aeroplanes away from the hubbub of an airfield, let alone an airshow, is hard to underestimate. One from the recent past has stayed with me. Seeing a vintage machine airborne near Old Warden is, let's face it, hardly unusual. But, walking on a footpath near the aerodrome during a beautiful summer weekday afternoon, a distinctive 'put-put-put' engine note made its presence felt before I could see what it was associated with. Then the shape came into view: Colin Essex's glorious Aeronca C3 G-ADRR, an Old Warden resident, out for a local sortie. One of my favourite old aircraft types, being enjoyed just as it should be on a perfect day. Lovely. And as it faded into the distance, what should come down the country road past me but a small convoy of Austin Sevens? Only the Ford Mondeo following them snapped me out of my temporary vintage reverie. It's for the ability to create small moments like those, just as much as their more public appearances, that airworthy historic aeroplanes are to be treasured.
Ben Dunnell

CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH:

CDR HUGO BAPTISTA CABRAL
Hugo has a master’s degree in maritime history, and in the past decade has dedicated himself to researching Portuguese naval aviation, having had several articles on the subject published in military and aeronautical magazines. He is a Portuguese Navy Lynx pilot, who has flown maritime security operations in the Mediterranean and counter-piracy in the Indian Ocean. Hugo qualified as a helicopter instructor at the Central Flying School in 2010 and is the current commanding officer of the Portuguese Navy helicopter squadron.

GAVIN CONROY
Better-known as a top air-to-air photographer, Gavin was fortunate enough to spend more than 1,500 hours working on the restoration of Mosquito TE910. He was involved from the day the shed doors opened right through until the engine runs were completed. As the Mosquito is his favourite aircraft of all time, it was a dream come true. Gavin has just changed careers and no longer works in the aircraft restoration field, having become the general manager of the famous Classic Fighters airshow at Omaka.

ARNALDO CORREIA
Arnaldo has been interested in aeroplanes for as long as he can remember. His day job was never aviation-related but he offset that by reading everything he could about aviation history, particularly to do with the Portuguese military, and by being an aeromodeller. He is currently a Museu do Ar volunteer, having worked there for the first time during his gap year in 1975-76, and has written several articles for British aeromodelling magazines.

BILL TURNILL
While we were preparing this issue, containing his piece on flying the Valiant, former Meteor and ‘V-bomber’ pilot Bill and his wife Mary celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. No wonder he pays tribute to the part she played in his RAF career, through all the upheavals of moving home, long hours on duty and overseas deployments — of which Bill had many while serving on No 543 Squadron, the Wyton-based Valiant photo-recce unit. Look out also for his
1950s RAF College Cranwell memories in an upcoming edition