Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight 16th August 1980

I had always wanted to follow in the footsteps of my Dad and join the Royal Air Force. Some of my earliest memories were seeing him dressed in the smart blue-grey uniform which he would be wearing when returning home from RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire where he was a navigator on 51 Sqn. He always looked very smart and I was immensely proud of him. He was posted to RAF Coningsby in 1978 and although I was upset that we would have to up-sticks and relocate to Lincolnshire, leaving all my friends behind, this was somewhat tempered when he told me that the Lancaster was based there and I would be able to go and see it. It had always been my favourite aircraft from a very young age, and knowing that I could visit the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight filled me with much excitement. Imagine my elation when he announced that not only would I be able to go and see it, but he was going to be flying as Navigator on the Lancaster as a secondary duty. This meant that I could be taken inside the aircraft and have a good look around, (it's amazing how cramped and confined it is).  Furthermore, for my 11th birthday I had my very own flypast straight over the house with the Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane in tight formation. The sound of those six Merlin engines thundering ever closer towards me and my mum as we stood there waiting, is one of those moments in life that neither of us will ever forget. Unfortunately, as a child I had developed asthma and so there was no chance of me joining the RAF, so when I finally left school I really was at a loss as to what to do with my life, and it has taken many years to have finally found something that I truly love, my photography.

On the 16th of August 1980 my dad was part of the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight which was undertaking several displays in the Midlands area. Here is his account of that weekend and the stories behind the photographs you see here.

"We were a loose formation of Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane when we flew from RAF Coningsby to RAF Alconbury, a short 30 minute hop down to the USAF base in Cambridgeshire, on Saturday 16th August 1980, where we landed, ready to display a little later.

When we took off, we went straight into the full display, which took about 15 minutes, and then departed for Birmingham city centre, where we were required to overfly a tall civic building ( I can't remember which), but I do recall my relief seeing lots of people on the flat rooftop waving at us, so it must have been the right one.

We continued to our destination, Coventry, for the annual Air Pageant, but had been asked by the Coventry Evening Telegraph if we could orbit the cathedrals before landing at Baginton (Coventry) airport. As we arrived over Coventry from the northwest, the light aircraft which had been chartered by the Telegraph photographer took a picture of our loose formation over Highfield Road, Coventry City's football ground (match in progress). More on this picture later. Interestingly, the aircraft had considerable difficulty in keeping up with us, as our speed of 165 knots was more than he could maintain for long, so he was lucky to get the shot. In fact he lost us as we later approached the cathedrals for the all important pre-briefed aerial picture. Luckily, a cameraman on the ground managed to take a snapshot of the 3 aircraft as we passed over the spire of the old Coventry Cathedral.



The BBMF flying over Coventry Cathedral

The importance of this flypast lay in the fact that this was the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and the old cathedral had been bombed to a shell during the Coventry blitz of November 1940, but with its 300 ft spire somehow untouched and remaining defiant.

We landed 5 minutes later at Baginton where, after taxying to our parking spots, we shut the aircraft down and were soon greeted by a couple of officials. I can't remember whether they were RAFA representatives or air display staff, but they very kindly presented us with a large cake commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The picture, with the Lancaster as backdrop, shows crew members from the left:

Flt Lt Grant Taylor, Spitfire Pilot
Flt Lt Suzie Harrison, Ops Officer RAF Coningsby (supernumerary crew)
Sqn Ldr Jim Willis, (with sunglasses) Lancaster Co-pilot
Sqn Ldr Jacko Jackson, (cutting cake) Lancaster Captain OC BBMF
Flt Lt Malcolm Gardner (self), Lancaster Navigator
Sqn Ldr Dennis Crowson, (arms behind back) Lancaster Flight Engineer
Sqn Ldr Paul Day (aka The Major), Hurricane Pilot
BBMF Engineering Officer (name unknown)

The BBMF crew being presented with a cake commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Battle Of Britain 

As an aside to this story and, on the face of it, completely unconnected, I need to mention that my boyhood best mate, Clive Cartwright, who like me had always wanted to join the RAF as aircrew, had joined the Air Training Corps, as I did, when we were 13 years old. We grew up together in the ATC,and although I eventually joined up, Clive didn't manage it, but instead remained as an adult in the ATC, and in fact had just been commissioned in the RAFVR Training Branch. Sadly he died in 1972 (aged 30) as the result of a tragic accident during an ATC display, before he could take up his commission. Clive's favourite aircraft had always been the Spitfire, and it is this aircraft that connects the story to the picture over Coventry. Our HQ, 8F(1st City of Coventry) Squadron ATC, at the rear of Frederick Bird's school, appears in the picture. It is the white building on the edge of the school sports field, directly beneath the Spitfire's propeller, and it is uncanny that the photographer took the picture at that exact moment. Clive was also an avid supporter of the "Sky Blues", playing at home, 33 years ago almost to the day.

Flying over Coventry City Football ground 'Highfield Road'.

Squadron Leader Malcolm Gardner"