BBMF plane selection

er, no, Wellingtons mainly

Errr correct me if i’m wrong but didn’t Lancasters take part in the bombing of Berlin after those Heinkels bombed London by mistake that was during the Battle of Britain

I dont think a Bf109 would be a bad addition to the flight-No-one complained about black 6! Some representation of the German types would be good. They fought and died as well, remember?

But it’s an RAF memorial – you’d get the veterans kicking up **** if you had that.

Don’t the Germans have a memorial of some sort?

I dont think a Bf109 would be a bad addition to the flight-No-one complained about black 6! Some representation of the German types would be good. They fought and died as well, remember?

But then not as part of the classic 3-ship. that would look very wrong. From an aesthetic point of view. A mosquito flying behind the lanc tho would have been awesome. Surely there must be one which could be flown?

Jay

If you look at the age of the remaining Kiwi fleet [except 757’s] it is the historic flight..

Oscar Duck, You beat me to the joke… 🙂
On the helo side alone, the Souix first flew in 1947 (world’s first certified civilian helicopter), the Seasprite in 1959, and the Huey in 1956.
I’ll be kind and won’t make any comments about the age of the Tiger Moth and Harvard….
Aside from the 757s, P-3s, C-130s, and armed Seasprites…it sounds more like the inventory of a flying club than an air force. Not that I’m knocking New Zealand, if you’re a small country and no one’s mad at you, why have an air force with anything other than maritime patrol planes and transports?
If something bad happens, I’m sure Australia, the US, UN or UK would come to the rescue.

If you look at the age of the remaining Kiwi fleet [except 757’s] it is the historic flight..

Just keep them all. I love it the way it is.

J.V.

Keep the Dak it is a super work horse.

Helen Clark (the winner of the ugliest political leader of the year award).

And that includes Victor whats-his-name in the Ukraine who was poisoned with agent orange, disappointingly he came runner-up agaijn in this competition but clearly this time it wasn’t a rigged vote. 🙂

Glass half full? Since you’re in the chair, I’ll have an ‘alf

Dave

you are the first person I have come across who has almost defended the current parlous state of the RNZAF rather that go off on a long rant about Helen Clark (the winner of the ugliest political leader of the year award). I can see that you area glass is half fully type of person.

Dave

New Zealand doesnt have an Air Force any more so cant have a historic flight 😉 (a bit of a flip comment but now the A-4’s have gone you only have C-130’s and P-3’s – all very sad considering wht might have been)

er, and Iroquois, Soiux, Seasprites, Boeing 757’s, Airtrainers, Beechs, a Harvard and a Tiger Moth!! Plus some new choppers coming very soon, and two hangars full of A4K and Maachi jets that still belong to the RNZAF.

When I was in the RNZAF their Historic Flight was an active flight within the Central Flying School, using CFS pilots, mechanics, etc. The planes were on the RNZAF’s books, and treated like all other active aircraft in terms of maintenance, etc. (I assume it is still the same – that is, of course, if it is still going).

Dave

New Zealand doesnt have an Air Force any more so cant have a historic flight 😉 (a bit of a flip comment but now the A-4’s have gone you only have C-130’s and P-3’s – all very sad considering wht might have been)

The RNHF are not an active squadron within the FAA, the aircraft are owned and operated by a Trust within the MOD (some please give chaper and verse). The BBMF are a unit within an RAF Command and are staffed by full time RAF maintenance crews assigned to that squadron/flight.

my apologies on the B-26 and thanks for enlightening me.

If you don’t think that the Dak is a worthy combat aircraft, tell that to Jimmy Edwards [dec.] and the other thousands of brave men on D-Day and Arnhem not to mention every other theatre of the war….[I guess you Poms are sensitive because you could’nt make a people/cargo carrier to save yr a@$e…]

Pacific action

I don’t think any B-26’s were around for the battle of midway

They sure were. 38th BG aircraft were outfitted with torpedo racks of all things.
In fact, their Pacific debut was in April of 42. They didn’t make it to North Africa until November. And they didn’t fly combat out of the UK until May of 43.

I don’t think any B-26’s were around for the battle of midway

The point is, that the Royal Air Force is the ONLY Air Force in the world which still has, on military strength, and operated by military crews, aircraft which are representative of types which flew during the greatest conflict known to man, and moreover these aeroplanes are operated solely as memorials.

So does the RNZAF no longer have the Historic Flight? It operates/operated ust how you describe the BBMF. And what about the FAA’s RNHF?

Hi Michal,
Welcome to the forum. You’ve made a couple of good points! It’s worth bearing in mind that it often (seems) overly critical here as many of us have high expectations. Perhaps we also sometimes take for granted what we have too. I’d begun to take the BBMF for granted a few years ago until I was to watch the Lanc overfly a town hall where a group of veterans were gathered. Amazing reaction.

The Dak has a major role, and it’s display at the G-VFWE at Abingdon this spring was excellent.

I’m a bit amazed at anyone here complaining about having vintage a/c flown as part of the BBMF. :rolleyes:

Cheers

Welcome to the Forum Michal.
Your English is better than my Polish!!

Thanks 🙂

In Poland we can only dream about something like BBMF 🙁
(and other airworthy WWII warbirds… we have only few Jungmann replikas, one or two CSS-13 – Polish built Po-2, a few Cubs and one DC-3 under restoration… )

PS.
PZ865 looked better in older colour scheme (as RF-U) 😉

Michal

Hmmm – as a spectator and (sometime) taxpayer, I have to say I am in two minds.

If it is the BofBMF, then there is no doubt that ALL pilots (on any side) were equally brave an deserving of a memorial flight in equal measure.

If it is the WWII MF, then same applies.

However, as this is an RAF WWII MF entitled the BofBMF, then the RAF should continue adding RAF service aircraft if and when they (sorry WE the taxpayer) can afford it.

And with councils wasting millions of pounds of tax payers money cobbling back streets which are never seen by tourists and need constant maintenance & shoving roundabouts where they are completely unnecessary in the final month of the financial year just to justify increasing the expenditure next year (rant over) I think we can afford it.

Personally, I would like to see all the airmen serving with all civilian and military airforces taking part in WWII recognised.