Hi All,
I was just arriving home from work last night at about 18:45 and saw –
1. A flight of 4 helicopters heading in a northerly direction towards Bromley/London, consisting of what looked like a Merlin, Sea King and X2 Lynx’s. Height about 1,500ft. Anybody any idea what this was about?
2. The “Biggin Hill” PBY flew over about 5 minutes later (again at about 1,500 ft), also heading north but on what looked like a slightly different track (I’d say heading towards the Dartford QE2 Bridge / North Weald)?
Answers on a postcard……
Cheers, PBY
By: PBY - 10th May 2013 at 14:02
Great, thanks guys.
I knew somebody would know!
I missed the One Show on BBC but I’ll have a look on the iplayer.
Regards, Darrell
By: David Legg - 10th May 2013 at 13:54
Hi All,
I was just arriving home from work last night at about 18:45 and saw –
2. The “Biggin Hill” PBY flew over about 5 minutes later (again at about 1,500 ft), also heading north but on what looked like a slightly different track (I’d say heading towards the Dartford QE2 Bridge / North Weald)?
Answers on a postcard……
Cheers, PBY
The Catalina was the Duxford-based G-PBYA as guessed by ‘jeepman’ and not as you surmise. It was orbiting in a ‘hold’ circuit over South East London before following the Royal Navy ‘Atlantic’ formation of Swordfish, Lynx, Sea Kings and Merlin to Greenwich at 800ft then along the course of the Thames, ascending to 1,000 ft at Tower Bridge and then turning south and through around 270 degrees to track across London and on to Duxford.
By: jeepman - 10th May 2013 at 13:40
Last night’s “The One Show” -available on the BBC iPlayer I think – provides the answer.
HMS Illustrious moored in the Port of London, hosting a formal dinner to commemorate the Battle of the Atlantic. Guests interviewed included Lt Cdr Eric Brown.
The helicopters were subsequently joined by the Swordfish for the flypast- and I’m guessing that the PBY was actually the Duxford example as it carried Stars and Bars
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May 10, 2013 at 1:04 pm