BBMF, 29th July

I can confirm that the Lanc/Hurri & Spit are leaving for Norwich via Lowestoft On 29th at 14.35 and are returning at 16.25 the next day. If you ask nicely I,m sure that one of the groundcrew might get your son closer.

I was on a tour in August 2002, and we were fortunate enough to see a departure as they were going to do a flypast that evening.

We were at the fence mentioned previosuly as they all started up and taxiied out – I should have some photos on a CD if you want me to dig them out. Quality isn’t very good though.

Not only did we get to see them warm up and depart, but they flew over the airfield once before departing, and then over the BBMF hangar for the tour group at no more than 200-300 feet – they were extremely low!

The tour guide was fantastic, a great laugh, and it was a brilliant half-hour or so. When there are some Typhoons at Coningsby I think I’ll go there again – if you can catch them departing I’d definantly recommend going. You might get lucky like we did.

After all they should (and probably will) say yes; Steve’s son could be future BBMF CO!

Now that’s scary (and perfectly possible…)

Yes please Steve, no harm in asking. The worst they can say is no. 🙂

Would be quite nice if he could get up close to the Lanc before she departs, do you know whether there’s anyone I could ask about whether that’s possible? BBMF website doesn’t show contact details…

I believe if you time a hanger tour at roughly the same time as the Lanc starts up then the guides will get you reasonably close to the lanc starting up as there is a small fenced in walkway that hugs the airfield perimeter and goes alongside the bbmf apron outside the hanger. This is handy as the main perimeter fence is useless for photography whilst the fence that stretches along the path where the guide takes you is only waist high and so you can take photos and your son can get good unblocked views.

The other thing you could do is arrive early, get a tour, no doubt the lanc would be parked outside in preperation for the flight, so nice views of the aircraft. Then when your tour has finished, drive on the road around the perimeter that leads you to a viewing area. Cross the road and there you can look over the fence to watch the take off. Your son may need to sit on your shoulders though 🙂

Hope some of this helps.

ps- I have a contact number for the BBMF Adjundant but Im not sure if they would be able to get any closer than what the tour would. If you wish I can PM this to you.

Cheers Neil. It’s looking like we’re tied to the 29th, as that’s his birthday and we have a bit of a tradition of birthday days out.

Still, we could get up there, do the tour, watch the Flight depart, and then take in East Kirkby briefly so that he gets two Lancs on his birthday. 🙂

Would be quite nice if he could get up close to the Lanc before she departs, do you know whether there’s anyone I could ask about whether that’s possible? BBMF website doesn’t show contact details…

Steve

the programme that I’ve got shows the Lancaster plus 1 Spit and 1 Hurri departing at 14.35 on the 29/7 and nightstopping away (Norwich)… I’ll check tomorrow if thats still the case unless anyone else here has a more up to date programme handy…. if you made it the 28th July then all the a/c should be ‘in’ and you could also treat yourself and go to the Just Jane taxi-run that day!!!

Neil.

http://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/information.cfm

Daddy Daddy