RAF FLYPAST down the Mall in 1945!

Am I right in thinking that the DB Spitfire has french roundels, looks to be the opposite colours to the others.

The flypast didn’t just go over London. My Dad remembers watching it over Coventry!

Thanks Bruggen 130 for that great post-war pic of Douglas Bader. 😎

J.V.

From “Pictorial History of the RAF” 1971 £ 1.50 from a Charity shop 😀
Phil.

Thanks Bruggen 130 for that great post-war pic of Douglas Bader. 😎

J.V.

What squadron does the second aircraft in the line-up belong to? The codes look like “7B-something” :confused:

595 Squadron. They had a few Spit XIIs after the fact too. Army Co-op if I remember right.

Dan

What squadron does the second aircraft in the line-up belong to? The codes look like “7B-something” :confused:

Good info here…thanks men…was hoping to see some great color footage of this historic event ! I was happy to see some very rare color footage of Wing Commander Gibson in the 60th Anniversary DVD of the Dams Raid from Channel Four. Guess some one at The Imperial War Museum might know. In today’s digital age of photography has sure spoiled us!!!!!

That Spit HAS to be some modeller’s subject – where’s Snapper’s mate?

I stand corrected gentlemen … but it was a good excuse to pop in that shot of the Hurricane … a few bits from it survive in the Manston example … pity, this one had an interesting history.

Hi.
This is a shot from history of the RAF. Shows Bader readying for takeoff
or is it take off 😮
Phil.

And wasn’t it 300 aircraft in that flypast.

The old pic of him swinging his leg over the side of a Spit (marked ‘DB’ instead of ‘D-B’) is probably from that day.

Bader led the formation in a spitfire IX from North Weald, I’ve seen several pictures and some footage and i thought there was a picture of him in the spitfire in reach for the sky but i can’t remember exactly.

From what I remember of reading “Reach for the Sky” I thought that Bader flew a solitary Hurricane at the head of the Flypast.

Talking of Hurricanes …

I think this pic might have been taken then – the mirror is of the later type fitted to Spitfire IXs etc.

There was a photo taken of Bader swinging his leg to get into a Spitfire, which used to appear fairly regularly; it is in false colour though. – Nermal

Is this not briefly referred to at the end of the movie “Reach for the Sky”, including a brief snippet of the actual formation?

I don’t know exactly how many there were, but it was on 15th September 1945, a week before my mother’s seventh birthday. She still vividly remembers watching the Spitfires flying overhead, and being told that the formation was being led by a pilot with no legs.