A point was raised as to the fact that this aircraft would fly as a flying memorial to the 55,000 killed, fair enough, but I was critised on this forum for complaining about the lack of publicity given by the media to the arrival of Liberty Belle over here. Wasn’t that the whole point of it’s visit, to honour those aircrews killed. WE know what it represents, but it didn’t seem to be made clear to the good old general public, or would they care anyway, unless they were made to think about it of course, or could be bothered to think about their own past generations that commited the ultimate sacrifice.
I shouldn’t be so critical, but I think that in the current generation, that the recent past fades very quickly. Some of us care, but we are in a minority.

im not the only one who that thought that then :rolleyes:

Glad to hear that from another so called Essex Chav, we must have more brain cells than we get credited for.

Interesting to do a bit more research and find out that the the TFC example was in fact the same Gladiator that probably last flew as a twosome with the OW a/c back in the late 40’s as members of the RAF meteorological flight, they appear to be the two purchased by Glosters and subsequently rescued by Viv Bellamy. What an opportunity to see them back together again, hopefully the paperwork and gremlins will be sorted in time for them to recreate this at Shuttleworth this summer, I look forward to seeing that, 60 years on, what an amazing historical fete accompli.

Was shooting Amy yesterday at another festival and boy does she like a drink… A shame when she turned towards my camera and one eye was looking west whilst the other looked east. 😮

Was that ‘T in the Park’, my missus watched that and reckoned that poor old Amy was even worse than she was at Glastonbury, in fact she had to turn it off in the end as she found it quite upsetting.
Do these promoters have a sick sense of humour, do they keep putting her on in the knowledge that her performances will inevitably be contraversial, that something nasty will happen and she will self destruct on stage to the delight of the media.
The problem is, that if all her bookings ceased, and her recording contracts were withdrawn, as in theory they should be until she sorts herself out, which is unlikely, whose going to accept responsibility for throwing her into the abyss, which will no doubt happen in the end.
It’s the same problem with Pete Docherty. To be fair, I think he does have a talent, unfortunately he can’t harness it at the moment, but, he turns up, mumbling his way through every concert that the promoters give him and it’s pathetic to watch it, whats the point, again, I think it’s a high profile sick joke by the promoters.
We can live in hope, look at Keith Richards, how he has survived for so long, yet remain at the top of the game, is beyond me, he should have been dead years ago.
I saw a Stones concert at Stafford 35? years ago and Richards was fantastic, only later did we discover that he crashed his Rolls on the way home down the M1 because he was smacked out on every drug going, did it affect his performance, no way, what a dude, he must have set a bad example to these people whom they think they can emulate.
Amy and Pete, you are talented, get a grip, please try and sort yourselves out, it must be hard, but you could have the world at your feet.

Isn’t Winehouse the lass that’s mentally unstable??

The media keep trying to make excuses for her, how long this will last I don’t know. She is in big trouble, her performances are really awful, although no one is prepared to state this, but then again the sun shines out of Pete Docherty’s backside and he gets away with it, he seems to be booked at every concert going, so who knows what will happen, nobody cares, if the sickoes are prepared to pay to see these troubled people, they will keep going until they finally drop, which even Mick Jagger thinks will happen to Winehouse. As long as it has nothing to do with mice.
She is so obsessed with her criminal husband that we think that when he eventually comes out of stir, there maybe a bit of trouble, in which case she may top herself.
A great talent of unfortunate self destruction, I can’t see her surviving much longer. What do you think.

We have one unique flying Lancaster courtesy of the BBMF, isn’t that enough.
It’s always a pleasure to see this aircraft flying at so many events, it’s rarity adds to the value of seeing it, how many times have we seen this aircraft in action, so many, but lets leave it at that.
I last saw Just Jane when it was parked outside of Scampton, I’ve never been up to EK to appreciate the taxi runs, but from what I read and see, it’s a bit of an occasion.
I think we should appreciate what we have at the moment, the BBMF Lanc seems to fullfill the sight and sound of this wonderful aircraft, putting a privately owned version back in the air could be a financial disaster for the Panton brothers, what airshow managers are going to pay out for a privately owned example when you can get the BBMF routine with the spitfire and hurricane that we all know and love.
Yes, 2 examples of this classic aircraft flying together would be a wonderful sight, really, thats all we want to see isn’t it, but it doesn’t make sense in the end for those that have to finance it.
Lets be happy in the knowledge that if anything terrible happened to PA474, that we have at least a replacement working Lancaster that could step into her shoes.
Don’t do it boys, leave things as they are.

Have checked out the flood risk to several airfields in the UK, military and civil, so far they seem fine. However, try Gatwick, it’s unbelievable, a veritable lake waiting to happen over most of the airfield, is anything being done about this.

Lovely sight of the Ju 52 flying back to Germany from DX this morning, very low and noisy over here, followed later by the inevitable Merlin.

Has anyone looked on the Environment Agency Flood Map for the airfield.
It quite clearly shows that a large part of the eastern end of the airfield is at risk from severe flooding.
I would have thought that the MoD would have been aware of this and taken precautions. It was only a few years ago that a lot of work was carried out on the airfield, which is why RIAT was shifted to Cottesmore. The additional hardstandings and building work would only produce additional run off which the drainage system, as shown on those UKAR photographs, can’t obviously cope with. Whether anything was done to the existing surface water system at the time, I wouldn’t like to say, but if the flood map shows potential problems for this major military airbase, then the MoD must be putting their heads in the sand, or mud, in this case, and hoping the problem will go away or never happen.
Remember the last Air Fete at Mildenhall. Saturday it rained, so we went on the sunday, when it p####d down all day. Apart from the problem of spending most of the day under a tarpaulin, I don’t recall any problems with flooding, or waterlogged ground, or cars getting stuck, and most of the flying took place, even the sacred B2 went up in a cloud of spray.
Admittedly, being on the edge of Thetford Forest, the ground around there is very sandy, it probably acts as a sponge, but there’s a hell of a lot of concrete and buildings at Mildenhall and the area is very flat, but according to the Environment Agency maps, no risk of flooding at all.
Perhaps if someones got nothing to do today, a flood risk assesment of UK airfields would be an interesting exercise, and probably an eye opener too.