Interesting piece here from OC BBMF about Friday’s drama.
With 3 minutes to go I stood in the rain, 500 other people sheltering from the rain in the Hangar or under the tents, looking out to the North to see if I could see her. To the south the sky was a little brighter, but to the north, where VR A was coming from, it was ominously black. Then there was a shout from Rog Nichols, one of our Lanc Pilots, and there she was, on finals, wheels down, at the end of an epic journey!
Removing my rose tinted glasses for a while, this to me seems a little worrying.
I wonder, that with the sizeable event that had been organised at BBMF’s hangar, just how much pressure was on the Canadians to take such a risk of flying their precious VFR aircraft, in absolutely appalling vis and conditions, to complete the journey, rather than make a diversionary landing elsewhere which at the time I’m sure would normally have been considered appropriate?
The BBMF / Red Arrows after all, rather than risk their aircraft in these conditions decided not to fly and so it seems that it would actually have been the appropriate decision.
What’s others views?
from OC BBMF
I can’t tell you how pleased I was to see her, along with 500 people at the Flight, and thousands outside the fence.
The rest of the afternoon was fabulous, welcoming the boys and then, most importantly, honouring more than 100 veterans who had come as our guests of honour.
The first line augments & indicates to me ‘the pressure’ of expectation that existed.
Also there were a lot less people there than I was expecting, maybe a thousand or so, possibly creeping towards two thousand, but nowhere near as many as I thought would be.
Just how many others might have been put off going, what with the weather, “stay away” and road closure / parking restriction warnings etc?
Prior to moving to the BBMF area, for the actual landing I was in a parking area next to the main base camp just over halfway down the runway right next to the taxiway and there were no more that 60 or 70 cars there, in a car park that holds some 1100 vehicles. I expected hundreds at least.
I was also expecting traffic problems everywhere, but the only traffic came about when everyone wanted to leave the BBMF area at the same time and could only exit through Coningsby village.
Why did they have to close Dogdyke Road?
from OC BBMF
But this is just the start. Now, the adventure begins…..
Indeed let it……….but not by taking unnecessary risks, keep it safe.
You can feel the passion in that very informative post, reflecting our own.
And is the very reason that perhaps a little step back for other reflections to happen and made me reflect about the depth of the occasion too.
Are they still going to fly passengers?
I hope to get up close and have good look at this lovely machine at a couple of venues and I hope everyone else enjoys her stay. :applause:
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