Lancaster, Hurricane & Spitfires - RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight - RIAT 2017 (Day 3)

The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight 70th Anniversary 'Thompson Formation' display, with their Avro Lancaster, a Hawker Hurricane and 3 Supermarine Spitfires.
Avro Lancaster PA474 is one of only two Lancaster aircraft remaining in airworthy condition out of the 7,377 that were built. After having a ‘major’ service at Duxford during the winter of 2016-17, PA474 is now painted on its port side as Lancaster BIII W5005, ‘AR-L’ “Leader” with nose art depicting a kangaroo in wellington boots playing the bagpipes, representing the mixed nationalities (Scottish, Australian and Welsh) of its crew at the time. W5005 flew 51 ‘ops’ with 460 Sqn (RAAF) from Binbrook and was then transferred to 550 Sqn at North Killingholme. It was ditched in the Humber Estuary having been hit by flak on its 94th ‘op’. On its starboard side PA474 wears the 50 Sqn code letters ‘VN-T’, these being the code letters of the aircraft in which Fg Off ‘Dougy’ Millikin, grandfather of the current OC BBMF, Squadron Leader Andy 'Milli' Millikin, flew 27 of the 35 ‘ops’ on his tour with 50 Sqn.
Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIc, LF363 was built at the Hawker factory at Langley near Slough. It first flew in January 1944 and is believed to be the last Hurricane to enter service with the RAF. LF363 has been painted with temporary code letters commemorating the aircraft flown by two surviving Battle of Britain pilots. The port side has the code letters GN-F worn by the 249 Sqn Hurricanes (P3616 and V7313) flown by Tom Neil in the Battle of Britain. Tom retired as a Wg Cdr with a DFC* and an AFC.
The starboard side has SD-A, the code letters of one of the 501 Sqn Hurricanes (P2760) flown by Paul Farnes during the Battle of Britain. He flew this aircraft from the official start of the Battle on 10th July to 14th September 1940. He was awarded the DFM and retired from the RAF as a Wg Cdr.
Supermarine Spitfire Mk. LF XVIE, TE311, was built at Castle Bromwich just after the war had ended, being taken on charge by the Air Ministry on 8th June 1945.
Seen here, TE311 is in black undercoat, but has since been painted to represent Spitfire Mk XVI TD240/SZ-G, the personal aircraft of Gp. Capt. Aleksander Gabszewicz, commanding No. 131 (Polish) Wg. during the closing stages of the war in Europe in 1945. This aircraft sported Gabszewicz's personal emblem of a boxing bulldog on the port engine cowling.
Spitfire Mk IIa P7350 was the fourteenth of 11,939 Spitfires which were eventually built at the Castle Bromwich ‘Shadow’ factory. Test flown by famous test pilot Alex Henshaw in August 1940, it was taken on charge by the RAF on 13 August and was delivered, by Henshaw, to No 6 Maintenance Unit (MU) at Brize Norton four days later, for the fitting of operational equipment.
With the Battle of Britain at its height, P7350 served with No. 266 Squadron from 6/9/40, at Wittering, Martlesham Heath and Collyweston. On 17 October 1940, P7350 was transferred to No 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron (AuxAF) at Hornchurch. On 25 October, whilst being flown by Polish pilot Ludwik Martel, P7350 was shot down by a German Bf109. A cannon shell punched a large hole in the port wing and Martel was wounded by shrapnel in the left side of his body and legs. Despite his injuries Martel managed to fly the aircraft down through 16,000 feet of thick cloud, in pain and fighting to stay conscious, to force land in a field near Hastings.
Following repair P7350 moved to No 616 (County of South Yorkshire) Squadron (AuxAF), based at Tangmere on 18/3/41. Further wartime service history can be read here - www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/theaircra...
P7350 is currently presented as Spitfire Mk. 1a, N3162 of No. 41 Squadron, coded ‘EB-G’, the aircraft flown by the top-scoring Battle of Britain fighter ace Eric Lock on 5 September 1940, when he destroyed 3 enemy aircraft in a single sortie.
Spitfire PR Mk. XIX, PS915 was built at Southampton in 1945 and entered service too late to see service in World War Two, joining 541 Squadron at Benson in June 1945 before moving to the PR Development Unit to take part in tests of new cameras.
In April 1947 she was assigned to No 2 Squadron at Wunstorf in Germany, flying ‘Cold War’ strategic reconnaissance sorties in connection with the East/West divide of Europe and during the Berlin Airlift of 1948/49. She was returned to the UK in 1951 and, after a period in storage at Cosford, joined the Temperature and Humidity Monitoring (THUM) Flight at Woodvale in 1954.
In 1957, PS915 became a founder member of the Historic Aircraft Flight, the forerunner of the BBMF, being flown to Biggin Hill from Duxford on 11th July 1957 by Wing Commander (later Group Captain) Peter Thompson DFC.
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[@josipvrandecic2472]

Your shot shows everything I really appreciate in aviation ... thanks Steve.

[@darrenrose5280]

Goose bumps m8

[@453421abcdefg12345]

This was an excellent long slot for the BoB flight. Thanks for posting !

[@richardjoganah1871]

brilent video ,the battle of britain memorial flight are the best in the world and the raf 😊

[@Callumscornerpoo]

Will the Lancaster be at cosford 2018