The August Bank Holiday weekend saw plenty of air display activity across the UK, for us, that was three different displays in 3 days. Kicking off the proceedings on Saturday night saw Airborne Pyrotechnics take to the Essex skies, above Barleylands Farm Park, for the Essex Sausage and Cider Festival, organised by James Dean Events. The display is always an attention grabber, particularly when set against a picture perfect sky.
Sunday saw one of the team supporting the Little Gransden Charity Car and Airshow in Cambridgeshire, a great little venue, with a fantastic display line up. The event, organised to raise money for Children in Need is hosted each year, by the Global Stars Team Leader, Mark Jefferies. A huge crowd and hopefully alot of money raised for a great cause.
Monday, it was a bit closer to home, as we returned to East Kirkby, home of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre and its resident Lancaster ‘Just Jane’, with her stable mate, Mosquito NJ711. The Lanc, Tanks and Military Machines event is always a favourite, with a mix of WW2 battles, this year with 3 Tanks and re-enactors. With 3 planned flying displays for the day, the weather beat the first display on the list, with the en-route weather being out of limits.
It was left to the Spitfire MkXVI TE311, ably flown by Flt Lt Andy Preece of the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight to kick off the displays. The BBMF, are really the ‘home team’ for East Kirkby, based just a few miles away at RAF Coningsby, with many links back to BBMF, not least the number of former members of the Flight who now volunteer at the centre in various roles, including taxing the Lancaster and Mosquito.
Closing the Flying displays was B-17 Sally ‘B’ flown by Peter Kuypers, as always a great display of this fantastic aircraft. It is always a pleasure to see Sally ‘B’ at East Kirkby, a nod to the airfields former role as a WW2 Bomber base and a tribute to all those from all nations who flew these giants during the conflict.
