BBMF ~ 617 flypast, tomorrow 16 May 08.
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A couple of shots from a higher perspective than Richard's - some great shots there, Ricko!
The Lancaster looked impressive in the daytime - I couldn't imagine flying at 60 feet at night around there in one, though.
Lest we forget.
Graeme
The Lancaster looked impressive in the daytime - I couldn't imagine flying at 60 feet at night around there in one, though.
Lest we forget.
Graeme
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I can imagine flying at 60 feet at night - but I wouldn't want to.
They were gallant, brave and steadfast young men all and first among them the incomparable Gibson - a Wing Commander DSO*, DFC* at age 24 and then a VC.
Barnes Wallis said of him, "For some men of great courage and adventure, inactivity was a slow death. Would a man like Gibson ever have adjusted back to peacetime life? One can imagine it would have been a somewhat empty existence after all he had been through. Facing death had become his drug. He had seen countless friends and comrades perish in the great crusade. Perhaps something in him even welcomed the inevitability he had always felt that before the war ended he would join them in their Bomber Command Valhalla. He had pushed his luck beyond all limits and he knew it. But that was the kind of man he was…a man of great courage, inspiration and leadership. A man born for war…but born to fall in war."
Harris described him thus: "As great a warrior as this island ever produced."
Will we see their like again? I hope so.
They were gallant, brave and steadfast young men all and first among them the incomparable Gibson - a Wing Commander DSO*, DFC* at age 24 and then a VC.
Barnes Wallis said of him, "For some men of great courage and adventure, inactivity was a slow death. Would a man like Gibson ever have adjusted back to peacetime life? One can imagine it would have been a somewhat empty existence after all he had been through. Facing death had become his drug. He had seen countless friends and comrades perish in the great crusade. Perhaps something in him even welcomed the inevitability he had always felt that before the war ended he would join them in their Bomber Command Valhalla. He had pushed his luck beyond all limits and he knew it. But that was the kind of man he was…a man of great courage, inspiration and leadership. A man born for war…but born to fall in war."
Harris described him thus: "As great a warrior as this island ever produced."
Will we see their like again? I hope so.
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Bomber Command Memorial
The campaign for a Bomber Command medal continues, but it is worth mentioning that the President of the Bomber Command Association, MRAF Sir Michael Beetham, prefers, and is working tirelessly for, a permanent memorial in a prominent location in London.
Sir Michael was a pilot on 50 Sqn during the war, was awarded the DFC, completed 10 bombing missions over Berlin and took part in the notorious Nuremberg raid when Bomber Command suffered its heaviest losses of the entire war.
Sir Michael IS the voice of wartime Bomber Command and will doubtless get his way. This brave and gallant airman is also the President of the 50 and 61 Sqns' Association and is still amazingly active at the age of 85.
Sir Michael will attend the annual 50 and 61 Sqns' reunion dinner on 7 Jun in Lincoln, with 3 surviving members of his wartime Lancaster crew. We are privileged to have them.
Pip pip ON
Sir Michael was a pilot on 50 Sqn during the war, was awarded the DFC, completed 10 bombing missions over Berlin and took part in the notorious Nuremberg raid when Bomber Command suffered its heaviest losses of the entire war.
Sir Michael IS the voice of wartime Bomber Command and will doubtless get his way. This brave and gallant airman is also the President of the 50 and 61 Sqns' Association and is still amazingly active at the age of 85.
Sir Michael will attend the annual 50 and 61 Sqns' reunion dinner on 7 Jun in Lincoln, with 3 surviving members of his wartime Lancaster crew. We are privileged to have them.
Pip pip ON
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The actor Richard Todd [who played Gibson in the film] was interviewed this aft on BBC R5, he sounds barely half his 88 years. He was full of praise and admiration for those that took part in the raid, and spoke of his regret that he had never actually met any of them, 'I was elsewhere' he said dismissively.
Minutes after the interview ended the studio was receiving numerous messages explaining just where 'elsewhere' was. The consensus being that Todd was probably training for his forthcoming drop by parachute into occupied France, as later portrayed in the film The Longest Day.
Minutes after the interview ended the studio was receiving numerous messages explaining just where 'elsewhere' was. The consensus being that Todd was probably training for his forthcoming drop by parachute into occupied France, as later portrayed in the film The Longest Day.
I was fortunate to be in the Derwent Valley today. Truly a wonderful experience and a privilege. BBMF and 617, a very big thank you from me and Mrs Fortyodd2.
P.S. Ricko ~ did you have to duck??
P.P.S. Was there any particular reason that the Sky News Heli felt it necessary to drown out the Last Post, Silence and Reveille?
P.S. Ricko ~ did you have to duck??
P.P.S. Was there any particular reason that the Sky News Heli felt it necessary to drown out the Last Post, Silence and Reveille?
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The BBC News helo pilot had the right idea as he landed away up in a clearing on one of the hills before the event started, thus was free to take off shortly before the Lancaster arrived without spoiling the event through noise.
The Sky News helo pilot had already been told to make himself scarce for 10 minutes when the service started at 10am as he was making a fair bit of noise at that time (from my position on the slopes of Abbey Banks the helo was drowning out what seemed to be a band at the time). Bad form.
The Sky News helo pilot had already been told to make himself scarce for 10 minutes when the service started at 10am as he was making a fair bit of noise at that time (from my position on the slopes of Abbey Banks the helo was drowning out what seemed to be a band at the time). Bad form.
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Old Ned,
I think that Sir Michael has the right idea. A permanent memorial would be more worthwhile, and Fighter Command already have one. Perhaps Coastal should have one (at Aldergrove, St Eval, or Leuchars, perhaps?) too.
I think that Sir Michael has the right idea. A permanent memorial would be more worthwhile, and Fighter Command already have one. Perhaps Coastal should have one (at Aldergrove, St Eval, or Leuchars, perhaps?) too.
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Jacko,
The memory of Bomber Command has been served well this past month - the Vulcan and 617, and the time is perfect to give things a little push. I don't think the time will ever be as right as it is at the moment, public opinion would seem to be with the campaign and it seems to be establishing critical mass. Robin Gibb was on the BBC last week, breathing life into thing again and it can only be a matter of time. I agree too that Coastal Command, in fact all of 'em, should have their own proper memorials. Bomber Command, if it were to have anything, should have somewhere spiritual and somewhere more earthy too. Flamborough Head would offer a superb location, be slightly closer to the heart of things (as well as being less London-centric, but thats not the main issue..) and would also be in keeping with the ethereal feel of Capel le Ferne.
On a more practical note, the Bomber Command Heritage RAF Bicester (Bisto!) campaign cruises on. This is the ideal opportunity to preserve something tangible for the future (I wonder what apathy the person who fought to save HMS Victory had to endure?) and yet all the MoD seems to be doing, is allowing the place to rot away so that it can sell it off with a clean beaurocratic conscience. It is the ideal, the perfect location for many educational/youth/veteran etc activities and would offer the Bomber Command legacy an enduring and practical outlet. Another member here (bc heritage) and involved with that campaign from the outset summed it up:
RAF Bicester offers all that, and more. I am looking forward to meeting up with them there, a week tomorrow. And although I can't speak for Tony and the guys, I am sure that they would be more than welcome to get the message across to as many as possible.. including those who have the practical means to give things a shove. 
Edit: Shamelessly nicked from The Telegraph.
The memory of Bomber Command has been served well this past month - the Vulcan and 617, and the time is perfect to give things a little push. I don't think the time will ever be as right as it is at the moment, public opinion would seem to be with the campaign and it seems to be establishing critical mass. Robin Gibb was on the BBC last week, breathing life into thing again and it can only be a matter of time. I agree too that Coastal Command, in fact all of 'em, should have their own proper memorials. Bomber Command, if it were to have anything, should have somewhere spiritual and somewhere more earthy too. Flamborough Head would offer a superb location, be slightly closer to the heart of things (as well as being less London-centric, but thats not the main issue..) and would also be in keeping with the ethereal feel of Capel le Ferne.
On a more practical note, the Bomber Command Heritage RAF Bicester (Bisto!) campaign cruises on. This is the ideal opportunity to preserve something tangible for the future (I wonder what apathy the person who fought to save HMS Victory had to endure?) and yet all the MoD seems to be doing, is allowing the place to rot away so that it can sell it off with a clean beaurocratic conscience. It is the ideal, the perfect location for many educational/youth/veteran etc activities and would offer the Bomber Command legacy an enduring and practical outlet. Another member here (bc heritage) and involved with that campaign from the outset summed it up:
However, a suitable place should not be tainted by facts like geographical location, special ops, largest amount of ordinance dropped by Sqdns, biggest aircraft, or biggest runways. It is about future generations remembering those of the Command in the best possible environment, when we ourselves are no longer on this Earth.
Edit: Shamelessly nicked from The Telegraph.
Last edited by Al R; 17th May 2008 at 08:26.
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Al R,
I'll be at Flamborough Head later in the week. It's a nice thought to put the memorial up there. The headland is also home to a memorial to one John Paul Jones (that's US Navy, not the singer) and one of the worse access roads in the country! It's a bit of a bleak place at the best of times and I can't see much traffic getting out there.
Problem is, of course, the memorial would never be in the right place! Someone would always have a better and more historical claim to it.
I'll be at Flamborough Head later in the week. It's a nice thought to put the memorial up there. The headland is also home to a memorial to one John Paul Jones (that's US Navy, not the singer) and one of the worse access roads in the country! It's a bit of a bleak place at the best of times and I can't see much traffic getting out there.
Problem is, of course, the memorial would never be in the right place! Someone would always have a better and more historical claim to it.
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Cool, take some shots! I'd love to see what its like now. Probably pretty much the same as its been for decades. lol
I imagine Flamborough being spiritual in that just as the fighter pilot looks out to sea at Capel, then so too did many crews leave these shores at that point, never to return. I concede 100% the issue of being hard to get to, thats a crying shame and its the only downer with the idea. I suppose that wherever we are, we will remember them though, and that as time continues it will become more about what it represents, not how it can directly benefit 'us' in the here and now. That goes well for the idea of putting a memorial in London too, although it seems to me, to be rather obvious.
Bicester is a great chance to centralise everything that Bomber Command stood for. It has the potential to be not only somewhere for remembrance, a Summer camp/ Learning Centre for Space Cadets, somewhere that is a Halfway House for servicemen leaving the RAF, somewhere that RAF Service charities could be located, somewhere central for Rehab and Resettlement, somewhere for just about anything which Bomber Command stood and fought for. That to me, is the practical side of how we can and must remember them.. not with 'just' a memorial, but something far more tangible and far reaching, something set into trust that will be here in 200 years time.
Nigel Rogoff set off earlier this week from Greenwich. The irony is that it is where Nelson set aside buidlings for Petty Officers and Ratings to be used in times of their need. I took this shot the other week (the place is breathtaking).. and remembered too are those who came here to fight alonside us. Bicester could become the RAF equiv of that - somewhere that we nurture those who follow us tomorrow and where we can take care of those who were here yesterday.
I imagine Flamborough being spiritual in that just as the fighter pilot looks out to sea at Capel, then so too did many crews leave these shores at that point, never to return. I concede 100% the issue of being hard to get to, thats a crying shame and its the only downer with the idea. I suppose that wherever we are, we will remember them though, and that as time continues it will become more about what it represents, not how it can directly benefit 'us' in the here and now. That goes well for the idea of putting a memorial in London too, although it seems to me, to be rather obvious.
Bicester is a great chance to centralise everything that Bomber Command stood for. It has the potential to be not only somewhere for remembrance, a Summer camp/ Learning Centre for Space Cadets, somewhere that is a Halfway House for servicemen leaving the RAF, somewhere that RAF Service charities could be located, somewhere central for Rehab and Resettlement, somewhere for just about anything which Bomber Command stood and fought for. That to me, is the practical side of how we can and must remember them.. not with 'just' a memorial, but something far more tangible and far reaching, something set into trust that will be here in 200 years time.
Nigel Rogoff set off earlier this week from Greenwich. The irony is that it is where Nelson set aside buidlings for Petty Officers and Ratings to be used in times of their need. I took this shot the other week (the place is breathtaking).. and remembered too are those who came here to fight alonside us. Bicester could become the RAF equiv of that - somewhere that we nurture those who follow us tomorrow and where we can take care of those who were here yesterday.
Last edited by Al R; 17th May 2008 at 19:13.