This Lancaster is one of only two in the world that is still airworthy (the other is in Canada).
It was en route to my home town of Darwen in Lancashire where we held a 1940's themed day on Saturday.
Darwen has two strong connections to the Spitfire. Firstly it was the smallest town in the country to raise the £5,000 from the townsfolk in 1940 to send a cheque to Lord Beaverbrook to fund the construction of a Spitfire..."Borough of Darwen" which got shot down within a year. And secondly because the Perspex canopies were manufactured at the ICI (now Lucite) plant in Darwen.
So I asked the RAF if we could please have a flypast of a Spitfire. We ended up with the full Battle of Britain package of the Spitfire, Hurricane and the Lancaster bomber.
It came up over Saddleworth, Singleborough, Rawtenstall, 3 flyby's over Darwen town centre at 1.15pm, and then off over Preston to Blackpool. It was the absolute highlight of the day, better even than the Spitfire!
|