An Awesome Aviation Adventure 30th July 2022

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds, - and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of............

so wrote John Gillespie Magee in 1940. This is the start of his sonnet which has been adopted by several Air Forces around the world. Apparently it was hypoxia that influenced his hyperbole that finally had him touching the face of God. He was an Anglo-American who flew in the Royal Canadian Air Force and sadly died in a mid-air collision over Ruskington aged 19. He is buried at Scopwick. I have subsequently photographed his grave which you can see below. 

All this I learnt at the excellent "We'll meet again" Museum at Freiston near Boston Lincolnshire. The main reason to visit was to experience flying a WW2 Lancaster Bomber whilst I say "experience" that was exactly what I did. Out of over 7,000 built there are only two of these iconic aeroplanes left in air-worthy condition and flying regularly. One in Canada and one (the City of Lincoln) based in RAF Coningsby with the rest of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Clearly I wasn't going to get my hands on either of those so my experience was to be virtual.

Now all this was thanks to an invitation from David and Janet Smith who had already taken a party to the museum and realised that there was the possibility to fly, indeed David had booked in, so I agreed to join him and caught the next plane, as it were.

Just a few more words about the museum before I go on to talk about the flying. I most highly recommend that you make the effort to visit yourself. It thoroughly repays the £6 entrance fee (£40 more if you want half an hours flying). We spent an effortless four hours there. The owners Paul and Linda are supported by a number of very knowledgeable and enthusiastic volunteers who not only keep the place spotlessly clean, provide excellent catering and spout information like geysers.

This is what the others see of me when I'm flying, not too impressive I hear you say, but it's not at all what I see, hear, or feel. First of all this is an original Lancaster cockpit that I am sitting in. Secondly you can see Paul behind me who is looking at the screen to his left and will be talking me through the flight. There is also a screen on the side of the plane which the audience (Helen, Jan and David) can also see. They can see exactly what I see when I look straight ahead into my headset which is giving me my reality.

I offer you this shot next because although I am already flying, it shows the cockpit off well. All the dials are functioning and relate to exactly what I do as well as where I am, speed, elevation etc. As you look out of the window the ground below is how it is . You can see the cars travelling on the roads but you can't quite see the people waving up to you!

Shortly after take off from RAF Coningsby, we are flying over Boston, passing south of the Stump but quite close to it. There might be some complaints about that! The River Witham is visible as it makes its final journey to the Wash. What you can see in the distance is the Lincolnshire coastline so we are flying east and turning north to follow that coastline up as far as the Humber Estuary.

Banking over the fertile land of Lincolnshire. There is some low cloud head ahead and I was warned by Paul to keep below it as it is very disorientating if I attempt to fly amongst it.

A good view of the coast. Here we are north of Skegness flying steadily at about 5,000 feet and 220 miles per hour.

Now flying west into the sun and straight up the Humber Estuary. Both the north and south banks can be seen in this shot.

We are now turning to loop back over the estuary, the Humber Bridge and Hull before lining up for our landing at Humberside Airport. Of course I was keen to fly under the bridge, but Paul said this was a definite No No. Not only could I wreck this beautiful plane, but we might bring the bridge down and Paul would definitely lose his precious pilot's licence. Hey ho, we'll just have to be boring!

Kind of a spooky double image at work here. It's a bit like breaking the fourth wall in the theatre. Miles away, Helen, Jan and David are looking at the screen on the side of the fuselage back at the museum. All these images were taken by Helen on her camera phone. That screen has picked up the reflection of that audience with the result that we have ghostly beings looking down on the Humber Bridge, or are we in the plane looking through a curtain to reality? What is the real reality? Is anything real? Help!

Just to show how you can turn your head and look along the wing to check that the engines are all running smoothly and not on fire. In a short time I will have to look and check that the undercarriage has deployed successfully. You can actually see the wheels coming down and locking in place.

Dead centre of the screen you can see some water, which is I think the River Trent and just to the left of this is a white strip pointing to about ten o'clock. This is the main runway at Humberside Airport and where, I hope I am going to land this aeroplane. Watch the sequence of shots as I close in on it.

I'm not quite lined up and more worryingly rather low. When landing this plane it is important to make light feathery movements and try not to do anything sudden or substantial. I now do feel really nervous and in my head I know I am going to be responsible for the success of this safe landing.

OK, This is a little better, I've managed to gain some height and we are a little squarer. Maybe this is going to be alright after all.

Nearly down and great relief all round.

Although it doesn't look it, we are down on the runaway and stopped. The lights in the distance are the end of the runway.

This is what I need to show to the Wing Commander of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight when I try to convince him that I am a fit and proper person to take the controls of the City of Lincoln at the next fly past.

Some thanks; to Helen for taking the pictures (you will get to fly next time), to David and Jan for the invite and subsequent hospitality, to all the staff at the "We'll meet again" museum and finally to Paul whose safe hands and eyes allowed me to "slip the surly bonds of Earth".