Royal Air Force. 100 years. Celebrate in style 🥂

We live on the flight path of the Queen’s birthday fly pasts and today’s is going to top them all 💫

I’m so proud to have a father who served for 22 years (and I believe would have continued to do so had he not tried to please his wife who’d spent years wanting to ‘settle down’ rather than move around every three years).

There will be some pretty iconic birds in this air over England today – let’s hope no-one needs us to scramble quickly, although it wouldn’t take many minutes for the Euro Fighters to be where they needed to be.

(photo credits to The Daily Telegraph)

Helicopters are a huge part of the RAF and while the gunships are ever evolving, this Chinook with its distinctive deep throaty thwock thwock thwock from miles away as it approaches hasn’t changed much since 1980 and always gets my heartbeat racing!

My all-time favourite aeroplane is the Lancaster, as those who read my earlier post will know and we get to see her today – the only one left flying in the UK 😢

A very close second favourite is the Harrier jet because my father was stationed at RAF Wittering on the A1 near Stamford in Lincolnshire for three years, at which time I went to school at the nearby Stamford High School (and didn’t do very well I hasten to add in the then atmosphere resembling a more organised St Trinians … with the expectation that ‘The Gearls will do great things’ here).   Dad, a Squadron Leader at this point, served a tour here at the time of the Falklands Crisis if my memory serves me well.  Dad did not go personally but stayed back to help ensure smooth running of the station while the jets did their thing.  And wow, their most famous ‘thing’ was this sexy vertical take off and landing ability.  Just listen to that whistle ….. ooooh, its almost as good as Daniel Craig walking out of the ocean….

Look what I just found while searching for a photo of dad in his uniform… a letter in 1986 from when I nearly followed in his footsteps! Not as an engineer but in administration of some sort. I wonder why I didn’t follow it through… pathways and crossroads in life eh?!

I wonder, when they scrapped the harrier whether they kept one back.

Dad will know …. I’ll ask him later; they’re coming here to watch!   I’m so excited and know I’ll need a tissue.  (Mum will THINK she knows, but it will be dad’s information I shall listen to).

Have a good day.  If you don’t catch it in the skies, I hope you find coverage somewhere; its gonna be a sight to behold.

xx