I’d seen this event advertised a long while ago and decided to go take a look. I then saw a post from an f4 chum, Dave Robson, who had said that he was going as his girlfriend Tina lives there. The drive through Lincolnshire countryside was peaceful apart from the numerous motorbikes on the winding roads – I’m sure they enjoyed it too.
Once in Woodhall Spa I parked up in a field and asked how far the walk was into town – “400 yards” he said. Well according to the iPhone app, nearly a mile and a half later I arrived where I needed to be and grabbed a coffee and waited for Dave & Tina. I took a seat on the lawn at the Petwood Hotel, home of the Dambusters. If I’d been a Dambuster I’d have lived there myself. What a charming hotel. I sat and listened to Heather Marie singing war era songs very well and dozed a bit in the lovely sunshine. There had been talk of the Lancaster flying over but it had only just been repaired from an engine fire some time ago and it was thought unlikely. However, it was being put through it’s paces in the sky although a long way up and away from the village – just being careful I guess. Someone near me said he thought that it probably wouldn’t have the necessary paperwork in place to enable it to fly at a display yet.
I decided to take a wander across the road into the park and look at everything going on there. US tanks and vehicles, 40’s fire engines and a huge number of folk in period costume which looked spectacular. Had a text from Dave saying they’d had a late night at the Kinema in the Woods – they arrived a while later and we had breakfast/lunch.
There was a war re-enactment at the Petwood but as we were having lunch – we missed it, although we heard the explosions of course. In any event, there was another re-enactment at the Golf Hotel just round the corner later, so we went to that one instead. One the way there, we saw Mr Churchill just getting into his Humber motorcar on the way to address his public at the Golf Hotel. After the Golf Hotel I decided to make a move in order to avoid the traffic. The flypast advertised for 2pm hadn’t happened so I assumed it wasn’t going to. Just as we stood up to go, a throaty Merlin engine noise came from above and we saw a beautiful Spitfire fly over.I waited just in case anything else came but it didn’t so off I went. I’d just got in the car and put everything away when another plane came over and I missed it – never mind, I’d had such a great day. Not many images to show for it but I hope you like them. Taken with the Panasonic Lumix GX8 – it’s light and portable to walk around with. PS – if anyone recognises the two ladies taking a selfie at the Petwood, if they contact me I’ll let them have a copy of the image.
#Lancaster #Spitfire #Hurricane #WorldWar2 #KinemaintheWood #GolfHotel #f4Photographicgroup #WoodhallSpa #Lincolnshire #Dambusters #40s #PetwoodHotel #WinstonChurchill #HumberCars
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