It must be good to be a Prince!

[Tiki Tom]

I'm sure I was probably asked to participate too. But, um, the invitation was somehow lost in the mail.

http://home.bt.com/news/uk-news/har...rsary-flypast-on-31st-birthday-11364001653654

 

[Big J]

That's a relief! I was beginning to feel really sorry for that guy, because his under-privalleged life must be so hard.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Wonder which uniform he'll wear?

 

[Big J]

Very funny Lizzie!

 

[MisterCairo]

That's a relief! I was beginning to feel really sorry for that guy, because his under-privalleged life must be so hard.

Absolutely.

They should get someone truly deserving of the spot in the Spit. Maybe a decorated, twice deployed veteran of the Afghan war. Say, someone who served as a battlefield aircontroller. No, a retired Apache helicopter pilot. Much cooler and more manly. Someone who'd retire from the service and devote their career to helping disabled veterans, you know the type.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Too funny! :eusa_clap

I didn't realize that he was recently in Japan!

 

[Big J]

Absolutely.

They should get someone truly deserving of the spot in the Spit. Maybe a decorated, twice deployed veteran of the Afghan war. Say, someone who served as a battlefield aircontroller. No, a retired Apache helicopter pilot. Much cooler and more manly. Someone who'd retire from the service and devote their career to helping disabled veterans, you know the type.

I know, I know. I'm just kind of thinking that this guy could get a ride in an RAF Battle of Britain Flight owned Spitfire literally anytime, so why not pass this honor on? For him, it's just one more perk in a life that has way more perks than anyone else's (way more than any other veterans, wouldn't you say?), he already gets more than his share of the easy life. Some people join the army because they don't have the choices he has in life.

 

[Big J]

Too funny! :eusa_clap

I didn't realize that he was recently in Japan!

Although I was most pleased to see the sponger take a break from his Asian holiday to join a service in Japan for murdered Allied POW's.

 

[Edward]

Points to Ms Maine!

Looks like an intersting event. Not clear what his contribution is - he's trained to fly a helicopter (an Apache, I think?), but it's not clear whether his 'taking part' means watching, flying, or sitting in one of the aircraft. Could be any of those, you know the press...

I've seen the Spitfire and Hurricane to which they refer previously. It was some years ago - must have been the 65th anniversary? I left the office early on a Friday after noon to go and watch the flypast from outside the Cabinet War Rooms. After waiting forever, the two planes flew past, at high speed.... on the other side of some trees. It was a bit of an anticlimax to say the least! The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight make an annual appearance at the Goodwood Revival. Always fascinating to see these old birds in the air, though I'm invariably creeped out when the bombers fly overhead.

 

[p51]

Look at it this way; it's a high-profile spotlight for the plane and the flight, something that would reasonably bring press to something your average Brit is probably caring less and less about with each passing day.
You wouldn't get such press by sending up a 90+year-old WW2 vet nobody ever heard of before. And besides, would they want to risk something happening to someone that old while on the flight?

 

[the hairy bloke]

Actually the Average Brit still gets goose bumps when this lot fly over.

Whete I used to work someobe used to fly a Spitfire over fairly regularly. I didn't get a lot of work done, and most others came out to watch them practice their loops and turns.

The weird one wad I had taken Aged Mother to Bury StEdmunds for a re-enactment. I'ld gone wandering. A Lancaster went over. I didn't hear it until it was right over my head. Tben a mind buggering racket (I guess tbe guards on those dams felt the same).

 

[p51]

Actually the Average Brit still gets goose bumps when this lot fly over.

I wonder about that.
I have several friends in the UK and they've all told me that generally, the average members of the public (MOPs, he said they're called there) couldn't care less for such things. They've all said there'll always be that percentage of the populace who are into history (just as there'll always be a % into anything specific) but for the most part, British people aren't much more aware or caring of history than anyone in any other country.
I tend to believe that because for the most part, people care mostly about the now. People like us (on this forum) are the exception and not the rule and as much as I admire the population of the UK, I refuse to accept that person-per-person, they're any more aware of history than anywhere else.

 

[DJH]

Not sure I agree p51. I'm a Brit living in the US and most people in the part of the country I grew up are very aware of WW2 history and are still surrounded by it.

There are wrecks in the harbour from the war to this day and over the last year a lot of grenades have been found on the beach as well as at least one bloody great bomb.

This summer my Dad paid the price of admission for a 40 minute flight in one of the rare 2 seater Spitfires.

My daughter and her family where thrilled to see a Lancaster and several Spitfires and Hurricanes at an airshow recently - as well as one of the last flights of the only airworthy Vulcan from the Cold War.

None of our friends and family would claim to be history enthusiasts, it is just part of their everyday lives - especially when England plays Germany at football!

 

[Edward]

There certainly still seems to me to be a very strong awareness of the war here, evne if it is superficial, and often scant on allied controversies like Dresden or whatever. It might be different in the UK because the threat of invasion was genuinely strong for a chunk of the war. Wartime propagandas certainly seems to have had a long-lasting effect on the English in particular, as seen in some of the tabloid coverage of football matches against Germany decades after the war. It is also commonly appealed to in certain political camps, often with reference to the European Union. It's only very superificial in many cases (Spitfires! Wave the Flag! Big Picture of Churchill!), but the generic awareness is clear.

 

[Big J]

Sadly, it seems the whole thing is off.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/wa...=revcontent&utm_medium=referral&utm_term=none

 

[AmateisGal]

I think the UK is MUCH more invested in remembering and commemorating World War II than the US.

 

[Edward]

Not sure I agree p51. I'm a Brit living in the US and most people in the part of the country I grew up are very aware of WW2 history and are still surrounded by it.

There are wrecks in the harbour from the war to this day and over the last year a lot of grenades have been found on the beach as well as at least one bloody great bomb.

This summer my Dad paid the price of admission for a 40 minute flight in one of the rare 2 seater Spitfires.

My daughter and her family where thrilled to see a Lancaster and several Spitfires and Hurricanes at an airshow recently - as well as one of the last flights of the only airworthy Vulcan from the Cold War.

None of our friends and family would claim to be history enthusiasts, it is just part of their everyday lives - especially when England plays Germany at football!

Any more information on your Dad's Spitfire flight? At Goodwood Revival last year, I declined the opportunity to have my photo taken sitting in a Spitfire for £20 a pop (at a tenner I'd have done it, but that just seemed a bit much), but I'd pay a fair whack more to have the experience of flying in one!

 

[Spitfire]

Wonder which uniform he'll wear?

Way out of line there. And you should know better. This young man actually volunteered to step down from his promised flight, when one of the two-seater Spits had engine trouble, so Tom Neil (a RAF WWII veteran from Battle of Britain) and two handicapped veterans from Afghanistan could get their flights. Well done, Harry. And I am not even a royalist.