News & competitions

On top of this month’s members’ ballot prize, we’re giving away some bonus prizes! Three lucky people will win a copy of both The Royal Air Force: The First One Hundred Years by John Buckley and Paul Beaver and Aerial Warfare: The Battle for the Skies by Frank Ledwidge.

Complete the entry form below by 30 September 2018 to be in with a chance of winning. This competition is open to everybody, so please do share it with your friends and family. Our three winners will be drawn at random and contacted by email in October.

Header image: The veterans group with their escorts in front of BBMF Lancaster PA474 on 23rd August 2018. (All photos: Clive Rowley)

The BBMF organised another of its ‘Veterans Days’ on Thursday 23rd August, giving a small group of nonagenarians the chance to visit and be hosted by the Flight for the afternoon, at its base at RAF Coningsby.

Some of the veterans had visited the BBMF before, but some had not. They gathered in the BBMF’s ‘Lancaster Lounge’ and were served a buffet lunch whilst chatting with members of the BBMF and amongst each other. More than 70 years after their wartime experiences, some memories are fading, but a story from one of them triggered a tale from another, and they certainly had some stories to tell.

Header image: The Historical Technical Information Centre at Peenemunde, as it is today, on the site of the Nazi ‘V’ weapon, rocket research and testing centre. This was the target for a major Bomber Command raid in August 1943.

During 1943 intelligence data and photo-reconnaissance images gathered by the British about the secret research and development work being conducted by the Germans at Peenemunde on the Baltic coast, including development of the V1 ‘doodlebug’ flying bomb, the V2 long-range guided ballistic missile and rocket powered fighters, made the site a priority target for RAF Bomber Command. Because Peenemunde was some 600 miles from the most easterly British airfield, the earliest date when there would be sufficient cover of darkness was mid-August. The raid also needed to be carried out in bright moonlight to improve accuracy and increase the chances of success. The night of 17-18th August was set as the date for the raid on Peenemunde.