The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Lancaster, Hurricane PZ865 and Spitfire AB910 'somewhere over England'. Photo by Martin Bowman, Crown Copyright

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight - how it came about

In the years after World War Two it was traditional for a Spitfire and Hurricane to lead the Victory Day flypast over London. That was the seed from which the concept of a historic collection of flyable aircraft grew - initially, to honour the Battle of Britain but more recently, to commemorate all of the battles in which the RAF was involved.

The Flight was formed in 1957 and since then, the aircrew have been volunteers whose 'day job' is to fly modern aircraft types. And, although today there are several employed staff maintaining the Flight's extraordinary collection of aircraft, there are many more who are volunteers from all walks of life.

Over the years the BBMF has been called on to appear at an increasing number of events and this year, the 90th Anniversary of the RAF, the BBMF will put in over 900 individual appearances at over 500 separate events, indluding 100 air displays and over 400 flypasts - ranging from village fetes to massive events such as the Queen's birthday celebrations. Included is the appearance on Sunday 1st June over the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

These aircraft are in perfect flying condition - above all, they are a strong and tangible memorial to the national debt owed to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

The David Shepherd link

David Shepherd, the artist, wildlife conservationist and owner of British Railways 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92203 Black Prince which is based on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, has a long connection with the RAF and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

In the late 1950s, the Royal Air Force, with whom David Shepherd has never served, used to fly him all around the world gathering material for commissioned paintings of aviation subjects: which is how he started his artistic career. They flew him to Nairobi in 1960 and it was there that they commissioned David's very first wildlife painting, which changed his life and from which he has never looked back.

So David is only too ready to say that he owes an enormous debt of gratitude to the RAF.

In 1978 this debt was repaid in some measure when he was asked to raise money for the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. This involved doing a painting, Winter of '43, Somewhere in England, showing a Lancaster bomber being serviced at the side of an airfield.