The Great British Fly-in, the 100th Anniversary of the RAF: I attended the The Great British Fly-in at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Chantilly, VA on Sunday...

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I attended the The Great British Fly-in at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Chantilly, VA on Sunday, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the RAF. A couple of thousand people were in attendance, including a large number of RAF personnel. A number of vintage planes flew in on Saturday rather then Sunday due to weather conditions, but we were able to get some shots on the taxi way as they departed on Sunday. Getting clean shots was difficult because of the large crowds The crown jewel was the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber, one of only two example that are still capable of flying, and the only one which is open to tours of the interior. This was the type of plane used in the famous Dam Buster raid in the Ruhr Valley in 1943. More photos of other planes to follow.

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revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Love these old WWII planes! Some years ago a B17 (my favorite bomber) and a B24 visited a nearby airport. Got to go aboard the 17 and was truck about how small it was inside, probably because I am used to modern jets. As fighters, P51 and Spitfires thrilled this young kid.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

revhen wrote:

Love these old WWII planes! Some years ago a B17 (my favorite bomber) and a B24 visited a nearby airport. Got to go aboard the 17 and was truck about how small it was inside, probably because I am used to modern jets. As fighters, P51 and Spitfires thrilled this young kid.

There was a B25 Mitchell bomber there as well. It was one of many given to the British during the war. Unfortunately the P51 Mustang and the Supermarine Spitfire that were supposed to be there were no shows due to the bad weather. I was especially disappointed not being able to see a working Spitfire.

chase4 Loc: Punta Corona, California

Great shots of classic WW II aircraft. My mom was a "Rosie the Riviter" at Consolidated in San Diego, CA making the B-24 Liberator bombers during WW II. chase

jederick Loc: Northern Utah

Love'em! Thanks for sharing!!

Paladin48 Loc: Orlando

chase4 wrote:

Great shots of classic WW II aircraft. My mom was a "Rosie the Riviter" at Consolidated in San Diego, CA making the B-24 Liberator bombers during WW II. chase

My Mom worked at a factory near Evansville, Indiana during the war right out of High School making P-47's. She was the smallest woman on the crew so she spent a lot of time "Bucking Rivets" in the tail section. After the war the plant returned to making farm equipment for International Harvester.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Very good series.

Bushpilot Loc: Minnesota

Nice shots, one of my favorite bombers,(the B-17 is another favorite). I was at the Avro's factory in Woodford, Cheshire, UK about 20 years ago
and visited their museum, very interesting. Thanks for sharing these photos.

Dr.Nikon Loc: Honolulu Hawaii

Your shots were candy to my eyes .. the Lancaster was a magnificent war bird ....a lot of them were converted after the war to fly as a passenger service aircraft.. when I was a fireman at Los Angeles International Airport .I used to open the gates for Bob Hoover and his yellow P-51 .., as he would taxi by and then pushed in the hanger at North American Aviation ..,I had to make sure the static lines were properly attached .. the sound of that aircraft and the smell of the fuel ..wow .. I loved it .. . can’t wait for your other shots ... thnx so much for sharing ..

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Thanks to all for the kind comments. I will post shots shortly for some of the other planes that were there. There were unfortunately four no-shows due to the inclement weather, and as I pointed out earlier the large crowds made for difficulty getting clear shots, but I'll post the best of what I have. Only a bit more than half of the planes that were supposed to be there actually made it in, and that was only because they were able to fly in on Saturday instead of Sunday. The weather held for most of the day, but the forecast was pretty bad and called for thundershowers off and on throughout the day on Sunday.

Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England

I was in Grantham (Margaret Thatchers home town) several years ago and One of those two Lancasters flew low over our heads on its way to an air show..it wasn't exactly quiet!!

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Doddy wrote:

I was in Grantham (Margaret Thatchers home town) several years ago and One of those two Lancasters flew low over our heads on its way to an air show..it wasn't exactly quiet!!

I know. When they started up those four engines it was quite loud.

gregoryd45 Loc: Fakahatchee Strand

mwsilvers wrote:

I attended the The Great British Fly-in at the Smi... (show quote)

Very nice mwsilvers

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

I'm pretty sure that LANCASTER is owned by a Canadian Museum. I believe the public can get rides in it. There's another over here that does taxiway trips but is currently not flying and of course the R.A.F.'s own which is part of the memorial flight. Lancasters are pretty thin on the ground.

P51 sounds good (Packard Merlin), Spitfires sound better (RR Merlin - maybe I'm being a little jingoistic here), 4x RR Merlins sound better than both!

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

John N wrote:

I'm pretty sure that LANCASTER is owned by a Canadian Museum. I believe the public can get rides in it. There's another over here that does taxiway trips but is currently not flying and of course the R.A.F.'s own which is part of the memorial flight. Lancasters are pretty thin on the ground.

P51 sounds good (Packard Merlin), Spitfires sound better (RR Merlin - maybe I'm being a little jingoistic here), 4x RR Merlins sound better than both!

I don't know whether the Lancaster we saw is owned by a Canadian Museum, but it's definitely from Canada. Thus the Canadian flag, which was flying on the top of it while it was being displayed. So you're probably correct about that. As to getting rides in it, that I am not sure about. They did advertise it as the only Lancaster in which you can take an inside tour.