Three planes will take part in a special formation flight over the Burnham-On-Sea area to commemorate the Battle of Britain today (Saturday, 18th September).
The Middlezoy flying group are organising the fly-past of three light aircraft over Somerset and finishing in Gloucestershire — full times and route are shown below.
A spokesman told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “The lead aircraft will be a Gould Taylorcraft type D, a vintage aircraft built in 1942 which actually served with the RAF as Army cooperation and artillery spotting.”
“It was the prototype for the Auster series of aircraft which served with great distinction with the army in WW2. The pilot will be Flt Lt Mike Laundy RAF Retd.”
“The accompanying aircraft will be a 1947 Aeronca Champion similar versions of which served with the USAF as army spotter aircraft in the Korean war. That aircraft will be flown by Mr Dave Jones.”
“The third aircraft is a Pietenpol, a 1930s design open cockpit aircraft flown by Mr Simon Childs.”
Fly-past times today:
FLY-PAST UPDATE: The organisers of this morning’s Battle of Britain fly-past say: “Due to patches of low cloud we have delayed our takeoff by 1 hour.”
The following was the original itinerary to see the aircraft (times approximate + or – 5 minutes and dependent on good weather):
- Depart Middlezoy Aerodrome 1015,
- North of Street 1023,
- Glastonbury Tor 1025,
- Theale 1031,
- Wedmore 1032,
- Blackford 1034,
- Mark 1035,
- Watchfield 1037,
- Burnham seafront 1039,
- Brean 1042,
- Weston seafront 1045,
- Clevedon 1052,
- Avon Bridge 1059,
- M5 interchange 1105,
- Kemble airfield to land 1130.
