BBMF Experience Day Club ballot prize – 19th September 2021
Header image: The 2021 BBMF Experience Day prize winner and his guests with Spitfire Mk IX MK356 at RAF Coningsby on Sunday 19th September. Left to right: Sue Ashworth, Neil Ashworth (Club member and prize winner), Chris Stuart and Sue’s grandson Harry Rodgers. (All photos: Clive Rowley)
Club member Neil Ashworth, who lives in North Wales, won the BBMF Experience Day as the Club ballot prize for February 2020; it was originally scheduled to take place in June 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and national lock-down prevented that from happening, so the prize was carried over into 2021 and the Experience Day eventually happened on Sunday 19th September some 15 months after originally planned.
The once-a-year BBMF Experience Day is a fantastic, ‘money cannot buy it’, chance of a lifetime for some lucky Club members to win a very special day with the BBMF at the Flight’s home at RAF Coningsby. The lucky winner is able to bring up to three guests and escorted access is permitted to the RAF Station at Coningsby and inside the BBMF HQ, which is not normally open to the public, on one of the BBMF’s planned weekend flying days of the display season. The winner and guests are able to experience the activity during a typical BBMF flying day from behind the scenes and watch the Flight’s aircraft coming and going from a very privileged stand point. There is also the chance to get up close to the BBMF aircraft, those involved in the flying and others in the hangar. The escort and host for the day is Squadron Leader (retired) Clive Rowley, a former RAF fighter pilot and Officer Commanding BBMF, and now the Flight’s publications editor.
Neil brought his wife Sue, Chris Stuart and Sue’s 12-year-old grandson Harry Rodgers as his guests for the Experience Day. They were able to watch from close quarters as the pilots, Sqn Ldr Mark ‘Disco’ Discombe (OC BBMF) and Sqn Ldr Mark Long crewed into Spitfire IIa P7350 and Hurricane PZ865, started up and taxied out for a sortie that included a flypast over Westminster Abbey in London for the annual Battle of Britain service. The two BBMF aircraft provided a personal flypast on departure from Coningsby.
Following this the visitors helped the BBMF groundcrew push Spitfire MK356 out of the hangar in preparation for a flight. They were then allowed to sit in on the sortie briefing with Sqn Ldr Mark ‘Suggs’ Sugden and Flight Lieutenant Andy Preece for their two-Spitfire sortie to display at the Duxford Battle of Britain air show, before landing away at Cranfield. The visitors were impressed with the level of detail and amount of information covered in the briefing, which made apparent the difficulties that the weather was presenting and the decision-making that goes into dealing with it. Having watched the two Spitfires start up and taxy out, there was another personal flypast on their departure.
A tour of the BBMF hangar, to view the aircraft not flying, included the Lancaster and, as a special treat, the visitors were allowed inside the big bomber, a rare privilege. Twelve-year-old Harry was able to sit in the rear gunner’s turret and in the pilot’s seat. When the Spitfire and Hurricane returned from the Westminster Abbey flypast, having landed and refuelled at Southend to avoid bad weather, they arrived in close formation for a hangar break, right over the top of the group. Once the aircraft had taxied in and shut down, the visitors walked over and met ‘Disco’ after he had climbed out of the Spitfire, and he explained what had happened on the sortie. As the visitors were packing their car to leave, Spitfire MK356 returned for a hangar break over the top. The visitors very much enjoyed the day with its privileged access and they gained a real behind-the-scenes insight into the BBMF’s operations.
Hopefully, we will be able to offer another BBMF Experience Day for a lucky Club member to win in 2022.
