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Header image: Some of the 2021 BBMF Members’ Day attendees welcome back the Lancaster after her second flight of the day. (Photo: Clive Rowley)

The BBMF 2021 Members’ Day was held on Saturday 25th September at the Flight’s home at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire. Some 2,500 ticket-holding members of the RAF Memorial Flight Official Club and the Lincolnshire’s Lancaster Association were able to attend the event, which is hosted by the BBMF as a thank you to its supporters.

Header image: The future for the BBMF Spitfire PR Mk XIXs, including PS915 seen here, was in doubt due to the carbon monoxide produced by their Griffon engines on the ground. (Photo: Crown Copyright)

Most of us are aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO) within our homes. CO is a by-product of burning hydrocarbon fuels, such as the 100LL AVGAS which is used by all the BBMF aircraft. The danger is that CO binds to the oxygen-carrying blood pigment, haemoglobin, more than 200 times more strongly than oxygen and therefore, reduces the ability of the circulatory system to carry life-critical oxygen around the body. The risk is also increased over time, as the half-life of CO is approximately five hours and it can take 24 hours or more to eliminate CO from the blood. The symptoms of CO poisoning, prior to incapacitation and death, include: headache, nausea, drowsiness and impaired cognitive functions, symptoms that would all have a marked effect on a pilot’s ability to fly safely.

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.