News & competitions

Header image: The BBMF Bomber Leader, Flight Lieutenant Neil ‘Faz’ Farrell, touches the Bomber Command brass plaque on the side of Lancaster PA474 as he climbs in. (Photo: Lisa Harding)

During the TV programme about the BBMF, ‘Flying for Britain’, presented by Sir David Jason OBE and first broadcast on ITV on 15th September, there was a brief mention of the BBMF crews touching the brass plaque on the side of Lancaster PA474 as they climb in and out, at the start and end of each sortie. Some readers may not have been aware of this tradition, almost a superstition, that has developed on the Flight in recent years and the reasons for it.

Header image: BBMF Spitfire Mk IIa P7350, photographed in 2006 with the 603 Sqn code letters ‘XT-W’, which it is thought it wore in October 1940. (Photo: John Dibbs)

Eighty years ago this month, on 25th October 1940, towards the end of the Battle of Britain, Spitfire Mk IIa P7350 was almost lost for the first time.

This month, one lucky club member can win a Haynes Anatomy of the Spitfire jigsaw. This fantastically detailed jigsaw has 1,000 pieces and includes a matching poster. We will randomly select one lucky winner to receive the jigsaw.