Since writing my last editorial it has been quite a month, which has once again brought to the fore all the good that people in the historical aviation community do.

Hurricane XII “Z5140” of the Historic Aircraft Collection passes over the National Battle of Britain memorial at Capel-le-Ferne on September 15, 2011 — Battle of Britain Day. Credit: Jarrod Cotter

Take for example this month’s cover story, where the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Supermarine Spitfire IIa P7350 has been given new squadron markings. This has been done to pay tribute to an unsung hero of the Battle of Britain and also mark the 95th anniversary of 41 Sqn. What is particularly notable about that is that it highlights just how much pride the personnel of the modern RAF have in their heritage.

Artist Mandy Shepherd’s donation of her atmospheric painting Salute to the Many to the Bomber Command Memorial (BCM), is another perfect example of the generosity shown by so many for this great cause. This painting will be made into a limited-edition print to raise funded for the future upkeep of the memorial once it’s completed. One lucky buyer of a print will then win the original. A driving force behind so much of the BCM’s fundraising efforts has been Jim Dooley of The Dooleys pop group, who was again on hand to co-ordinate the organisation of the publicity for the donation of this valuable piece of art.

Then, on September 15, Battle of Britain Day was marked in just the most amazing way by Action Stations!, whose director Stephen Burt put together a package of passenger helicopter trips flying alongside a Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. What made this extra special was that the formations overflew the National Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkestone, in Kent.

Steve deserves to be highly congratulated for this achievement, which not only formed a poignant commemoration of the Battle, but offered his many customers an opportunity to witness it from the air. We’ll bring you more on this in a forthcoming issue.

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