Doctor Drivel wrote:

Planes that do the flypasts in London fly over my block. I have see
countless Lancasters (probably the same one), Spitfires, Hurricanes,
Vulcans (when that banks it is impressive), Tornadoes, etc. The
Lancaster is a "big" plane.

Sorry to be another one to have to correct you. The Lancaster is not a
big plane at all. It is quite tiny when you see it on the ground. The
Battle of Britain Memorial flight were frequent visitors at the site I
used to work at and I would say that it was not much longer than a
Tornado ADV. Higher at the front, but much lower at the back, due to its
back to front tricycle undercarriage. It had a wider wing span, but that
does not make it a bigger aircraft.

The skin panels looked very much like a well patched up aircraft that
had been in the wars, but if I remember rightly, this one never saw
active service in WWII. But I will stand corrected, if anyone can tell
me otherwise.

Many years ago, we had a German working party on site and the boss got
wind of the arrival of the B.o.B. memorial flight's arrival. As we all
looked out to the East for it, as soon as the first plane came into view
(the Lancaster) he turned on his heels to let the rest of the Germans
know that the flight was arriving. One wag turned round and shouted
'Look, the buggers are still s**t scared of them'.

Dave