[Ron Stringer]

Went up to Terling, a village just North of the A12, to watch the aircraft go by today and was treated to a view just as good as the Queen's as they flew directly overhead. In fact my view was rather better because the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight arrived early and took a large round turn, flying over us twice. Unlike the other aircraft, the Lancaster arrived not from the Northeast but from the North and soon after it arrived it was joined by a group of 6 Hurricanes/Spitfires before circling round and eventually departing in the direction of London, following the A12. On the TV I think the group of WW2 fighters accompanying the Lancaster over Central London only numbered 5, so one must have gone AWOL, or it was a reserve intended to fill in any gaps if one of the others had problems. Clearly the Terling/Hatfield Peverel area, straddling the A12, was the rendezvous for the vintage craft, although I didn't see the C47/DC-3 go by, it must have joined the track somewhere nearer to London, as did the helicopters.

When they arrived with us, there were 4 of the Lighting/F-35s but one climbed away to the right and headed NNE as they passed. I suppose that too was a reserve because only 3 went over Buck House. I can understand having a backup for a 70 year-old aircraft, but for one that only entered service a couple of months ago it seems a little pessimistic!

Nevertheless it was a very impressive display and I enjoyed seeing and hearing them go by (that isn't to say I wouldn't have enjoyed it even more had there been a higher proportion of British designs to American aircraft).

Unfortunately I no longer have a camera and my hand is not steady enough to take sensible photos at long range using the camera zoom in my cellphone, so no pics to post.