Tuesday 28 August 2012

How lucky are we?

A cool start to the day again but the sun is shining and the sky is blue.

Just after 16:00 hrs yesterday, a distinctive rumbling was heard in the sky. We rushed to the window as it grew louder and closer. Then when we realised what it was, dashed outside and looked directly above us to the north. 
 
There in all her beautiful glory was the Lancaster bomber flying very slow and low, maybe 200 feet or so. About 5 minutes later we heard another plane, and a short way to the West, a little higher and slightly further away was the Spitfire. No sign of the hurricane. Guess they were returning home after an air show somewhere.

Made my day and brought tears to my eyes. Of all the WWII planes, the Lancaster has the power to move me in ways I cannot fathom. The nearest modern plane to do the same is the Avro Vulcan. When she lifts off and you hear her distinctive low rumble followed by her famous howl, that too moves me. 

Strange creatures us humans aren't we?

7 comments:

  1. I think in truth we are very lucky to live in the UK. It is such a pleasure to see this old machines. Very jealous!

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  2. Hi! I, too, find them quite moving. I love 1940-themed/WW2 type gatherings and such, for the old aircraft...(I'm seriously beginning to wonder if I had some connection there in a former life)! I also feel quite humbled when I 'come back' to present times and think about the very nice, comfortable life we take for granted compared with back then.

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  3. We were lucky enough to have a flypast from the Vulcan on Sunday afternoon, and we're quite lucky to work near an airfield that puts on air shows. Every time I see the Lancaster, the Spitfires, the Hurricane (and a Dakota once or twice) I consider myself so lucky.

    K xx

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  4. How odd that these planes have this effect on us woman. Hubs and I visited Duxford and were treated to a flying display by a Spitfire, I cried like a baby...we see the Lanc, Spitfire and Hurricane when they fly at Cosford Air Show, they too have the same effect.

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  5. I also have these feelings about wartime planes,we often get them flying low over us,perhaps this is because our white farmhouse is set in the middle of open fields.Do they use us as a marker? we also have a Hercules which just skims the chimney tops !!I wonder if the feelings come from inherited memory or re-incarnation ?

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  6. Well, when I was doing my thesis for my BA, I looked at latest scientific investigations (bona fida ones). The latest thinking is that as we are descended from the sum of all our ancestors, that our dna is potentially littered with ancestral memory. They know for sure that cells do have a memory of some kind. Did you know that our bowels have a thin membrane of brain cells on the outside. Makes you think doesn't it what potential there is for inherited memories in some form.

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  7. On Sunday and Monday it was the Best of British show at Kemble airport and the Lancaster and the spitfires were there. It was an amazing show with the red arrows but the Lancaster and the tornados were the best part.

    Pat

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