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Stills (Holidays, days out, school exchange visits, etc. from ca. 2003 - to the present).
The links in this section contains thumbnail images of ca. 10 - 40kBytes. Clicking the thumbnail links to the full images the majority of which are ca. 350Kbytes - 1Mbytes in size, although a number range up to ca. 2.4Mbytes. If you have a slow link then hover over the thumbnail image to see the size of the related full image before you decide to download. The table in this download-note shows approximate download times in seconds/minutes depending on file size, and on the communications link. Limiting at this end is a 448kbps uplink (the downlink is 8Mbps).
Videos (Holidays, etc. 2005 - to the present) have FINALLY arrived!! Last updated 13 May 2007
The link in this section leads to videos, mainly from a Sony Camcorder. Generally speaking these files are rather large, so please bear this in mind if you are downloading.
Even the smallest of the AVI files will probably take a of the order of 20secs to download, depending on internet connection, and some considerably longer: see download-note for guidance on how long it might take for individual downloads depending on file size, on the quality of the communications link, and in particular the data link speed constrained at this end as noted above.
Lancaster PA474 of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) was re-painted and re-named in 2007 - something that, apparently, happens every eight years or so - for the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF). This time PA474 has adopted the name Phantom of the Ruhr a plane that flew in 100 Squadron and 550 Squadron. Thus the Lancaster will carry both Squadron codes. The unveiling of the BBMF Phantom of the Ruhr was on 27 April 2007 at RAF Coningsby.
Sally's father, Jim, flew with 550 Squadron and was the navigator when this plane flew it's final mission on 21st November 1944 in a night raid on the Aschaffenburg railway marshalling yards; the plane was retired after the raid by the pilot, Squadron Leader Willie Caldow, who was alarmed at her handling which turned out to be due to a twisted airframe. Jim came over for the unveiling ceremony at RAF Coningsby.
More details including photographs, and video footage, are available from the two links shown below:
Before he was in 550 Squadron Jim flew out of RAF Wickenby with Jack Currie in 12 Squadron. You can read about this in one of Currie's books about life in Bomber Command in WWII; Jim gets numerous mentions in Lancaster Target, after he is introduced early in the book as the "wiry little Australian".