Fly-past at former Battle of Britain airfield in Hampshire
Last updated 15th Sep 2020
The Blades aerobatic display team will perform a fly-past over the Army Air Corps base at Middle Wallop today to mark the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
The four aircraft are flown by former RAF Red Arrow pilots and will be flying over World War Two sector bases situated around London to pay tribute and highlight the work of their charity partner the RAF benevolent fund.
Former Red Arrow Mike Ling will be flying as 'Blade 3' and told us "We're actually going to over fly the sector stations. Stations at which the control rooms were housed and those control rooms were the places that actually scrambled the fighters from all of the squadrons from all of the airfields in the country. We're going to fly from our base in Sywell and our first sector station will be Middle Wallop which is now an Army Air Corps station"
Other stations on the route will include Tangmere in Sussex, Kenley in Surrey, Debden in Essex and perhaps the most famous of all, Biggin Hill in Kent.
All the airfields being visited today were amongst the busiest as they despatched fighters to protect London during the Battle of Britain.
Along the way the team will fly in formation with some Spitfires and Hurricanes.