BATTLE OF BRITAIN DINING IN NIGHT - The Insight Online

Waddington Braves Great SuccessOn Saturday 14th September, RAF Waddington Flying Club played hostto over 40 children from the Douglas Bader Foundation.The foundation supportschildren with limb loss andother physical disabilities byoffering unique experiences andimproving life-skills to increaseconfidence. Taking to the air inthe clubs fleet of light aircraft, thechildren followed in the footstepsof Battle of Britain pilot DouglasBader. Douglas lost both legs ina flying accident before the war,but was determined to overcomehis disability and went on tobecome one of the most famousfighter pilots of all time.Whilst airborne many got thechance to take the controls of anaircraft for the first time under theeagle eye of their instructor, whilstothers took the opportunity tosee their house from a bird’s eyeperspective. Everyone thoroughlyenjoyed their flight and as soonas they landed, they were alreadylooking forward to repeating theexperience next year. The children,who all came from the Lincolnarea were aged 6 to 16 and by theend of the day they were nearly allaspiring future pilots.Once again the weather forecastwasn’t too promising for ourBraves Young Aviators Day, butthe Met department at the stationobviously new far more about thelocal climatic conditions than didour chums at the BBC or, indeed,my seaweed!! Once again as Ipulled back the curtains in myLincoln hotel Saturday welcomedme with grey skies and appearedto be rather blustery but a quickcall from Gary Mennell at theairfield eased my concerns; heassured me thatit was going tobrighten up around mid-morningand it would be a great day forflying. I was still a bit doubtful aswe drove the short distance to therendezvous point but, just as ourguests for the day started to arrive,the clouds began to break andby the time everyone had beenescorted to our base for the dayand received a briefing, the sunbroke through and, sure enough,the day was transformed just asthose in the know had predicted!!The club made three of theiraeroplanes available to us for theday, two Cessna 172s and a PA-28Warrior. As the first wave of flightsdisappeared into the distancetowards Lincoln, excitement onthe ground grew as group numbertwo readied themselves for theirturn. The circuit took in much ofthe local countryside and affordedsome superb views of the City ofLincoln, particularly the Cathedral,Castle and soccer stadium.When the first flight returned itwas reported that visibility wasexcellent and that the wind speedhad really dropped. The groundsupport team had everythingbrilliantly organised and everyonewas put completely at ease byClub Chairman Chris Hives, whohad assumed the mantel of chiefsteward at “Air Waddington” for theday, as he prepared the Braves fortheir first flight in a light aircraft.Before we knew where we wereit was time for our lunch breakand we welcomed our afternoonaviators before the morning groupcould eat all of the sandwichesand smashing cakes cooked by thewives ofsome of the members, and leavefor home. Whilst the two groupswere together the Station Fire& Rescue Team paid us a visitand everyone was given theopportunity to have a look at thevery specialised equipment that isalways “at readiness” on station.The weather held fair throughoutthe afternoon, indeed, it probablyimproved a bit as time went on.Looking across the vast expansesof the station everything was sopeaceful; there was no other flyingactivity apart from the Bader Bravesand it was difficult to imagine justhow different the station mustbe on a normal working day. TheCessnas looked rather insignificanttrundling along the ten thousandfoot long runway designed tohandle the very biggest of ourmilitary aircraft but to all those whotook a flight, the Cessna becameBader’s Spitfire!!By 16.00 everyone had beentreated to a flight and ourwonderful day drew to a close.The aircraft were returned to theirhome at the Flying Club HQ, 54Squadron HQ which had beenour home for the day, was clearedand locked up, the safety barriersdismantled and stored and, bythe time I left the station, it wasa picture of perfect peace andquietness as the early autumnsunshine began to drop towardsthe horizon. I bet it was a differentstory on Monday morning though!As always we are indebted to allof our friends at Waddington,particularly everyone at theFlying Club all of whom hadworked so hard to make sure thatour Waddington Bader Braveshad an absolutely fantastic andunforgettable day. Thanks guys, itwas brilliant. “It’s clear to see fromall the happy smiling faces just howmuch everyone enjoyed it.”Flight Lieutenant Chris Hivessaid, “As Chairman of The RAFWaddington Flying Club, I wasdelighted that the Club was ableto share the joy of flight with somany of the Bader Braves onSaturday. Judging by the sizeof their post-flight smiles, it wasobvious that the children had reallyenjoyed the chance to take controlof an aeroplane and to have seenthe City of Lincoln from a birdseyeperspective.“16 InsightMAGAZINE