Dam Busters' 50th Anniversary Events - Part 2

It was a great relief to get back to the flight deck and find that there really were two pilots on board

Right from the outset I had wanted the Red Arrows to be involved in the programme because I knew it would attract enormous publicity that could only be good for the Team. Curiously the Team pilots were not all that enthusiastic, perhaps because the Sunday in question was scheduled to be a day off in a very busy period. Initially the BBC Producer, Christopher Mann, was also ambivalent because, as he rightly said, the Red Arrows had nothing to do with either Bomber Command or World War 2. I told him that his viewing figures would go up considerably if it became known that the Red Arrows would be appearing. Talking viewing figures to television directors is much like talking votes to politicians. Christopher agreed to let the Red Arrows appear right at the very beginning of the programme as their tribute to 617 Squadron and to represent the present-day Scampton. He decided that after landing the pilots should quickly make their way into the hangar in their red suits where the television cameras would pick them up as they joined the congregation.

Building the Red Arrows into the programme format then gave us the argument we needed to get permission from British Airways' management, the Civil Aviation Authority and our own RAF bosses for for the British Airways Boeing 747-400 Lima Tango to fly over Lincoln in close formation with the Red Arrows. The Red Arrows were always more enthusiastic about flying in formation with Lima Tango than they were about appearing in Songs of Praise.

On the morning of the programme, GBNLT departed from Heathrow, rendezvoused with the Red Arrows at the southernmost point in Lincolnshire and then flew northwards in close formation at 1,000 feet above the ground, passing overhead the RAF Stations at Wittering, Cranwell and Waddington, before finally passing over the 900 year old Lincoln Cathedral and landing at Scampton.

For this special formation flight, the Civil Aviation Authority insisted for safety reasons that Lima Tango should have on board no cabin crew and no passengers but just three qualified pilots: the Captain in Command, one of BA's most experienced 747-400 pilots; the First Officer, an experienced 747 pilot who was a former RAF fighter pilot and would fly the aircraft as it flew in close formation behind the nine Red Arrows; and the Red Arrows' senior flying supervisor, Wing Commander David Hamilton, as overall safety officer.

'Shortly after taking off from Heathrow and before joining up with the Red Arrows,' said David afterwards, 'I had to leave the flight deck and go back for a call of nature. I then took the opportunity to take a walk through the cabins. It was the weirdest sensation I've ever had – walking alone through both decks of that enormous aircraft and finding nothing but hundreds of empty seats. It was a great relief to get back to the flight deck and find that there really were two pilots on board as well!'

Adrian Thurley leading the Red Arrows said: 'It was quite an economical way to fly because the huge bow wave which precedes a 747 was literally pushing us along through the air and I found that we had to reduce power quite considerably to maintain the assigned true air speed of 330 knots.'

The British Airways cabin staff, all from Lincolnshire, arrived independently at Scampton and met up with the dozens of helpers, including doctors and nurses, who were to look after the children on the flight. Amongst the children were 20 youngsters in wheel chairs and each had to be accompanied by a nominated adult at all times for safety reasons. In the early afternoon Lima Tango took off from Scampton with 413 persons on board, the largest number of people ever to be loaded onto a single aircraft at an RAF base. The local radio station, BBC Radio Lincolnshire, broadcast live from on board the aircraft during the flight and listeners to the programme were able to ring in to the radio station as the aircraft passed overhead and talk live on air with the crew and passengers.

What they did not know then was that the Lincolnshire Police traffic division, parked up in a lay by close by the entrance to RAF Scampton, had caught Lima Tango on a hand-held speed gun as it passed overhead. The officers, who had doubtless been lying in wait for this special arrival, issued a Fixed Penalty Notice stating that the aircraft had been clocked at 368 mph in a 30 mph zone. The ticket (click on the graphic to download a readable version) was passed to the owner, British Airways, at Heathrow Airport and it eventually reached the pilot, Captain Peter Lewis. Peter passed it to me since, as he said, I was the organiser. The action was widely reported in the national and regional media and in the end the Head of the Traffic Division wisely decided that no further action would be taken.

At 6.16pm 'Songs of Praise' went live on air in a specially extended 45 minute slot. It did not go quite as planned.

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