Another day, another magickal fly-by, this time over RAF Waddington , nothing to do with the board game manufacturer, rather the base mentioned in my not too distant post - Leuchars in the Sky for Di's son - the destination for the recently retired, Tornado jet equipped, Eurofighter Typhoon superseded, firebird nicknamed - 56 Reserve; and their seemingly amazing phoenix like ability of rebirth.
The purpose of the ceremony was to mark ANZAC day, a day two days after Shakespeare's supposed deathday, a day which we read from too long in this place that:
"Gallipoli was an eight month campaign that started on 25th April 1915. For Kiwis & Ozzies this is our Remembrance Day. In this part of the world the 11th November can slip by unremarked."
The Waddington connection being that the base housed two Second World War Australian squadrons, - as such we saw a threesome of Hurricane and Spitfire fighter-planes and a Lancaster bomber, which itself carried a very important passenger, as we read from the Daily Mail:
"So it was a case of back to basics for Prince William yesterday as he took a ride in an historic World War II Lancaster bomber.
Donning his regulation khaki jumpsuit and a mask, Flying Officer Wales - as the prince has been known during his four-month attachment with the force - looked thrilled to bits at he took to the skies in the Lancaster EE139, Phantom of the Ruhr. Now based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, the 65-year-old aircraft took William, 25, on an exhilarating half hour trip and even took part in a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight fly-past over nearby RAF Waddington."
From the Pogues, Waltzing Matilda:
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again
cheers
