RAF Centenary.

I have written before about the beauty of the Cotswolds but, I simply have to revel again in the variety of things to do and see here this July. I have had such an interesting week!

I went up to the Lavender fields at Snowshill to catch a glimpse of the crop before it is picked for processing. The fields high up in the Cotswolds are baked dry from the relentless heat this summer, but the lavender can cope with dry conditions so it looked perfect. I haven’t seen many poppies this year but there are a few scattered about.

Golden harvest

luscious lavender

distant views from Snowshill

poppies are in short supply this year

Ponies searching for grass

I was thoroughly spoiled by my daughter who took me to Cowley Manor Hotel for a luxurious Spa followed by a scrumptious afternoon tea. This 19^th century manor house has a fascinating history and has had some interesting residents. In medieval times the manor belonged to Pershore Abbey. But following the dissolution of the monasteries, it passed to a Royalist supporter, Henry Brett, who built himself a grand house on the land in 1674. By the 1850’s the land was owned by a London Stockbroker, who built a huge house in the Italianate style on the site of Brett’s house. This house had fabulous gardens with cascades and lakes running along the River Churn. Then, in 1895 the manor was bought by James Horlick, the inventor of Horlick’s Malted Milk. He made lots of changes to the house and extended it greatly. He added a ballroom and a huge stable block to house his grand coaches and horses. He also built many of the cottages in the village and planted thousands of trees. Today he is remembered at the hotel where the restaurant is named Malt in his honour.

In the 20^th century Cowley Manor had a very chequered history. For a time during the second world war it was leased to Cheltenham ladies College, presumably for the safety of the ‘gals’! At the end of the war it was sold to Gloucestershire County Council as offices and an education centre. I remember going to conferences there as a young teacher in the 1970’s. But, in the early 1990s there was a macabre twist to the tale of Cowley Manor, when the children of Fred and Rosemary West were placed there by the council’s child protection officers. It was there that the children kept mentioning their sister Heather being buried under the patio. But, it would be a year later before the true extent of the infamous couple’s crimes were uncovered. There was a brief spell when the Manor was used as a nursing home, but by the start of the new millennium it was being converted into the hotel we enjoy today.

Of course, I have been back to my regular haunt of Cotswold Wildlife Park with my little granddaughter. We made a special trip to see the 3-day old zebra. We were amazed to see such a young animal frolicking around beside its parents.

Lastly, at the weekend, I went to celebrate the centenary of the Royal Air Force at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) in Fairford. The sheer excitement of this annual event is hard to describe. There are single aircraft and whole teams from all over the world on display. But this year seemed extra special. For a start we are in the middle of a heatwave so the sky was a perfectly blue backdrop to the aerobatics. There was very little wind so the pilots were able to perform all their spectacular manoeuvres. And, because it is the centenary year, there were some unique line-ups commemorating planes through the ages, from the Lancaster Bomber, the Spitfire, and the Tornado through to the Typhoon and the new F35.

It is hard to imagine that the RAF was formed just over 10 years after the very first powered and controlled flight. The bravery of the pilots and crew of those early planes is impossible to exaggerate. At Fairford, we saw a military plane of the future ~ the amazing unmanned MQ-9B SkyGuardian. It took 24 hours to fly the 3760 miles from North Dakota in the USA to Fairford in the UK. It was entirely remotely piloted. I can appreciate the technical genius involved, but I do feel deeply uneasy about the ability to cause death and destruction with clinical precision, remotely!

Apart from that I found the whole event breathtaking. I love the deafening roar of the F16s, the glamour of the Red Arrows’ Hawk T1 fast jets, the practical beauty of the new Juno and Jupiter helicopters, the dignity and history of the Avro Lancaster 1, Douglas Dakota 111, Hawker Hurricane 11c, and the Supermarine Spitfire. We owe them our gratitude. But for sheer entertainment I really enjoyed the Spanish Airforce acrobatic team, Patrulla Aguila. They were just amazing and all 7 Aviojets landed together in their signature move. The Italian Frecce Tricolori were just as spectacular. All I could do was watch and gasp as they mocked gravity and played with the sky. I am sure that the routines these display crews perform should be impossible but they do them anyway. And I loved every minute of it.

Of course my photos are pathetic as everything moved so fast, but I will add a small selection to give you a flavour of the day:

Landing at Staverton Airport

Leaving Staverton Airport

This week marks the centenary of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and there will be celebrations held around the country as well as open days at many air force bases throughout the year. I am very excited to be going to arguably the biggest and best airshow, at RAF Fairford in July.

I clearly remember the celebrations which were held for the 50^th anniversary of the RAF when I was invited to a very grand ball at RAF base which shall be nameless. The evening was wonderful with a fabulous meal, terrific music and great company. As the sun set everyone gathered outside for the grand finale. There was to be a huge firework display ending with an illuminated framework displaying the RAF banner and title with 50^th Anniversary underneath. There were some very important guests there and of course everyone wanted to make a good impression. However, once the smoke cleared and the display was fully alight there were gasps all round as the entire thing was upside down. I have no idea how many heads rolled for the incompetence and the embarrassment of the station commander, but I expect there were a few!

I and my friends from college were often invited to social functions at the air force training school on the base as we were at an all-female teacher training college, and all of the trainee pilots and navigators in those days were young men. We were treated very well with transport, refreshments and dancing laid on and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The men were very respectful and of course rules were strictly applied. It may have been the swinging sixties but It seems like a different world from today. Our college was run by a very strict order of nuns who watched over us girls like prison guards. We were only allowed visitors at certain times and they were never allowed past the common room. We were signed out by the nun who was on duty and she made sure we were all signed back in again before 11pm. Similar rules applied at the RAF base too where the commanding officers were even more terrifying than the Mother Superior.

I seem to remember that training took place on small red and white Vickers Varsity planes. If you are interested in seeing how training planes have changed over the years there is information here.

I was recently at our local small airfield and was amazed to see several beautiful new helicopters. I am used to seeing Chinooks, air ambulances and the police helicopters flying around locally, but these were visibly striking. Like giant bees they were a deep yellow and black with an all-round glass cockpit. Fortunately, when the crew popped into the local pub for coffee and burgers, they explained that these were the brand new H135 Juno and H145 Jupiter training helicopters on route to the flying school. A total of 32 of these helicopters are due to go into service this week to mark the RAF’s centenary. They will provide 28000 flight hours for 266 students each year. There are different types of training for different specialisms, basic, advanced and maritime, and according to the experts and the manufacturers, Airbus,

The innovations are superb, the flight dynamics are excellent, the Helionix instrumentation is incredibly intuitive and the platform will be an excellent lead in to Apache, Chinook, Merlin, Puma and Wildcat

Along with lots of other fascinated onlookers, I managed to take a few photos with my phone through the wire fencing, but they were not brilliant. So, I got permission from the helpful media people at Airbus, who built these beautiful helicopters, to use some of their photos. I hope you like them as much as I do. Many thanks to Alvaro Beteta.