Graeme Smith sent in these two photos, with the top photo titled First Lesson. “In a 1942 deHavilland Tiger Moth during the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain Airshow at Duxford in the UK. The 8th Army Air Force Memorial is in the glass building on the right. I now own a Cessna 150 based at Newport State Airport (KUUU) in Rhode Island and have flow some 1,200 hours in pursuit of my dream of flying Warbirds.”
“Four years later at Headcorn in Kent (RAF Lashenden during World War II) and I fulfilled a lifetime ambition — In a Spitfire with Air Marshall Sir Clifford Spink RAF (Ret) who kindly let me have the controls and fly some acro over the fields where the Battle of Britain was fought in 1940.”
Smith will also give a talk during next week’s AirVenture in Oshkosh on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. “The presentation honors the 2,994 pilots who faced daily odds of 5:1 against for 16 weeks in the summer of 1940,” he noted.
It will describe the command and control system, pilot flying equipment, problems of aircraft supply and the minimal pilot training replacement British pilots received, he said, adding the talk will be illustrated from his own training and preparation in 2014 to fly the Supermarine Spitfire.
The talk will be Tuesday, July 21, in the Hilton Theater on the AirVenture grounds.