BANBURY’S HIGH-FLYING GRANDMA, by Edna Sparkes

(A ‘Close Encounter’ of the Phantom Kind…)
Her Majesty’s Official Birthday – 12th June

I have visited and been in awe at the wonders of Egypt and the River Nile; watched from the tip of the Empire State Building in New York as ‘Dinky-toy’ yellow-cabs crawled ant-like along the streets far below; viewed the streets of Chicago from an even higher perspective – The Sears Building; perused the historical artefacts housed within the Blue Mosque in Istanbul; watched the sun set behind the Blue Mountains in Ocho Rios, Jamaica; been photographed in front of Sydney’s famous Harbour Bridge and Opera House; and been whisked up the tallest structure in the world (88-storeys) in Shanghai- but I have now experienced another travel wonder which, I think, tops them all. It started with a ‘phone call from my daughter (wife of a RAF Officer based at Brize Norton) at the end of May, enquiring if I was busy on the 12th June?
“No”, I said -Then my jaw dropped open when she asked if I would like to be on one of the aeroplanes taking part in the “Trooping of the Colour” Flypast on the Queen’s Official Birthday, 12th June, 2004? “Would I”? I said … and that’s how it started.

A stumbling block occurred when I was told I would need my Passport since “London -is a “no-fly” zone – especially ‘Buck House’ and the Mall”… Mine had expired six weeks earlier – and as I had nothing planned its renewal was still on the “To Do” List! I phoned Passport House and was told that in emergencies you had to visit Passport House (just behind Victoria Train Station); pay £89 for handling and get it renewed. Well, was I desperate to the tune of £89, I had to ask myself? As it transpired I needn’t have worried because meantime Son-in-Law had talked to his C.O. and was assured they would accept mine (along with my Driving Licence and any current I.D.)

The great day came and within fifteen minutes of leaving my daughter’s home we -including my two-year old grandson Joshua and four year old Alexander – were sitting in the Departure Lounge of Brize Norton Airport – and just over an hour later we and the families of RAF personnel were eagerly filling all the window seats fore and aft of the C17 Globemaster Tristar aircraft – cameras at the ready. At 1200 hrs we left the tarmac at Brize behind us, with a timetable as follows: The Queen’s Birthday Flypast was timed to be over Buckingham Palace balcony at 1300 hrs local time (but if the Trooping the Colour Ceremony had been delayed until the afternoon, all timings would slip by 4 hours.) The formation’s ground speed was 280 knots (320-mph), flying at a height at 1500ft. The Formation was 8 nautical miles long with 2 nautical miles separating each group of aircraft.

I was lucky enough to be in the second aircraft flying over the Palace – a Tristar Strategic Tanker of 216 Squadron based at Brize Norton, and Captained by Fl/Lt. Mike Smith – but the real joy of joys was when we flew out over the North Sea to pick up two Tornado GR4’s based at RAF Marham, which flanked us on our wing and Alexander and I were able to wave to the pilot and co-pilot working within their transparent cockpit. The air- craft joining the formation were 1000 ft above the lead aircraft, when we dropped to 3000 ft, descending to only 1500 ft as we approached London from Chelmsford for the run-in to the Palace. To the rear and out of our sight line were two more Tornado F3’s from RAF Leuchars, followed by two Tornado E3D’s from 56 Reserve Squadron; with an In-Flight refuelling aircraft (also based at Brize), and two Jaguar GR3’s from RAF Coltishall, with a Nimrod MR2 bringing up the rear. Quite a sight we must have been.

My high spots of the flight were telling Alexander that clouds were not – as he thought – made of candyfloss and no, we couldn’t walk on them; looking up a very long, sandy stretch of Great Yarmouth’s beach; trying to distinguish between sea and sky on the horizon of that small bit of the North Sea – and a (very) short time later being ‘just above’ London (how big it is…) and picking out the Albert Hall and Kensington Palace. Sadly we were on the wrong side of the plane to see the Palace (which didn’t matter at all), and very quickly London had disappeared. We were once again over ‘England’s green and pleasant land’ of fields and trees, losing the support aircraft heading back to their respective Bases, and within an incredible eight minutes we were braking and touching-down back on the tarmac at Brize Norton.