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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF)


On Saturday 23rd May 2009, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight made a flight display at the Precsott Hill Climb circuit in Gloucestershire to mark the annual 'La Vie en Bleu' Festival held by the Bugatti Owners Club at their home base.

This was not a fly past, but an extended flight display by the Lancaster, Hurricane and Spitfire of the BBMF. A running commentary was provided.

The complete recording, including arrival, initial flypast, individual displays and final departure lasts 20 minutes or so. To make individual parts of the display more easily accessible, this has been broken down into stages.

Inevitably, there are some 'voices off' from nearby spectators and a little wind rumble at times, but I don't think these spoil the overall impression of the event. Best listened to on headphones.

The three aircraft arrived together , thundering over the Gloucestershire countryside. The commentator describes the planes. After a second flypast, the planes separated for individual displays. 3:38, 4.35MB

The Spitfire was the first to display. 5:59, 6.86MB.

Next up was the Hurricane, with its deeper engine note. 4:23, 5.03MB.

After its display, the Hurricane and Spitfire joined up and loitered away, to allow the Lancaster to make solo passes as the commentator described the Dambuster raid. 3:48, 4.35MB.

Finally, the three aircraft regrouped, flew past and then departed to the applause of the crowd. 2:16, 2.61MB

Stirring stuff!


Recording Notes
Recordings made using using a pair of Shure MX-183 lavalier omni microphones, each mounted at a 3" square boundary. The two boundary planes were inclined at 110 degrees to each other, pointing forward. The mic rig acts partly as closely-spaced omni pair, with some directionality provided by the small boundaries.
The mics were hand-held and shielded from breeze to some extent using a long-haired fabric hood.
Sounds recorded at 48kHz, 24 bit into a Sony PCM-D50 recorder. The mics were powered using the 'plug-in' supply from the recorder. Edited using Wavelab 6.


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