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English Electric Canberra B(I)8/B.6 MOD WT333 60th Anniversary at Bruntingthorpe Airfield on the 30th January 2016
English Electric Canberra B(I)8/B.6 MOD WT333 celebrated its 60th anniversary on this day, the 30th January 2016. To the exact day it was 60 years since WT333 made her first flight with Squadron Leader Desmond de Villiers AFC, Chief Production Test Pilot for English Electric at the controls.
We were extremely lucky with the weather with blue skies for much of the event & no rain, although it was bitterly cold, as you can imagine being on an airfield, which are notoriously cold!
Amongst the guests at the event were members of the family of the late Wing Commander Roland Prosper 'Bee' Beaumont CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, English Electric's Chief Development Test Pilot, who is forever associated with the Canberra.
The day actually turned out to be a celebration not only of Canberra WT333 but also of English Electric, with the Lightning Preservation Group, which are also based at Bruntingthorpe, running one of their English Electric Lightning F.6's, namely XR728/JS. To say this was a very welcome surprise is an understatement but it certainly added to a really fabulous day.
Both aircraft performed faultlessly as usual, what a tribute to the teams who look after & maintain these aircraft. My thanks go to Stephen Reglar and all the ground crew & engineers on Treble Three and also to The Lightning Preservation Group & their team and also the Pilots Dennis Brooks & John Ward This section contains 66 unique images taken during the day:
All images are Copyright İRoger Whitcomb 2016 - www.milairpix.com
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