The King’s lifelong connection to the skies was marked on Sunday with the small crimson plane wherein he realized to fly delighting aviation and army lovers in Bedford.
The 70-year-old Royal de Havilland Chipmunk WP903 was among the many classic aeroplanes to take to the skies on Sunday for Shuttleworth aerodrome’s King and Country Air Show.
The dayglo crimson, single-engined major coach was utilized by the long run King at RAF Tangmere in 1969 whereas he was a scholar at Cambridge University.
The younger prince flew solo for the primary time within the tandem, two-seat plane on January 14 1969 earlier than being awarded his non-public pilot’s licence two months later and his RAF Preliminary Flying Badge on August 2.
In August 1971 he was offered along with his RAF wings.
Built in 1952, the Royal Chipmunk affectionately often known as “the Red Dragon” served with the RAF Queens Flight from September 20 1960 to June 12 1964.
In addition to Charles, the Chipmunk was additionally used to show the Duke of Kent and the late Queen’s cousins Prince Michael and Prince William to fly.
William, brother of the Duke of Gloucester, would die in an air crash whereas piloting his airplane in a contest in 1972 on the age of 30.
In 1979, the WP904 can be indifferent from the RN Grading Flight to show the then-Prince Andrew.
On leaving the RAF in 1974, WP903 was acquired by the Culdrose Gliding Club and served as a Glider Tug till December 1996.
Since 2001, the Chipmunk has been operated by the Henlow Chipmunk Group and based mostly out of the Old Warden Aerodrome close to Bedford since 2020.
Two Edwardian-era aircrafts additionally made a uncommon look at Sunday’s King and Country Air Show at Shuttleworth.
Representing the very starting of manned flight within the UK, the 2 fragile aeroplanes can solely be flown in near-windless situations.
Fortunately for all concerned, the day’s wind speeds have been underneath 5mph.
The Roe IV Triplane was an early British plane designed by Alliott Verdon Roe and constructed by AV Roe and Company (later to turn out to be AVRO, producer of the WW2 Lancaster bomber). It was first flown in September 1910 and just one instance was made.
It has a high velocity of round 25mph.
The instance that took to the air for the King and Country Air Show was an actual reproduction of the unique made for the 1965 movie Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, starring Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, Robert Morley and Terry-Thomas.
It was later donated to the Shuttleworth Collection, Sunday’s air present host.
Flying alongside the Roe was the Bristol Boxkite which was first flown in 1910.
The latter plane has a extra trendy engine and was based mostly on the design of the French Farman III biplane.
It was constructed by the Bristol and Colonial Aeroplane firm (later the Bristol Aeroplane firm).
The instance on show on Sunday was one other actual reproduction constructed for Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.
