26th August 2018

“..In the distance a humming sound reached his ears, increasing steadily in its velocity as a dark shape circled overhead. He looked up and saw, through the light of the streetlamps, the insignia of a British military plane...Out on the tiny airstrip there was a screech of tyres on concrete, sparks flying on impact, then dissolving into the heat of the night..Inside the plane, the pilot, distinctive in close-fitting cap and goggles, hauled them unceremoniously into the cockpit....Like a huge, monstrous bird, the British military plane raced along the runway, picking up speed until with one graceful movement its tiny wheels lifted off the ground, clearing by inches the flailing fists of the wrathful Germans..”
Lamplight. 

If ever you wonder why the referendum vote swung away from mainland Europe, read the sentiments in the above extract taken from my WWII novel Lamplight (click the icon on the right.) To be British back then was everything. Everyone in this region is invited to a special #RAF100 event featuring the Red Arrows flying spectacularly over Birmingham’s Victoria Square: date: Sun 26 Aug 2018, 15.00h. For all lovers of old planes, the history is there. The RAF was formed in 1918, making it the oldest individual airforce in the world.  And there’s the enigma: it’s individual, nothing to do with any other country.  That’s what I hear Brexiteers saying all the time. They want to feel British, not beholden to anyone else. For the future, who knows? But today we’re all celebrating those magnificent men in their flying machines.