wings over Wiltshire

Last Thursday (bear with me, please, I've been out in the wilds and need to visit the library to use the internet properly) ...last Thursday, I say, my keen ear (that's the one on the left. The one on the right is nonchalant and whistles constantly) detected an unusual aero engine approaching. with a low and clattery sound. Stubby wings, and invasion stripes... It was a Grumman Martlet! Never seen one before in real life.

Shortly after came a Chance Vought Corsair, in Fleet Air Arm colours adopted for the Far East- the red circle has been removed from the roundel to avoid it being mistaken for the Japanese red circle marking. Another first time sighting for me. This bit of Witlshire is very good for seeing odd aeroplanes.

...and then a Tiger Moth, but hey, Tiger Moths, ho hum*

*Not really...!

Spitfire

This bridge traverses so much sky,

Such clear depth of open air

As tempts my aircraft under there;

It seemed ungrateful not to try.

I held my breath. A sudden flick

Of shadow on my face; my joy

Reflected in that waving boy;

The cliff face zipping by so quick-

Now, zooming high, I see the far

Welsh mountains in the dawning glow

While Bristol's half-asleep below,

And steer towards the morning star.

I was in Bristol yesterday for the IsamBards' second poetic outing, a walk around the Clifton Suspension Bridge. This poem was my small contribution, which they kindly invited me to make as I'm so keen on the stories of the pilots who've flown under that very bridge.


Laura Hilton, the Clifton Suspension Bridge's Visitor Centre Manager, introduces the poets Deborah Harvey, Pameli Benham, Stewart Carswell and David C Johnson

Ann Wood-Kelly flies under the Clifton suspension bridge

(available as a print)

Ann Wood-Kelly was an American pilot who came to Britain in 1942 and flew for the Air Transport Auxiliary, ferrying warplanes around Britain and, later in the war, Europe. Whitchurch Airport, in the suburbs of South Bristol, was an ATA base, as well as an important centre for civilian flights abroad; it was on a flight headed for Whitchurch from Lisbon that the Douglas DC-3 carrying Leslie Howard was shot down over the Bay of Biscay.

It was on delivery flights to Whitchurch that Ann Wood-Kelly twice flew under the Severn railway bridge at Sharpness, once in company with another pilot who led the way, and then next time alone; on the latter occasion, the tide was in, and there was 30ft less clearance than on the first time. Her obituary in the Guardian relocates these flights to the Clifton suspension bridge, which is presumably an error; but I thought it would make a good picture anyway, and who knows, maybe Ann did indeed fly under the Clifton suspension bridge- it would certainly have been less of a squeeze than the Severn railway bridge!

As for the poularity of flying under the Sharpness bridge, here is a description of it during the war from Brian Waters, in his book Severn Tide:

"The builder constructed this bridge so that river traffic could pass beneath it. What would he say if he could return to see airmen in their Spitfires and Hurricanes diving beneath his bridge like swallows on the wing? I admired their daring, until I saw the men whose job it is to paint the bridge, hanging in their cradle, while an aircraft dashed within a few feet of them"

The Clifton Suspension Bridge was also quite popular with pilots; I've found stories of Gloster Meteors and even a Canberra going under it; and Ken Griffiths, of Bristol's Fiducia Press, recalled watching a Vampire whizz by as he stood on Observatory Hill. This was not the most usually-recalled Vampire underflight, which ended in disaster....

Severn railway bridge; photo by Ben Brooksbank (Creative Commons)

Hunter in the gorge

hunter in the gorge, originally uploaded by Dru Marland.

Continuing my soon-to-be-a-series of Aeroplanes That Flew Under The Clifton Suspension Bridge, here is a Hawker Hunter doing just that.

Next up will be a Gloster Meteor, just as soon as I've finished painting it.....

meanwhile here is the Canberra...
...and a Javelin (though I have not heard of a Javelin really doing this run)


...and, talking of painting (see what I did there?) ...I was driving along Stapleton Road yesterday and saw a chap pressure-washing the Banksy gorilla, that had been painted over last week.
This story is interesting because of the notions of reification and commodification that it brings to mind. Well, to my mind, anyway. Here is the chap who painted over it:

New owner Saeed Ahmed assumed it was a regular piece of graffiti and had it painted over. "I thought it was worthless," he said.

He added: "I didn't know it was valuable and that's why I painted over it. I really am sorry if people are upset."

It reminds me of the time, two summers back, when the Banksy exhibition was drawing in huge crowds at the City Museum, and employees of the same Bristol City Council were assiduously painting over some very good wall art in Stokes Croft, despite it having been done with the approval of the owner of the wall in question....

some tags; aircraft, aeroplane, RAF, flying, flight, flew under, the, Clifton Suspension Bridge, low flying, Hawker Hunter