Wings

A lovely evening on the shores of Windermere for the “Wings Over Windermere” event.
The opening act was a flypast by the BBMF Lancaster, which we only just caught as it was 5 minutes ahead of schedule. A very impressive sight and sound as it passed overhead and headed off up the lake.
The main event was some flights by “Waterbird” a replica of the first hydro plane in the U.K. which took off from Windermere in 1911. The replica is just as delicate as the original and would not be attempting to take off if the wind was more than 6 knots. Fortunately the breeze did drop and we were treated to a couple of short flights. It wasn’t very fast and couldn’t attain much height but it was still a great achievement which merited a well deserved round of applause as it made its way across the bay and headed back to base.
As the sun was setting we were treated to a short display by a far more modern float plane - an Aviat Husky. Really showed how much progress had been made in the 70 odd years since Waterbird first flew. Especially impressive was it doing a “touch and go” landing and take off right in front of us.
The beautiful weather and stunning scenery really made it an evening to remember. And the changing light as the sun set was definitely the icing on the cake!