Today the 10th of July 1940 (Wednesday in 1940) is widely acknowledged to be the start of the Battle of Britain, with a number of Luftwaffe attacks on shipping convoys off the south-east coast of England.During the summer and autumn of 1940, 544 personnel from Fighter Command died as the RAF fought in the skies of England fighting the Luftwaffe. The Battle of Britain , which officially lasted from July 10th until October 31st, 1940, was decisive in forcing back the threat of any invasion by Germany.
Today the Queen and Royal Family members witnessed a fly-past from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, to mark the 75th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain.The Queen joined the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of York to watch aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight , including four Spitfires, two Hurricanes and four Typhoon jets from RAF Coningsby which formed the fly-past during an enhanced Changing of the Guard.
There will be many more events up and down the country to commemorate the bravery of those pilots who fought and were injured or lost their lives during this pivotal struggle. I certainly will try and attend as many airshows and events as possible. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the various aircraft museums in the UK keep the memory alive of those who fought in the battle of Britain in 1940.
For Collectors of model aircraft, the Battle of Britain has always been a popular theme and both Corgi and Hobbymaster have produced many fine models for enthusiasts to add to their collections. Many of the earlier releases have been highly sought after and now command very high prices on the secondary market.
We are fortunate that, in this 75th Anniversary year, there have been a number of new models produced for this commemoration.Please visit the Battle of Britain section on the website to see what is currently available. Many of these models have been heavily pre-ordered already and it would be prudent to place your orders soon to avoid future disappointment.I am showing a few of them on the Newsletter today and you can go straight to these models by clicking on the images as usual. All of the models currently are either in stock now or are available to pre-order and can be seen in the Battle of Britain section by clicking on this link.
RIAT 2015
Next week is RIAT ! I hope the weather is as good as it has been recently. Let’s hope for the best. There are many aircraft I am looking forward to seeing but I am particularly looking forward to the massed fly past as a commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
And then there are the fast jets ! Too many to mention here, but here is a look back at a few from RIAT 2014.
Check out the “INSANE” pilots on the F-16 !
I have re-introduced “DEAL OF THE DAY” and I will send update on this feature periodically during the week . Many of you have already taken advantage of this feature this week. I will leave all the previous Deals of The Day on the website until close of play on Sunday at midnight. Those models will then go back up to the normal retail price and will not be featured in this section but will still be available at low prices. The offers are strictly on a first come first served basis. There is no limit to the quantity available per person but when the stock is gone it is gone for good. Please click here to see the offers for this week here.
Don’t forget to visit the Future Releases section. I am adding more models as fast as I can so it is always worth a visit to see the latest additions.
When the items have come into stock they will re-appear in the Latest releases section and are available to order straight away. Click on the link here to see what has come into stock !
Thank you for taking time to read this week’s Newsletter and I hope to be reporting on a successful ( and sunny !) day at RIAT 2015.
Richard.
Flying Tigers.