Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) Avro Lancaster PA474 and both of their Hawker Hurricanes - Mk.IIc, PZ865 and Mk.II LF363, displaying on Friday of the Eastbourne Airshow 2025.
Avro Lancaster :- The prototype Lancaster first flew from Woodford, Manchester, on 9th January 1941; the first production Lancaster flew on 31st October 1941.
On 24 December 1941, 44 Squadron at RAF Waddington, became the first squadron to equip with the Lancaster, quickly followed by 97 Squadron at Woodhall Spa.
The aircraft could carry a maximum bomb load of 22,000 lbs. Its maximum level speed with a full load at 15,000 feet was 275 mph. It could easily cruise above 20,000ft at a speed of 200 mph. With a full bomb load it had a range of more than 1,500 miles.
7,377 Lancasters were built between 1941 and early 1946. 3,500 were lost on operations and another 200 or so were destroyed or written off in crashes. The vast majority of Lancasters that survived the war were scrapped.
PA474 is one of only two Lancaster aircraft remaining in airworthy condition. The other is in Canada with the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at Hamilton, Ontario.
Hurricane PZ865:- The last of 14.533 Hurricanes built, PZ865 came off the production line at Langley, Buckinghamshire in the summer of 1944, with the inscription "The Last of the Many" on her port and starboard sides.
It was almost immediately bought back from the Air Ministry by Hawkers and mothballed, before later being used as a company communications and test aircraft. In 1950, wearing the civilian registration G-AMAU, it was entered in the King’s Cup Air Race by HRH Princess Margaret. Flown by Group Captain Peter Townsend it gained second place.
During the 1960s, it was returned to its wartime camouflage scheme. It appeared in "The Battle of Britain" film and made many display appearances, often in the hands of the famous fighter and test pilot, Bill Bedford. After a complete overhaul it was flown to Coltishall in March 1972 and given to the Memorial Flight by Hawker Siddeley. For many years it appeared as "The Last of the Many", but eventually the inscription was removed and put on display in the BBMF headquarters.
Between 2010 and 2012 it was rebuilt and a new scheme applied representing Hurricane Mk IIC HW840, coded ‘EG-S’, of 34 Squadron, South East Asia Command, the personal aircraft of Canadian pilot, Flight Lieutenant Jimmy Whalen DFC. South East Asia Command adopted blue-white or dark blue/azure blue roundels to eliminate the red, which could be interpreted as the red sun marking on Japanese aircraft.
During early 2021it was repainted to represent a 247 Squadron night fighter intruder aircraft, coded ‘ZY-V’.
The original ‘ZY-V’ was Hurricane IIC BE634, based at Predannack and Exeter in 1942. It was involved in night air defence of the Plymouth and Exeter area and for night intruder operations against targets in north-western France.
Unusually, the 247 Squadron Hurricanes wore half-sized roundels and code letters over their all-black night fighter camouflage.
Hawker Hurricane Mk.II, LF363:-
As part of its last ‘Major’ service at Biggin Hill, which was completed in Spring 2022, LF363 was repainted into new colours as ‘RF-J’ of 303 Kościuszko (Polish) Squadron during the Battle of Britain.
The original Hurricane ‘RF-J’, which LF363 now represents, was Hurricane Mk. I, V6665, which was delivered as a replacement aircraft, to 303 Squadron at Northolt on 7th September 1940. It lasted for only 20 days before it was lost in combat, crashing at Cowden, Kent on 27 September 1940.
In common with all the 303 Squadron Hurricanes, V6665 was painted with the colourful circular unit badge on each side of the upper fuselage under the wireless aerial mast. In addition, shortly after receiving instructions from Headquarters 11 Group on 16th September, V6665 was painted with an unusual red diagonal band around the rear fuselage ahead of the fin and tail. This was an experimental identification marking that was applied to three of 303 Squadron’s Hurricanes as a trial, which was later not pursued. It was not, as some think, an indication that this was a flight commander’s aircraft.
Hurricane V6665 was flown on its first operational sortie on 9th September 1940 by Flight Lieutenant Johnny Kent, a Canadian RAF pilot who was one of the RAF flight commanders on the unit. During this sortie, he damaged a Junkers Ju 88 bomber and shot down a
Messerschmitt Bf 110, which crashed into the waters of the English Channel and exploded, with no sign of survivors from its crew.
Hurricane V6665 flew 19 operational sorties during its short life with 303 Squadron, 11 of these with Johnny Kent as the pilot. In total, V6665’s pilots claimed four enemy aircraft destroyed while flying her.
This Video and Audio content is
Copyright © StephenKeeler (HightFlight/SkyHighFlightTV) All Rights Reserved
The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) Avro Lancaster PA474 and both of their Hawker Hurricanes - Mk.IIc, PZ865 and Mk.II LF363, displaying on Friday of the Eastbourne Airshow 2025.
Avro Lancaster :- The prototype Lancaster first flew from Woodford, Manchester, on 9th January 1941; the first production Lancaster flew on 31st October 1941.
On 24 December 1941, 44 Squadron at RAF Waddington, became the first squadron to equip with the Lancaster, quickly followed by 97 Squadron at Woodhall Spa.
The aircraft could carry a maximum bomb load of 22,000 lbs. Its maximum level speed with a full load at 15,000 feet was 275 mph. It could easily cruise above 20,000ft at a speed of 200 mph. With a full bomb load it had a range of more than 1,500 miles.
7,377 Lancasters were built between 1941 and early 1946. 3,500 were lost on operations and another 200 or so were destroyed or written off in crashes. The vast majority of Lancasters that survived the war were scrapped.
PA474 is one of only two Lancaster aircraft remaining in airworthy condition. The other is in Canada with the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at Hamilton, Ontario.
Hurricane PZ865:- The last of 14.533 Hurricanes built, PZ865 came off the production line at Langley, Buckinghamshire in the summer of 1944, with the inscription "The Last of the Many" on her port and starboard sides.
It was almost immediately bought back from the Air Ministry by Hawkers and mothballed, before later being used as a company communications and test aircraft. In 1950, wearing the civilian registration G-AMAU, it was entered in the King’s Cup Air Race by HRH Princess Margaret. Flown by Group Captain Peter Townsend it gained second place.
During the 1960s, it was returned to its wartime camouflage scheme. It appeared in "The Battle of Britain" film and made many display appearances, often in the hands of the famous fighter and test pilot, Bill Bedford. After a complete overhaul it was flown to Coltishall in March 1972 and given to the Memorial Flight by Hawker Siddeley. For many years it appeared as "The Last of the Many", but eventually the inscription was removed and put on display in the BBMF headquarters.
Between 2010 and 2012 it was rebuilt and a new scheme applied representing Hurricane Mk IIC HW840, coded ‘EG-S’, of 34 Squadron, South East Asia Command, the personal aircraft of Canadian pilot, Flight Lieutenant Jimmy Whalen DFC. South East Asia Command adopted blue-white or dark blue/azure blue roundels to eliminate the red, which could be interpreted as the red sun marking on Japanese aircraft.
During early 2021it was repainted to represent a 247 Squadron night fighter intruder aircraft, coded ‘ZY-V’.
The original ‘ZY-V’ was Hurricane IIC BE634, based at Predannack and Exeter in 1942. It was involved in night air defence of the Plymouth and Exeter area and for night intruder operations against targets in north-western France.
Unusually, the 247 Squadron Hurricanes wore half-sized roundels and code letters over their all-black night fighter camouflage.
Hawker Hurricane Mk.II, LF363:-
As part of its last ‘Major’ service at Biggin Hill, which was completed in Spring 2022, LF363 was repainted into new colours as ‘RF-J’ of 303 Kościuszko (Polish) Squadron during the Battle of Britain.
The original Hurricane ‘RF-J’, which LF363 now represents, was Hurricane Mk. I, V6665, which was delivered as a replacement aircraft, to 303 Squadron at Northolt on 7th September 1940. It lasted for only 20 days before it was lost in combat, crashing at Cowden, Kent on 27 September 1940.
In common with all the 303 Squadron Hurricanes, V6665 was painted with the colourful circular unit badge on each side of the upper fuselage under the wireless aerial mast. In addition, shortly after receiving instructions from Headquarters 11 Group on 16th September, V6665 was painted with an unusual red diagonal band around the rear fuselage ahead of the fin and tail. This was an experimental identification marking that was applied to three of 303 Squadron’s Hurricanes as a trial, which was later not pursued. It was not, as some think, an indication that this was a flight commander’s aircraft.
Hurricane V6665 was flown on its first operational sortie on 9th September 1940 by Flight Lieutenant Johnny Kent, a Canadian RAF pilot who was one of the RAF flight commanders on the unit. During this sortie, he damaged a Junkers Ju 88 bomber and shot down a
Messerschmitt Bf 110, which crashed into the waters of the English Channel and exploded, with no sign of survivors from its crew.
Hurricane V6665 flew 19 operational sorties during its short life with 303 Squadron, 11 of these with Johnny Kent as the pilot. In total, V6665’s pilots claimed four enemy aircraft destroyed while flying her.
This Video and Audio content is
Copyright © StephenKeeler (HightFlight/SkyHighFlightTV) All Rights Reserved
