Sure I saw a Spitfire last Sat over Hull. We weren't always so well protected: "The geographical position of Hull made the city an excellent target in both world wars. The first taste of what was to follow for the people of Hull came on Sunday June 6/7 1915. Towards midnight High above the plains of Holderness the zeppelin L9 cruised towards the sleeping city. In minutes 13 high explosive and 47 incendiary bombs rained down as the great craft flew back and forth over the central area. When it left 24 people were dead and 40 wounded. Among buildings burned was the popular store of Edwin Davis. Across the road from it the incendiaries narrowly missed Holy Trinity Church. People were left homeless in a number of neighbourhoods due to houses being wrecked or burned. When people realised the extent of the damage riots erupted, with mobs attacking the shops of people with foreign-sounding names. After the chaos of that first raid came a period of calm – until Sunday March 5/6 1916 when occurred what became known as “The Snowy Night Raid.” Mr Suddaby wrote: “In addition to the outrage caused by many civilian deaths the destruction of homes and the bombing of the city’s train station, hundreds of people left their homes and spent the night freezing in fields and parks.” Two zeppelins were involved in the attack, which came as skies cleared following early evening snow. One, the L14, approached Hull from the north and started dropping bombs around midnight – 21 of them explosive and two incendiaries, with much of the destruction occurring in the Anlaby Road area.. The other attacker was the L11 which dropped her first bomb in the Humber and was then said to have left a swath of destruction as she flew over the city centre. Four people died when high explosive bombs hit Queen Street and stained glass was shattered on the south side of Holy Trinity Church. In the city centre the glass roof of Paragon Station was blown out. In all 17 people died in the raids, among them two families. The frustration in the city over a complete lack of defences led to more disturbances. This was referred to by writer Douglas Robinson in his book The Zeppelin in Combat. He said: “The helpless population, in an ugly mood, relieved its feelings by stoning Royal Flying Corps vehicle in Hull and a flying officer was mobbed in Beverley.” Action was needed and it finally came following relentless lobbying by Hull photographer TC Turner who managed to persuade the government to send assistance. As a result mobile guns and searchlights arrived on March 16, 1916. Prior to that, though, the Germans returned exactly one month to the day after the March 1916 raid, with the L11 reaching he city and creating what was described as “a magnificent spectacle.” A newspaper report of the incident told of searchlights flashing across the sky” and of guns being put into action. The report said: “The engagement was a magnificent spectacle. The population kept cool and watched the firing with confidence. In one part of the town Every shot from our guns was greeted with a murmur of applause which grew into a cheer as a missile from one of the guns appeared to slide up the bean of a searchlight, straight for the aerial marauder.” Again peace descended, but only for a short period. The raiders were back on August 8/9 1916 with the L24 carrying out what became known as the Selby Street Raid in which nine or 10 people died and over 20 were wounded. Other raids occurred during the war but none were as bad as the four described. Later attempts to bomb Hull were driven of by guns and searchlights. These included an attack on 24/25 September 1917 when one house was wrecked and one chicken killed! In the last assault on the city on March 12/13 1918 one woman was reported to have died from shock."
Hang on a minute..............it was a bomber.........I am sorry but I just do not see your point.........the bombing of innocent civilians in time of war took place on both sides...........we were as bad as the Germans in that respect. The Battle of Britain Flight is living history and reminds us of a great victory, but we bombed the hell out of Germany and for many years Bomber Command was not held in high regard. It was a tragic time for many, lets not forget the war, we can celebrate the hero's who flew these planes and admire the machines but lets leave the rest for other days.
My point is that for the second week running I have looked up to see British warplanes unexpectedly in the sky. Just trying to imagine what it must have been like to see a massive silent Zeppelin cruising unhindered over the skies of Hull. So no real 'point' at all.
One of my sisters was on Humberside earlier describing todays events which include not only the flypast but numerous free events in queen victoria square,get youselves there if you can.
You reap what you sow. They shouldn't have bombed our cities in the first place. That action was pretty much their downfall in the Battle of Britain. The RAF was on it;s arse & them switching targets from the airfields to total destruction of our inner cities gave us rest bite to regroup. If they'd carried on attacking the airbases they'd have won, operation Sealion would've happened & they'd have been goose-stepping up Whitehall.
I would assume that this was the RAF Memorial flight and they were on their way to Stirling to fly over the castle and town which today is hosting the National Armed Forces Day.
Today was Armed Forces day. There was displays all over the place. They fly from one to another and generally try to cover major areas as they go too as a sort of freebie.
