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Good Evening,

Following the list of RAF Battle of Britain At Home day programmes for 20th September 1969, seven altogether, which I posted in May, I've developed an obssession to to do the same for the year 1964. 60 years ago this year, on 19th September 1964, there were 12 RAF stations "At Home". I've listed them all here and hope it will provide antoher trip down memory lane for some and an eye opener for others given the shear mammoth effort made by the RAF and other services 60 years ago to mark the 24th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. A third of the prgrammes compiled here were taken from the op orders rather than copies of the published programme, however, these provisional programmes were essentially complete even if printed a month or so before the event. The stations where the op order appears are, Acklington, Benson, Finningley and St Mawgan. The op order for St Mawgan appears rather small, this is because it is the FCHQ (overall coordinators) list of assets provided by them. Therefore to complete the list and be as comprehensive as possible, I've listed the outstanding participants at St Mawgan here, London UAS Chipmunk Pair, Whirlwind HAR10, at least 4 x home based Shackletons and a solo MR3 from 201 Sqn, CFS Jet Provost T4, FAF Super Mystere B2, Dragon Rapide (Skydivers), Gannet AEW 3 849 NAS and a Vickers Super VC-10 from BOAC, a Varsity T1 4-ship from 5 FTS. and, possibly, a Canberra from 231 OCU and a CFS Mosquito. Of special interest at St Mawgan was the presence in the Static Display of a US Navy Lockheed Constellation.

B o B Souvenir Book 1964 cover by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Acklington At Home 190964 Flying Prgm by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Benson At Home 190964 1 by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Benson At Home 190964 2 by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Benson At Home 190964 3 by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Benson At Home 190964 4 by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Biggin Hill 190964 Programme cover by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Biggin Hill 190964 Flying Programme 2 by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Biggin Hill 190964 Flying Programme by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Colerne 190964 Programme Cover by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Colerne 190964 Programme details 2 by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Colerne 190964 Programme details by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Colerne 190964 Flying Programme by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Coltishall 1964 Programme cover by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Coltishall 1964 by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Finningley 1964 Flying Programme by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Finningley Static 190964 by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Gaydon 190964 B of B Flying Programme by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Leucharss 1964 cover by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Leuchars 1964 Flying Programme by Ian Watson, on Flickr
St Athan 1964 Programme cover by Ian Watson, on Flickr
St Athan 1964 Flying Programme by Ian Watson, on Flickr
St Mawgan 1964 FCHQ Flying Programme by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Ternhill 1964 Programme cover by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Ternhill 1964 History by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Ternhill 1964 Static Display by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Ternhill 190964 Flying Programme by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Waddington 1964 Staion Commander's message by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Waddington 1964 Provisional Flying Display by Ian Watson, on Flickr
Waddington 1964 Flying Programme by Ian Watson, on Flickr

Wow! Great work sharing these.

You're welcome Sir!

Thanks for sharing these, very nostalgic and interesting to read through them. My first At Home day was Biggin Hill in 1968 and still got (somewhere) the programme and those up to 1975. I have collected some of the earlier Yearbooks on my travels and I do have one which includes the air display insert for an At Home day at RAF Acklington. Trouble is, not sure where it currently is and can't remember what year.

Thank you so much for sharing these. sadly, I missed the heyday of the RAF "at Home " shows, my first being the 1968 Finningley event. My interest in military aircraft began a few years earlier when my brother took me to the old RAFA displays held at Rolls Royces' Hucknall airfield. These lists show just how huge the air forces used to be and the generous commitment made by NATO allies. Oh for a time machine to travel back to those times with my digital cameras to capture what would have been such a fantastic variety of aircraft in colour. The main problem back in those days would have been choosing which show to attend! Nowadays I have to get my "fix" with RIAT. How times change...........

TSR 2: I worked alongside a gentleman whose previous work was with B.A.C; he probably switched jobs after the TSR was cancelled and had a picture of that aircraft on his new office wall. TSR 2, gone, not forgotten.
Roger

Really interesting info here Ian. Think I might have some pics of that Finningley static. You should ask Santa for a copy of my Finningley Airshows book if you don't already have one! Message me for details if interested.

Fantastic piece of work and not a small undertaking to put this lot together - thank you! Airshows of that era seem to have been a major event, taking a lot of organisation, but even then, timings were made to half-minutes! Amazing stuff, and as with fellow FCers, a time-machine would be great (armed with a digital camera, of course!). Thanks for sharing

Echoing the others = Great piece of work
I was at the '64 Leuchars show - My second, having been to the '62 one
Sadly no photos - I couldn't afford a camera then, or, probably more correctly, the film

An interesting point to make, given my personal obsession with politics, by the way. You'll note that just about all the Station Commanders were WWII veterans at the time. I must mention the most interesting one was the CO at Colerne. Gp Capt Mackie, was a highly decorated Bomber pilot during the war. His posting as Station Commander to RAF Colerne followed his conversion to Vulcans at either Waddington or Finningley. The logic behind this was the Hastings Wing at Colerne was assigned the task of ferrying V-Force air and ground crews around to the various dispersal airfields around the UK from Culdros and St Mawgan to Kinloss and Lossiemouth, during any period of "rising political tension". I believe this concentrated his mind and in due course, changed it radically. A real Hero for sure and ultimately the Vice President of CND! Just goes to show the complexities of the Human mind.

https://cnduk.org/60-faces-alistair-mackie/

LF

PS eLaRef, I think I still owe you a copy of A Hundred years of the RAF Air Display, 1920-2020. Also, I understand both Leuchars and Turnhouse were open in September 1958.

The Biggin Hill one could well have been my first air show. I have a memory of seeing a Javelin formation when I was very young, maybe that's it, but Valiants at Biggin Hill? Wish I could remember that. Fantastic post triggering all kinds of memories of the BoB At Home days at my local, thanks.

Sparts99 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 26, 2024 9:54 am

The Biggin Hill one could well have been my first air show. I have a memory of seeing a Javelin formation when I was very young, maybe that's it, but Valiants at Biggin Hill? Wish I could remember that. Fantastic post triggering all kinds of memories of the BoB At Home days at my local, thanks.

Hi Spart99, glad to be of service, by 1964, you'll likely know, Biggin Hill was an RAF station in the same way St Mawgan is today. That is, the RAF presence was essentially all under roof, in the form of the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre. The airfield, owned I think by the Ministry of Aviation at the time was rented out to various charter airline eetc. All typically agreed to have the airfield pass back to RAF control each year for the requisite period to stage the annual Battle of Britain "At Home" display. The last one held under this arrangement, perhaps you attended, was 4 September 1976.

LF

Yes I was at that one. The one I missed was 1967, I had a broken leg, the year that the Thunderbirds displayed in Super Sabres.

Sparts99 wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 27, 2024 9:55 am

Yes I was at that one. The one I missed was 1967, I had a broken leg, the year that the Thunderbirds displayed in Super Sabres.

The Thunderbirds weren't on the prgramme for'67, unless they turned up for the Air Fair. The weather at the 1967 Biggin Hill At Home, 16 September, was very poor as it was at a number of the events that day. Coltishall and St Mawgan got off with fine weather, the low cloud was a band in the centre of the UK. I understand 111 Sqn put on very good display despite weather at Biggin in September that year. The RAF post report complained that while the BBC had turned up of all the few displays they had the opportuniy to film, this wasn't one of them. We moved up the West Coast of Scotland that year so missed the low cloud at Finningley ehich had a similar wx experiance. However, we went to the Scottish airshow at Prestwick on the 30th, the weather was rain all day, but we watched the Red Arrows display while walking to the Bus Stop. They appread to literally turn side ways to fit between the gaps in the semi-detached houses.

LF

I think you're right, it was the Air Fair the Thunderbirds were at.

One more thought Sparts99,

There was also the Skyblazers, also F-100s but a Germany based USAFE unit. Equally flambouyant with lightning flash red,white and blue bars on the nose and wing tips and a navy blue fin with stars! They were around a bit earlier, but I'm sure made it to Biggin Hill each year from 1957 to 1961, following which they disbanded.

LF