BATTLE OF BRITAIN PLANES GROUNDED OVER SAFETY FEARS
THE RAF’s famous Second World War aircraft have been grounded due to safety concerns over engines.
The historic warplanes of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight – including a Lancaster bomber, two Hurricanes and three Spitfire fighters – have been taken out of action because of a technical fault with their Merlin engines.
A display at Weymouth on Wednesday was cancelled while on the same day a flypast by the Lancaster bomber at Bletchley Park, Bucks, was scrapped due to “unforeseen events”.
The Battle of Britain aircraft, flown by serving RAF pilots, were also due to fly at the Biggin Hill Festival of Flight in Kent and at the Eastbourne International Airshow at the weekend.
Disappointment
Former RAF pilot Geoff Brindle, the flying display director for the Biggin Hill show, said he understood the action was taken after “debris” was discovered in the oil in one aircraft engine.
He said: “Because the air force is its own engineering authority, if it finds a fault on one aeroplane it is duty bound to take all the others out of service until they find whether that’s a universal fault or just on one particular engine.”
An RAF spokesman said: “We are currently investigating the fault and as a precaution flying of Merlin engine powered aircraft has been paused.
“We realise the disappointment this will be to our many supporters.
“However, safety remains our paramount concern.”