Battle of Britain Memorial pull out of Falmouth Armed Forces Day

A selection of historic aircraft from the Flight had been expected to fly in this afternoon’s air display over Falmouth Bay.

However, the Royal Air Force has issued a statement to say that, due to an engine fault being investigated, the Memorial Flight was being pulled from the commemorations for safety reasons.

The RAF said: "The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is currently investigating a fault on a Merlin engine and has taken the decision to temporarily pause flying.

"Several of our aircraft are powered by the Merlin and as a result these historic aircraft will be unable to support Armed Forces Day events around the country as we would have liked.

"This is hugely disappointing for us and to all those who love to see these iconic aircraft; however, safety remains our paramount concern."

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) commemorates those who have lost their lives serving in the RAF, or its predecessor the Royal Flying Corps, in all conflicts from 1914 up to the present day. The BBMF fleet of Second World War aircraft is preserved in flying condition as a living tribute to them.

The BBMF, based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, is typically tasked to fly more than 100 displays and around 700 flypasts at events each display season.

It had been hoped a Spitfire with a Perranporth connection would be able to return

The aircraft at each display varies, but it had been hoped that the flight over Cornwall would have included a Mk Vb AB910 Spitfire with a strong Cornish connection. Having flown 143 operational missions spanning almost three years on ‘ops’, it was re-allocated to 130 Sqn at Perranporth Airfield, flying convoy protection patrols and escorting daylight bombing raids.

Crowds in Falmouth were also due to hear the distinctive thrum of the Avro Lancaster PA474, made famous as the Dambusters. The BBMF has one of only two of these iconic four-engine heavy bombers still airworthy in the world.

An Avro Lancaster, made famous as the Dambusters

However, there will still be a wide variety of aircraft taking place throughout Saturday afternoon, starting with a parachute drop from the RAF Falcons and continuing with a range of aircraft including a Typhoon, Chinook and the Black Cats.

The action will be taking place over Falmouth Bay, starting from 2.20pm with the RAF Falcons display team leaping from planes and parachuting down towards the sea.

The Red Arrows are then scheduled to arrive at around 3pm for a display lasting roughly half an hour – although if you’re elsewhere in Cornwall you might be lucky enough to get a glimpse on their way to and from the display.

You can see more about their flight schedule here: Red Arrows display details and the other aircraft performing on Armed Forces Day

The air display is due to continue until 5pm, with the running order of:

Red Arrows

Black Cats

Typhoon

Chinook

Harvard

Merlin Mk 2

Seafire