Philippa Dowding's Blog - Posts Tagged "sir-hugh-dowding"
Here's what I think about airshows ...
It's airshow weekend here in the big city. I can't say that I like them. Our house rocks and shakes like a tin house in a gale when the huge engines roar overhead. My young dog barks insanely, then very wisely runs for cover. Who wouldn't? Plenty of people have died at this annual event by the lake (I can think of at least nine deaths on three separate occasions over the years off the top of my head).
I wonder how other people feel about them? I'm torn. They are scary. They cost lives. They are expensive. They do remind us, I suppose, of past soldiers and loved ones who took up arms and sacrificed everything for freedom. Sir Hugh Dowding was my grandfather's cousin and the head of the RAF during WWII for a few years. Much as I hate warfare and the pomp of the airshow, where would the free world be without people like him? My uncle was a Spitfire pilot in WWII, and survived 52 skirmishes in the nighttime sky over London during the Battle of Britain. In 1952 he died in a Battle of Britain airshow re-enactment. He crashed.
Here's a longer blog post about what I think about airshows: http://bit.ly/OBP1br
I wonder how other people feel about them? I'm torn. They are scary. They cost lives. They are expensive. They do remind us, I suppose, of past soldiers and loved ones who took up arms and sacrificed everything for freedom. Sir Hugh Dowding was my grandfather's cousin and the head of the RAF during WWII for a few years. Much as I hate warfare and the pomp of the airshow, where would the free world be without people like him? My uncle was a Spitfire pilot in WWII, and survived 52 skirmishes in the nighttime sky over London during the Battle of Britain. In 1952 he died in a Battle of Britain airshow re-enactment. He crashed.
Here's a longer blog post about what I think about airshows: http://bit.ly/OBP1br
