Show Notes
After Roy and James tried to go it alone in the previous pod, Top Landing Gear is back at full strength for this one. Throughout this series we’ve been focussing on the Avro Lancaster which this year celebrates its 80th anniversary. And this episode features the Lanc’s most famous mission of all, Operation Chastise, ‘The Dam Busters Raid’. On our recent visit to Bomber County, Lincolnshire, the TLG team visited RAF Scampton, home to 617 Squadron and from where, in May 1943, 19 specially converted Lancasters set out on that historic raid. Jez outlines exactly what was involved in one of his best ‘Quick Facts’ to date, yet despite his extensive research he bombed somewhat in the TLG ‘Dam Busters’ Quiz. We’ll play a clip of our tour around the Scampton Heritage Centre, which included sitting at the desk of Wing Cdr Guy Gibson in the very office from where he planned and ran Operation Chastise. Our Full Flaps edition will cover that visit in full, and in a bonus episode we’ll hear from Annette Edgar who’s launched an ambitious campaign to save historic RAF Scampton as a heritage site, following its scheduled closure in 2022.
More from Top Landing Gear
Welcome to Top Landing Gear and our bonus edition of Full Flaps from Dunsfold Aerodrome. In our previous episode we spoke with Aviation Filming's owner Mike Woodley. In this episode we make our way out onto the apron and get guided tour around the three BA Boeing 747s with Aviation Filming Aerial Coordinator and Pilot Jamie Chalkley.
Welcome to Top Landing Gear Full Flaps and our full length interview with Mike Woodley, owner of Aviation Filming Ltd based at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey. The company specialises in aviation content for film and TV, including a huge number of the Bond films. Among Aviation Filming's fleet are three former BA Boeing 747s which are regularly used as film props and a very famous Douglas Dakota. We met up with Mike in his office beneath the control tower of Dunsfold in May 2023 to hear some of his incredible stories about the film and aviation industry. Enjoy!
Welcome to Top Landing Gear as we turn our attention to an airfield that is close to all of us, both emotionally and geographically: Dunsfold Aerodrome, home of the Hunter and the Harrier. It was also used as the studio and test track for BBC Top Gear (a poor man's version of Top Landing Gear - wheels instead of wings!), home to the sadly defunct annual Wings and Wheels airshow, and the base for Aviation Filming, which provides aircraft and facilities for the film and television industry, including most of the Bond films. It's run by our splendid guest, Mike Woodley.
Join the Top Landing Gear team as they are given a tour of Croydon Airport by A380 Captain Ian Walker, former chairman of the Croydon Airport Trust.
Top Landing Gear returns as we continue series 5 by going further back in aviation history than we've ever gone before, to the earliest days of commercial air travel with our visit to the historic Croydon Aerodrome.