This is a heartwarming story of a Bomb Aimer, flown back to Austria this weekend by a Project Propeller volunteer private pilot, to take part in a weekend of commemoration.
''When we landed in Salzburg, we were met by Wolfgang Auer who is the Mayor of Adnet, the tiny village where the plane crashed and who had organised the whole event. He is a really nice man whose project this has been for years and who did a fantastic job of organising everything. His partner in this is a British firefighter called Kevin Ruane who has also dedicated a huge amount of time and effort to it. ''
Then on Friday we came to the ceremony itself which was just brilliantly done. Representatives of over a dozen Austrian veterans groups, a guard of honour with rifle salute and a cannon, a fly past from the Austrian Air Force, a single trumpeter from the Central Band of the Royal Air Force and beautifully moving words from two local children all followed by short and good speeches from the Canadian Ambassador, the British NATO officer and the Landeshauptmann. It's hard to convey in words just how poignant and brilliantly done the whole thing was.
Without any doubt at all, this was one of the greatest experiences I can recall since I first climbed into an aeroplane.''
Posts: 3,902
By: Propstrike - 26th April 2015 at 19:55
This is a heartwarming story of a Bomb Aimer, flown back to Austria this weekend by a Project Propeller volunteer private pilot, to take part in a weekend of commemoration.
''When we landed in Salzburg, we were met by Wolfgang Auer who is the Mayor of Adnet, the tiny village where the plane crashed and who had organised the whole event. He is a really nice man whose project this has been for years and who did a fantastic job of organising everything. His partner in this is a British firefighter called Kevin Ruane who has also dedicated a huge amount of time and effort to it. ''
Then on Friday we came to the ceremony itself which was just brilliantly done. Representatives of over a dozen Austrian veterans groups, a guard of honour with rifle salute and a cannon, a fly past from the Austrian Air Force, a single trumpeter from the Central Band of the Royal Air Force and beautifully moving words from two local children all followed by short and good speeches from the Canadian Ambassador, the British NATO officer and the Landeshauptmann. It's hard to convey in words just how poignant and brilliantly done the whole thing was.
Without any doubt at all, this was one of the greatest experiences I can recall since I first climbed into an aeroplane.''
See full account here
http://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=94842
Background info here.
619 Squadron RAF, LM756 F-Freddy Adnet Memorial Blog
http://619lancasteradnet.weebly.com/