May 1988 - We go to London

1988 Our lives in America
Between 28 May, 1986 and 04 June, Jenni and I go to London. I've earned enough Frequent Flyer miles to get free tickets. Sunday May, 28 1988 We fly on a long-since-retired Lockheed L1011. This is our stopover in Atlanta. We leave Atlanta at 19:00 and it's then ten hours flight time to London Gatwick. The next morning Monday May, 29 1988 Roy and Pamela Sherratt meet us at London Heathrow . . . . . . after which we have breakfast with them at their house.
Monday May 29, 1988   Today is a bank holiday in the UK; the four of us go to Windsor Castle. This is a Coldstream Guard, second in the pecking order Windsor Castle, the Queen's country home. The castle is located about 22 miles west of London. The original castle was built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I (who reigned 1100–1135), it has been used by the reigning monarch and is the longest occupied palace in Europe. Coldstream Guard (after the town of Coldstream on the English-Scottish border). Buttons in pairs, an easy way to identify. Roy and Pamela with Jenni inside the castle. This is part of an area called the Horseshoe Cloister.
At the west end of the Lower Ward is the Horseshoe Cloister, originally built in 1480, near to the chapel to house its clergy. George Gilbert Scott heavily restored the building in 1871 and little of the original structure remains. To the east is St George's Chapel. It is a castle chapel built in the late medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Garter. St George's Chapel was founded in the 14th century by King Edward III and extensively enlarged in the late 15th century. Religious people live here. In the previous pictures we looked at H and G in the Lower Ward.
I know theses are terrible pictures but photography is banned. I hold my Pentax near my waist but the noise the mechanical shutter makes is very loud. So I don't push my luck any further. Coldstream Guards at the changing of the guards ceremony. Changing of the Guard at Windsor castle on the East Terrace. At the moment, the new guards are receiving their orders: Stand still for the next 8 hours and ignore the tourists.
1988 Early1988 0247 a Outside Windsor Castle in the East Terrace lawn. I don't realise it at the time, but the gardens are arranged in a huge U shape connected by straight paths through its centre. The Round Tower is the central keep of Windsor. It has been on the site in one form or another since the 1100’s when it was made of wood. William the Conqueror is responsible for starting construction on the tower and the castle itself. Along with the Tower of London, William needed Windsor to keep the conquered Saxons in check. The castle has never fallen, although in its history it has seen numerous sieges including one in the early 1200’s when King John’s barons rose against him and eventually forced the Magna Carta issue. The River Thanes at Maidenhead 7 miles NW from Windsor Castle.
It probably takes hours to get through the locks. Stylish living on the Thames After a great day together, Roy and Pamela return to their home in Isleworth, 12 miles from London on the A4. Tuesday May 30, 1988 We visit the Tower of London. These are the Yeoman Warders (or Beefeaters)
Changing the guard at the tower. These are Coldstream Guards: buttons in pairs, red plume, badge on collar. Stay still for 8 hours and ignore the tourists. The Peninsular war (1808–14) was that part of the Napoleonic Wars fought in the Iberian Peninsula, where the French were opposed by British, Spanish, and Portuguese forces. Napoleon’s peninsula loss contributed considerably to his eventual downfall. The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). This is the White Tower which gives the entire castle its name. It was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 and was a resented symbol of oppression inflicted upon London by the new ruling elite.
The White Tower was the castle's strongest point militarily. It provided accommodation and a chapel for the king and his representatives; Henry III ordered the tower whitewashed in 1240. A Beefeater entertains the crowds. Tower Bridge in the background. Later, we go inside it and walk across the top. This is the Norman Temple inside the White Tower. Each floor of the White Tower is divided into three chambers, the largest in the west, a smaller room in the northeast, and the chapel taking up the entrance and upper floors of the southeast. These are the remains of an early Roman Wall. The Romans invaded Britain in 43CE and stayed for 400 years. In 1517 the Tower fired its cannon at city crowds engaged in the xenophobic Evil May Day riots, in which the properties of foreign residents were ransacked.
Worth a visit if you have hours to waste, is to view the Crown Jewels in the Waterloo Block (3 above). Regalia have been kept in various parts of the Tower since the 14th century after a series of successful and attempted thefts at Westminster Abbey. We now visit The Monument and we are looking straight up inside the building. It was constructed between 1671 and 1677 and stands at the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill. It is 202 feet in height and 202 feet west of the spot in Pudding Lane where the Great Fire started on 2 September 1666. We climb to the top and are rewarded with this excellent view of the Tower Bridge a short distance downstream (East). We swing the camera to the North. "Nothing interesting here" I can imagine Captain Cook saying as he sails into Sydney Harbour.
We swing the camera around to the west (upstream) and we can see the domed roof of St Paul's Cathedral with the Telecom Tower in the distance We go into St Paul's Cathedral. We're standing under the Great Dome Looking towards the Apse and High Altar. A pulpit is on the right. We walk in a little farther and see the South Quire Aisle. The Cathedral is a magnificent structure and (as we all know) was designed by Sir Christopher Wren 1675 and 1710. This was the first Cathedral to be built after the English Reformation in the 16th century, when Henry VIII removed the Church of England from the jurisdiction of the Pope and the British Crown took control of the life of the church. No trip to London is complete without seeing the changing of the guard.
The mounted guard that is formed by the Household Cavalry is called the Queen's Life Guard. The Victoria Monument outside of Buckingham Palace. At the top of the central pylon stands a gilded bronze Winged Victory, standing on a globe and with a victor's palm in one hand. Changing of the guard. My best guess is that these are the Welsh Guards (buttons 5 in a row, plume left side, shoulder badge) Scots Guards come marching in to take over.
The Thistle Badge Shoulder badge confirms these soldiers as the Scots Guard Buttons in threes. Scots Guard. The Welsh Guards march in through the gates of Buckingham Palace Followed by the Scots Guards. In my life, I have been to London on three separate occasions and on each of those occasions I've watched the ceremony at Buckingham Palace. I have to say that No One but No One does pomp and ceremony like the British. Bloody hell but they're good.
Thursday June 2, 1988 We travel by train to the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon, 10 miles north of London. This is a Hawker Hart from 1928. Being in London is fantastic.. Everything is familiar; the trains, the street signs,the pasties, counter lunches in the pubs, everything except for their funny accents that vary according to their social status. From the top: Sopwith Strutter 1915, Sopwith Pup 1916, Sopwith Triplane 1916, Sopwith Camel 1917. Hawker P1127, forerunner of the Harrier Jump Jet (VTO) Hawker Hunter F5 of 1954. To my eye, one of the most beautiful planes ever made.
Powered by RR Avon, 105 built (crafted?) De Havilland Vampire 1943. Fuselage was balsa and fabric. An RAAF Vampire was the first jet airplane I ever saw in my life. Mikoyan Gurevich MIG 15 1948. This was the plane that fought with the US F86 Sabres over Korea. This one was built in Poland. Vickers F85, 1915.
By now I had been warned in a threateningly polite manner that only the British have mastered, "It is preferred sir, if we stay on the carpeted area." Sopwith Camel, very successful WWI British Fighter. 5000 built. Last of the Spitfires, the F24. Only 70 were built and most went into storage. The final version was 100 Mph faster and 50% heavier than the early Spitfires. The Rolls-Royce Griffon is a British 37-litre capacity, 60-degree V-12, liquid-cooled aero engine designed and built by Rolls-Royce Limited.
Lockheed Hudson. The RAF had 2000 of them. This one originally belonged to the RAAF. Hawker Sea Fury FB11, 1942. It was the last propeller driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, and one of the fastest production single reciprocating engine aircraft ever built. It was powered by a Bristol Centaurus 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 2,480 hp for take-off Hawker Typhoon 1941 and Hawker Tempest V, 1944 Hawker Typhoon. This is the last surviving Typhoon. It was presented to the RAF by the Smithsonian in Washington DC.
The Tempest followed the Typhoon. Although they look the same, the wings are completely different. Avro Lancaster Bomber. 7366 built and the most famous of the British WWII bombers. Vickers Valiant Bomber 1951, 107 built. The Valiant was a British high altitude jet bomber designed to carry nuclear weapons, and in the 1950s and 1960s, was part of the Royal Air Force's "V bomber" strategic deterrent force. The Valiant was the first of the V bombers to become operational, and was followed by the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan. The Valiant was the only V bomber to have dropped live nuclear weapons (for test purposes). Lancaster Bomber. There are only two airworthy Lancasters left in the world - 7,377 were built. The first production Lancaster made its first flight in October 1941, powered by four RR Merlin XX engines.
De Haviland Mosquito, airframe mostly constructed of wood. The Mosquito FB Mk 40 two seat fighter-bomber version for the RAAF was powered by two 1,460 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin 31 piston engines. A total of 178 were built in Australia during WWII. Hawker Siddeley Vulcan with its huge delta wing, 1952. The Vulcan's only combat missions took place towards the end of the type's service in 1982. During the Falklands War, the Vulcan was deployed against Argentinian forces which had occupied the Falkland Islands. The missions performed by the Vulcan became known as the Black Buck raids, each aircraft had to fly 3,889 mi (6,259 km) from Ascension Island to reach Stanley on the Falklands. Victor tankers conducted the necessary air-to-air refueling for the Vulcan to cover the distance involved; approximately 5,000,000 litres of fuel was used in each mission. The Typhoon and Tempest. Why my interest? Because the basic outlines of these planes is what the early stunt model aeroplanes looked like; but they have evolved from here and look nothing like the originals. With so few of these planes remaining in the world, it is a privilege to see them. Outside of the main hangar is this Blackburn Beverly , 1953. I'm sure Beverly herself was never this ugly.
Inside another building is a "Battle of Britain" display. This is a Short Sunderland flying boat. It was heavily involved in Allied efforts to counter the threat posed by German U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic. On 17 July 1940, an RAAF Sunderland performed the type's first unassisted U-boat kill. Sunderlands also played a major role in the Mediterranean theatre, performing maritime reconnaissance flights and logistical support missions. During the evacuation of Crete, shortly after the German invasion of the island, several aircraft were used to transport troops. Junkers Ju 87 Stuka Dive Bomber. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 and served in Axis forces in World War II. Germany built an estimated 6,000 Ju 87s of all versions between 1936 and August 1944. Mescherschmitt Bf 109E. The Bf 109 is the most produced fighter aircraft in history, with a total of 33,984 airframes produced from 1936 to April 1945. Some of the Bf 109 production took place in Nazi concentration camps through slave labour. It was powered by a liquid cooled, inverted V12 aero engine. The final production version of the Bf 109 was the K series or Kurfürst, introduced in late 1944, powered by the DB 605D engine with up to 1,973 HP to keep pace with the British Spitfires continuous engine and airframe upgrades.
Messherschmitt Bf110G night fighter, 6170 built. It was developed in Nazi Germany in 1937 and used by the Luftwaffe during World War II. Hermann Göring was a proponent of the Bf 110, believing its heavy armament, speed, and range would make the Bf 110 the Luftwaffe’s premier offensive fighter. Junker Ju88-R High Speed Bomber. Despite a protracted development, it became one of the Luftwaffe's most important aircraft. The assembly line ran constantly from 1936 to 1945 and more than 15,000 Ju 88s were built in dozens of variants, more than any other twin-engine German aircraft of the period. Throughout production the basic structure of the aircraft remained unchanged. The R model was fitted with BMW 801 engines. Hawker Hurricane 1936, 14,487 built in the UK and Canada It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by the Spitfire's role during the Battle of Britain in 1940, but the Hurricane inflicted 60 percent of the 2,739 losses sustained by the Luftwaffe in the engagement; it fought in all the major theatres of WWII. On 8 August 1940, Hurricanes of No. 145 Squadron were recorded as having fired the first shots of the Battle of Britain. The Battle of Britain officially lasted from 10 July until 31 October 1940, but the heaviest fighting took place between 8 August and 21 September. Both the Supermarine Spitfire and the Hurricane are renowned for their part in defending Britain against the Luftwaffe; generally, the Spitfire would intercept the German fighters, leaving Hurricanes to concentrate on the bombers.
Heinkel He111h. During the Battle of Britain the Heinkel's ability to take heavy punishment was one of its strengths and it suffered fewer losses than the Ju 88. The typical He 111 used a crew of five made up of the pilot, nose gunner (who doubled as the bombardier and navigator), a dorsal gunner that operated the radio as well, a waist gunner, and a ventral machine gunner. After dragging Jenni away from the RAF Museum, we return to London. This is a tiny section of Elizabethan buildings in Great Marlborough St. This Street connects Regent Street with Carnaby Street, home to many independent fashion boutiques. Carnanby St is in Soho at the far end of these buildings. Fancy shops in New Bond Street in Mayfair, not all that far from Hyde Park. We're in time to see another spectacle, Beating Retreat by the massed bands of HM Foot and Horse Guards. Beating Retreat is a military ceremony dating to 17th-century England and was first used to recall nearby patrolling units to their castle.
This is one of the greatest spectacles I've ever seen. It's 21:30 and its still light. I can't get over the long summer days in the Northern Hemisphere. The security is enormous. We have a complete body and bag search before we take our seats. Night time falls as the ceremony ends. Friday June 3, 1988 We take a train to Wimbledon, about 10 miles SW from London. This is the exterior of the Centre Court.
Ozzie boy Pat Cash is the most recent winner. Martina Navratilova was the most recent women's winner in 1987 The Centre court is being prepared for the championships in three weeks time. This is the Royal Box and the player's entrance.
Ladies Singles plate and Gentlemens' Singles cup. After this we return to London and visit the Victoria and Albert Museum. Jenni then looks through Kensington Palace which has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century. Where do we stay on our visit to London? We do not want to pay London prices so, before leaving SD, I ask NCR London where do they put their field engineers who come to London for training? I know this will be cheap. It is an old hotel on the train line north of London and it serves breakfast as well. A genuine English breakfast is an experience: eggs fried in beef fat, greasy bacon and supermarket bread. Nothing but the best for NCR's staff at the front; you know, the ones who have to put up with customers all the time. Saturday June 4, 1988 We catch a train from our hotel to Victoria Station and then British Rail to Gatwick. Then we get on a Delta flight to Phoenix and then another to home in San Diego. End of this segment