60 minutes with Group Captain Emily Flynn OBE ADC RAF

The 15th September 2020 marked the 80th anniversary of Battle of Britain – the day in 1940 that the RAF claimed victory over the German Luftwaffe, and arguably the most important victory during WW2.

To commemorate the occasion Coachmakers were due to go to Imperial War Museum Duxford where the IWM would mark the occasion. However, COVID-19 changed all that. So, we are extraordinarily grateful to Group Captain Emily Flynn OBE ADC RAF who took up the position of base commander at RAF Brize Norton in August 2020. On the evening in question the Group Captain was joined by 20 Coachmakers via Zoom for 60 minutes of the most fascinating and informative talk on the role that Brize Norton played in WW2 and the part the base plays in the modern era of the RAF. And much more.

Playing host and question master for the evening was our own PM & Spitfire officiado Tony Edwards, who, after words of welcome from the Master and a 30-minute presentation from the Group Captain, handled questions from the attendees, which were directed to Emily. Even those knowledgeable experts among us learned a huge amount and 60 minutes seemed to fly by (sorry).

Brize is the largest RAF base with almost 6,000 service personal along with civilian staff and contractors. The base handles the air mobility programme across the globe, as well as the air-to-air re-fuelling capability.

Coachmakers have a number of close associations with Brize which we look forward to continuing. Our thanks to Emily for her time during a very challenging period. To top it all off the evening raised £600 for our charitable fund.