Aerobatics are a joy to behold

12:29pm Friday 15th August 2008

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RE: Last week's complaint from Susan Pratt of Lane End about planes from Wycombe Air Park which she believes fly too near her home I WAS saddened to read of Mrs Pratt's distress due to the aerobatics which disturbed her peace recently.

I too, was distressed, but for completely the opposite reasons. I heard the engine of the aeroplane but could not see where it was or any of the obvious glorious stunts it was performing until the very end of its flight, when it came within sight for less than one minute.

Having been born and always lived in High Wycombe within earshot, and, for the last 30 years within ten minutes' walk of Booker Airfield, the noise of the planes above has been a part of my life and at times to witness the aerobatics has always been a joy, as is watching the gliders silently flying above.

There were terrifying times, which did not involve the craft at Booker. For example, in World War Two, the heavy drone of countless German bombers on their way to raid Coventry passing overhead one fateful night, as anyone who lived through the war in High Wycombe will remember. My late husband used to talk about dogfights over the town involving our own brave RAF planes and German aircraft. Later, the arrival of doodlebugs towards the end of the war, especially when one landed in Lane End was another frightening experience.

I hope that Mrs Pratt now feels that no malice was intended - only a pilot performing with sheer joy the ability to control his plane, maybe practising for an airshow within the following few days.

The phrase "one man's meat is another's poison" springs to mind.

Dorothy Russell (Mrs), Lansdowne Way, High Wycombe