The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Lancaster, Hurricane PZ865 and Spitfire AB910 'somewhere over England'. Photo by Martin Bowman, Crown Copyright

Seventy years ago, the Hawker Hurricanes were already in operational service and the first Spitfires were being delivered to the RAF. The ancestor of the Lancaster bomber - the Avro type 679 - was taking shape.  Today, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight bears witness to the wartime struggles that followed. To the men who built them, flew them and maintained them.  To those who lost friends and colleagues in them. And of course, to the families who said goodbye to loved ones who flew off to fight for their country, our country, never to return.

The sight and sound of the Battle of Britian Memorial Flight's aircraft stir strong emotions as they continue to command the element for which they were designed - the sky.  Why do they move us so?  To put it in the words of Richard Morris OBE, who wrote the foreword to the Flight's 2008 brochure: "The flight's aircraft move us because they have come to stand for shared experience - all those stories, told and untold, of servicemen and civilian alike...  For those with stories to tell and memories to share, there is still time to pass them on."

Three exceptional aircraft will fly over the GWR on Sunday 1st June at 14.55.  The Flight's Lancaster bomber and Hurricane and Spitfire fighters will fly low over the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway; above many steam locomotives that were, during the War, supporting the services by shifting munitions, supplies, fuel and servicemen from one end of the country to the other.

The sight and sound of steam locomotives, too, stir deep emotions - among those who built them, maintained them, worked on them, travelled behind them, as they plied the element they were designed for - the endless ribbons of steel rails that were the prime means of moving people and things quickly and easily.

Sunday 1st June promises to be an emotionally charged day as the Flight passes over at an altitude of only 300ft.  The sound of those Rolls-Royce Merlin engines mingling with the sound and smell of steam will make the hair on the back of your neck prickle, your spine tingle and no doubt for many, bring tears to the eyes.

Yet it will be a moment of joy and gratitude too - for all those who have gone to the effort often against all the odds, to ensure that we can enjoy those sights and sounds today. And that our children and children's children can get a taste of those special machines on land and in the air that were so much a part of our grandparents' lives. For a history of the BBMF, click here.