On March 20th 2017 the BBC’s One Show paid tribute to Dame Vera Lynn ‘the forces sweetheart’ on her 100th birthday. Down on the Kent coastline, on the very cliffs about which she so famously sang, a tribute of epic proportions was being prepared.
Whilst the sun still shone our Spitfire was getting warmed up at Duxford aerodrome ready for an aerobatic display. In the more than capable hands of John Dodd the thundering Rolls-Royce V12 Merlin engine propelled her south towards the English Channel at some 200 miles per hour for a rendezvous with the camera crew waiting at Samphire Hoe.
John then flew seven minutes of graceful aerobatics over and above Britain’s iconic white chalk cliffs, in the country’s most famous aircraft. Both Dame Vera and the Supermarine Spitfire hark back to a time when the country stood united. As the Spitfire performed a victory roll to end its display the production crew prepared for the second half of the show.
Once the sun had gone down a dazzling searchlight display signalled the beginning of a gigantic projection of Dame Vera singing her most famous song on to the side of the white cliffs, and even some footage of our favourite aircraft!
Spitfire over White Cliffs of Dover 
Saluting Dame Vera Lynn 
Happy Birthday Vera Lynn 
Upside down over Dover 
Farewell over the white cliffs 
Projecting on the white cliffs 
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Our thanks to The One Show team, One Tribe TV and EMF Technology with whom we collaborated to make this fitting tribute possible.
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