THE WASH

After our taking off, one plane every 30 seconds, , we formed over what is called the WASH. It is quite a large bay or inlet on the East Coast just North of Norwich. Usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes to get the formation formed.

With the close proximity of all the multitude of air fields in the area crashes were not uncommon. In fact it was rare not to have any crashes while forming. With four to five hundred planes in the local area you can imagine the problems of finding your own group and getting into position.

To facilitate this operation and to avoid as much as possible the frequent collisions, the authorities set up of "Assembly Ships", planes decorated with sharp colors to be seen by far. These planes awaited at the top of THE WASH their respective Groups in order to guide them to enter in their allotted place.

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