Pack up your troubles Win film festival tickets and £180 top-quality rucksack

THE BANFF Mountain Film Festival is continuing its tour of new and exhilarating action and adventure films to big screen venues around the UK and Ireland.

From kayaking in the Arctic Circle to an unusual climbing expedition in Devon and more, the popular festival features the latest collections of the world’s best adventure films.

There are two different film programmes to choose from, or you can double the action and go to both the red and the blue programmes. Each event features a free prize draw for outdoorsy goodies from the tour’s partners. RAF News have the opportunity to win a pair of tickets to a film screening at a venue of their choice from March 1 (availability permitting as some venues are already sold out), and the festival has teamed up with Osprey, leading manufacturers of hiking and trekking equipment, to offer one of their top rucksacks, rrp £180, as a prize too.

The Archeon 30 men’s daypack (pictured, top), in haybale green, is a 30-litre pack for hiking and backpacking, with lid and raincover, made with recycled

The art and treasures of war

Aviation Enthusiast

Melanie Winterton’s pioneering book The Archaeology of the Royal Flying Corps is the first study of the trench art, souvenirs and lucky mascots associated with the RFC which tells the reader much about the experience of flying on the Western Front a century ago.

The author explained: “Mascots were often infused with special meaning… given from perhaps a wife, girlfriend or close family member, and so invoked intimate personal relationships.

Winterton added: “On 10 July 1917 his [Crutchley’s] head was struck by his aeroplane propeller causing fractures to his skull. His family were informed that he may not recover, but remaining in hospital for nearly one month, he survived his accident and returned to train pilots.”

Some pilots carried black cat toys hoping they would bring them luck, including fighter ace Flight Commander Capt Albert Ball, who had a black velvet cat as a lucky mascot.

Crutchley

“The lucky mascot ‘Sunny Jim’ was always carried by RFC pilot Gerard Gwyn Crutchley. This act indicated a sensory relationship with the mascot, which seemingly provided a feeling of comfort, enabling Gerard to reflect on the memorable day it was presented to him by the actress and comedienne Beatrice Lillie in 1917.”

Made of golden yellow fabric, Sunny Jim’s head looks like a sun, hence the name.

It was considered unlucky to fly with another man’s mascot or lucky charm and some airmen refused to fly at all if they lost their own, said Winterton.

Linen was used as the skin of World War I aircraft, and was often removed from crashed aeroplanes as souvenirs. It was common for pilots to personalize their aircraft by painting emblems and insignia on the linen to distinguish them from other squadrons’ aeroplanes.

Winterton revealed: “As early as 1914 the War Illustrated… printed photographs of civilian children and adults searching, in the Belgian countryside and northern France, for war-related souvenirs, collecting spent cartridge cases, bullets and other objects as playthings and souvenirs of the fighting.”

Trench art, the author explained, is defined as ‘any item made by soldiers [airmen], prisoners of war and civilians from war materiel directly, or any other material, as long as it and they are associated temporarily and/or spatially with armed conflict or its consequences.” fabrics and with a comfortable back system. Osprey was established in California in 1974. Its products are covered by an ‘all mighty guarantee’ – as part of its commitment to protecting the environment Osprey says it always strives, whenever possible, to repair products rather than replace them. Its products include hydration backpacks and reservoirs, running and biking packs, climbing backpacks, snowsports backpacks and child carriers. Go to: ospreyeurope. com for more information.

The book includes a picture of a photograph frame made from an aeroplane propeller (pictured above).

Banff tour films are chosen from hundreds of entries into the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, held every November in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Film highlights include Wild Waters featuring French kayaker Nouria Newman as she prepares to become the first female to run a 100ft (30m) waterfall.

Walking On Clouds follows Brazilian engineer Rafael Bridi on his quest to find complete freedom… and his search has taken him above the clouds.

In Flow big mountain skier Sam Favret explores the closed resort of Chamonix during the unusual winter of 2021. With spectacular aerial footage of iconic mountain faces, this captivating short offers a dose of unreality, serenity and Sam’s powerful skiing, but above all the pleasure of rediscovering a playground allowed to return to its wild state.

Free To Run focuses on mountain runner and UN human rights attorney Stephanie Case (inset left). When the Taliban takes over Afghanistan, the basic human rights of women across the country are threatened. She must fight to find a way forward for the Afghan women of her NGO, Free to Run, while taking on the longest and hardest ultra-trail race of her life. Go to: banff-uk.com for full tour details.

Kitbag up for grabs

FOR YOUR chance to win a pair of tickets to the film festival and an Archeon 30 men’s daypack, just answer this question correctly: In which year was Osprey established?

Email your answer, marked Banff/Osprey competition, to: tracey.allen@rafnews.co.uk or post it to: RAF News, Room 68, Lancaster Building, HQ Air Command, High Wycombe, HP14 4UE, to arrive by February 24.

Please mark on your entry which film festival venue you would prefer to attend, from March 1.