A few years ago I was driving a fast service from Tonbridge to Ashford one summer evening. It’s a 26 mile journey at 100mph, in an almost totally straight line. Around halfway I heard the sound of engines and when I looked out to my left I saw that I was being followed down the line by a Lancaster flying at low level. They kept pace with the train for a minute or so, then pulled up and away with a tip of the wings and, I think, a wave (I was having to watch where I was going too 🤣).
It was quite a moment. 😃
When I mentioned it to others at work, one of the old boys said that aircrew (on both sides) had used the railway lines to help navigate during the war, and that the pilot had probably taken the opportunity of pacing a 100mph train as a challenge they’d unlikely to be able to repeat. He also pointed out there are an unusual amount of ponds along that bit of line, and that they’re all round, because they’re the result of luftwaffe crew jettisoning their unused bombs on the way home.