Smile high club
Be one of the few to experience this unique flight, says NICK DALTON
ON April 1, 1918, the Royal Air Force was established to protect Britain’s territory at home and overseas, combining the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service in the world’s first dedicated air force. At its inception, the RAF had 23,000 aircraft and 290,000 personnel. Its tireless work over the Western Front, not least in bringing down Germany’s infamous Red Baron – the war’s most destructive pilot with 80 kills – was instrumental in bringing hostilities to a close.
The RAF is now celebrating its centenary with RAF100 events throughout the year, the highlight of which is a service at Westminster Abbey followed by a parade along The Mall and a flypast over Buckingham Palace.
The RAF has a tradition of breaking barriers. In June 1919, Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in a Vickers Vimy. The next month Major GH Scott and a crew of 30 RAF and US Navy personnel flew the airship R34 from Scotland to New York – and back.
In 1920 the first RAF Pageant at Hendon was watched by a crowd of 60,000. Four years later the RAF’s first all-metal fighter, the Armstrong Whitworth Siskin III, entered service while in 1931 a world speed record of 407.5mph was set in a Supermarine S.6B Seaplane – designed by RJ Mitchell, who used his accumulated skill in his next creation, the Spitfire.
The prototype Spitfire flew in March 1936, going on to be the world’s most iconic fighter aircraft and a symbol of allied defiance in the Battle of Britain.
Of more than 20,000 built only 60 flying examples remain – but it is possible to experience the thrill of soaring in one with Fly A Spitfire, taking off from Biggin Hill in Kent, the most famous fighter station in the world and also a key location in the Battle of Britain.
There’s no better way of marking this anniversary year and remembering the RAF heroes than a flight in a combat veteran plane that actually downed a Messerschmitt 109 as well as taking part in numerous ground attacks, bomber escorts and fighter patrols.
Flying over Kent, you can look out over the same countryside that Battle of Britain pilots fought over and they called home turf. Marvel at the plane’s speed and agility on a 30-minute trip – or take a longer flight to the coast, swooping over Beachy Head and even the White Cliffs of Dover – the most welcome sight for any pilot returning following a do-or-die dogfight over the Channel. A flight gives you, and three guests, access to the world’s foremost Spitfire restoration facility with a tour of hangars containing 12 Spitfires, a Hurricane and the opposition – an original German Messerschmitt 109. This is RAF history at its finest – and a day never to be forgotten, thanks to the digital video all passengers receive.
INFORMATION: To find out more or to book a flight, visit flyaspitfire.com or call 01959 576767.