SPITFIRE’S SKY-HIGH THANK YOU
THE NHS anniversary was marked by a Spitfire flying over hospitals with the message “Thank you NHS” written on its underbelly.
The Second World War aircraft flew over the South and East of England, taking in a number of hospitals as the 5pm clap got under way.
The vintage plane was flown by a team from the Aircraft Restoration Company, a family owned firm which restores vintage aircraft and is based at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire. Its message could be seen by supporters on the ground taking part in the nationwide clap for the NHS as it swept across the countryside, travelling primarily over Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.
Included in its route was the village of Witchford, near Ely, Cambs, where residents helped make NHS scrubs during the Covid-19 crisis.
July 5, 1948, was the day the world famous health service was first established.
TWO Daily Express readers are flying high after winning a dream trip each in the world’s most iconic warplane – the Spitfire.
Joan Elliott and Chris Foster were randomly picked from 4,500 entries by Second World War bomber pilot George Dunn, 97.
They were told of their good fortune just days before Friday’s 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain.
Thanks to flyaspitfire.com, which organises the trips, Joan and Chris will take-off in a pair of two-seater Spitfires from the Battle of Britain fighter station, Biggin Hill in Kent.
They will be able to take the controls over the Kent countryside and even experience a victory roll in the same skies in which The Few risked all to save Britain from Nazi invasion.
The flights, worth £2,750 each, come with a tour of the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar where Joan and Chris, plus friends, will be able to see Spitfires and Hurricanes plus their arch-rival – a Messerschmitt.
The contest has also raised more than £6,000 for the RAF Benevolent Fund, which looks after the RAF “family”. Readers had been asked to donate at least £1 as the price of entering the contest.
Joan, 75, of Sheffield, is a retired manager of a central-heating company.
She said: “I’m really excited. This is something I have wanted to do for years and years.
“My father, Jack, was in the RAF during the war as an aircraft fitter. He worked on Spitfires and I’ve got a picture of him sitting in the cockpit.
“My uncle Edwin Brewin was also in the RAF during the war. He was a navigator who stayed on and I was told he was on the plane which brought the Queen back from Kenya when King George VI died. I have grown up listening to people talking about planes, and the Spitfire is the one plane that stands out for me.”
Chris, a military history buff from Rushden in Northants, said: “My heart is racing at the thought of flying a Spitfire. I feel quite emotional. It is such an iconic plane with such strong associations with Churchill and our fight for national survival.”
Chris, whose father served in the Royal Artillery, has retired from running Ensign Cash Registers. He said: “I love military planes. I’m 69 and still a big kid. But when you stop being a big kid, it’s time to give up.”
George Dunn, DFC, a Daily Express reader who flew 44 missions in the war, was asked to pick the winners. He was reunited with a Spitfire last year, courtesy of flyaspitfire.com.
He said: “I hope the winners are really chuffed to realise they are going to fly in such a famous plane. It is beautiful to fly.”