Birthday flypast for 80- year- old Spitfi re
ARE STORED Spit fire takes to the skies near London yesterday to celebrate the fighter plane’ s 80 th birthday.
Eight RAF veterans watched with pride as the Second World War aircraft roared down the runway at Biggin Hill, Kent.
The Spit fire’ s maiden flight was in 1936 – just four years before the Battle of Britain.
Among the veterans yesterday was Joy Lofthouse, 93, from Cirencester, Gloucs, who as a pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary delivered planes from the factories to the bases. Joy, who read a wartime copy of the Daily Express, said: “I fl ew 18 types of plane including Spitfi res, Hurricanes, Mustangs and Hellcats.” She added: “The Spitfi re was my favourite. It was so easy to handle. You only had to breathe on the controls to fl y. It was like having wings yourself.”
And for former Spitfi re pilots like Geoff Hulett, 93, and David Mitchell, 91, the familiar purr of its Merlin engines was evocative. David, of Warlingham in Surrey, said: “It just sounds right.” Geoff, from Stanmore in Middlesex, said: “It’s a wonderful plane. You used to feel part and parcel of it. They used to say you didn’t climb into it – you strapped it to your backside. It is an important part of our heritage.”
This single-seat Spit fire was converted to a two- seater trainer after the war. The fly past also marked the opening of a Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, home to seven flying Spit fires.
YESTERDAY a Spitfire once again took to the skies to mark the 80th anniversary of the iconic aircraft’s first flight. How reassuring to see that this symbol of British defiance is being preserved and that the sacrifices made by the men and women who flew them will never be forgotten.