While airshows have led to numerous operators keeping their fleets on the ground throughout 2020, the ever increasing industry for warbird (most often Spitfire) rides in the UK has continued apace. At each stage when restrictions were lifted over the year, operators up and down the country have quickly resumed operations allowing many people to … Continue reading 2020’s Busy Warbirds – Two Seat Spitfires
For many years the opening sequence of the Flying Legends show has been the trademark Spitfire tailchase. Typically consisting of 7 or so airframes (though recently as many as 10 or 11) this wonderful mix of Merlin and Griffon engine machines, charting a broad range of the Spitfire lineage. The tailchase typically showcases the Mk … Continue reading ‘Lockdown Legends Week 11 – Spitfires
A 'Legends retrospective series would be incomplete without a small tribute to the Horsemen. Now a legendary name in the airshow world themselves the Horsemen team specialise in close formation aerobatics. Starting as a two ship display in the mid 1990s, in more recent years the team regularly display in three aircraft. https://www.flickr.com/photos/127965535@N04/45265210064/in/album-72157673758154607/ The team … Continue reading Lockdown Legends Week 7 – Horsemen
A few weeks late but I wanted to share a few shots from a great Easter weekend a few weeks ago. This marked the first weekend of activities for Aero Legends at Headcorn for 2019. This saw both their two-seat Spitfire NH341 and single seat TD314 in action in the hands of Charlie Brown and … Continue reading Spring-time Spitfires – Headcorn Easter 2019
The second weekend in July has cemented itself over the years as an incredibly special time of year for historic aviation enthusiasts. It is around this time each year that Duxford in Cambridgeshire begins welcoming all manner of aeroplanes and pilots from all over the world. Together they form what has to be the greatest … Continue reading Flying Legends 2015
So far this year I've put together the histories of all the airworthy Spitfires in the United Kingdom and North America. It only seems fair then to put together the list for the rest of the world, starting closer to home with Europe and ending up In Australia. France: Mk XIX PS890 / F-AZJS Christophe … Continue reading Airworthy Spitfires Of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Others…
The previous posting in this series looked at the flying Merlin powered examples of the Spitfire in North America. This post will be slightly shorter and will look at the examples flying with a Griffon engine. Mk XIVs North America is home to three examples of the Mk XIV, the first mass produced Spitfire to … Continue reading Airworthy Spitfires of North America: Part 2
Following on from the UK Spitfires series, I felt I really should post a round up of the other Spitfires flying in the world, for completions sake. Once again I underestimated the figures somewhat and I am now faced with the prospect of another 27 to profile. As a result this series will also be … Continue reading Airworthy Spitfires of North America: Part 1
