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About 2 miles from WO he put the aircraft into a shallow dive (25 degree) increasing speed to about 260mph then as we crossed the Chaser he pulled up and rolled to the left and we crossed WO completely inverted and then he completed a very smooth and controlled victory roll. Superb!!
It was then back to Biggin Hill. We approached at about 500 ft. parallel to the runway about 500 yards to the right. The windsock showed a cross wind left to right. The pilot said because of the crosswind the landing would probably be right wheel first then both wheels then tail wheel. He banked right and side slipped in beautifully losing height quite quickly (a bit alarmingly if I am honest with the aircraft at a 45 degree angle descending and banking right as he did so). Sure enough I felt the right wheel kiss the tarmac about half a second before the left wheel and then the tail wheel settled. Pilot afterwards said he much preferred that approach to landing as forward visibility is restricted on a straight approach and you cannot see the ground from the pilots position because the wings are in the way.
So that was that, apart from a tour of the facility. They have 2 x 2seaters and 2 x single seaters operational and they are reconstructing another single seater Spitfire. They have a Hurricane also which I think they wheel out for demonstrations periodically. They also have a Me 109 being restored (almost complete by the look of it). There were also 4 Merlin engines being worked on, two immaculate and ready to be installed and one obviously from a crashed plane as the propeller gearbox on the front was holed and the engine generally was covered in mud and bent ancillary equipment.
I hate to think what it cost but for me it was worth every penny. It was only half an hour all told in the air but I shall remember it forever.
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