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350TSS · 19-12-2019, 11:03 PM

Last year, not this.
I live in Shipbourne , about 4 miles north of Tonbridge in Kent and for the past 4 years every year between March and October when the sun is shining we get a Spitfire over flying our house. Quite a lot of light aircraft over fly but you can tell the Spitfire by the growl of the Merlin engine, I always stop and stare whenever I hear it. Biggin Hill is about 15 miles away and the Spitfire operates from there.
My wife, bless her, bought me a flight in a 2 seat Spitfire for last year's Christmas present. Here is an account of 30 August 2016.
The whole family got there at 12.00 and had to wait around quite a bit as the flight in the morning had a problem and they had to enliven the reserve 2 seat Spitfire, which was not fuelled up and the tanker driver was the other side of the airfield fuelling jets. HS162 and Lear and Bombardier private jets operate from Biggin Hill (one of which belongs to Lewis Hamilton).

Then we had a rather boring safety briefing which lasted about half an hour. How to get into and out of the aeroplane, what happens if the pilot in front of you becomes incapacitated (you abandon the aeroplane apparently - seems a bit hard on the pilot if he is only unconscious) how to bale out etc. etc.

There were 4 rides planned for the afternoon and I was allotted ride 3 so a bit more hanging around until 14.50. I got togged up in the flying suit and installed in the back cockpit. First I was strapped into the parachute and then into the seat. The plane is fully dual controlled and I was given strict instructions to not touch anything during take-off and landing. The cockpit is very small and you are conscious of the airframe constricting your shoulders. The seat has a lever on the right which lowers the seat about 4” so that the canopy can be closed and which you have to operate to open the canopy in an emergency, inflight you can raise the seat to see over the pilot.

19-12-2019, 11:03 PM	#2
350TSS Too much time on my hands member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Shipbourne Bike: M900 Posts: 1,419	Last year, not this. I live in Shipbourne , about 4 miles north of Tonbridge in Kent and for the past 4 years every year between March and October when the sun is shining we get a Spitfire over flying our house. Quite a lot of light aircraft over fly but you can tell the Spitfire by the growl of the Merlin engine, I always stop and stare whenever I hear it. Biggin Hill is about 15 miles away and the Spitfire operates from there. My wife, bless her, bought me a flight in a 2 seat Spitfire for last year's Christmas present. Here is an account of 30 August 2016. The whole family got there at 12.00 and had to wait around quite a bit as the flight in the morning had a problem and they had to enliven the reserve 2 seat Spitfire, which was not fuelled up and the tanker driver was the other side of the airfield fuelling jets. HS162 and Lear and Bombardier private jets operate from Biggin Hill (one of which belongs to Lewis Hamilton). Then we had a rather boring safety briefing which lasted about half an hour. How to get into and out of the aeroplane, what happens if the pilot in front of you becomes incapacitated (you abandon the aeroplane apparently - seems a bit hard on the pilot if he is only unconscious) how to bale out etc. etc. There were 4 rides planned for the afternoon and I was allotted ride 3 so a bit more hanging around until 14.50. I got togged up in the flying suit and installed in the back cockpit. First I was strapped into the parachute and then into the seat. The plane is fully dual controlled and I was given strict instructions to not touch anything during take-off and landing. The cockpit is very small and you are conscious of the airframe constricting your shoulders. The seat has a lever on the right which lowers the seat about 4” so that the canopy can be closed and which you have to operate to open the canopy in an emergency, inflight you can raise the seat to see over the pilot.