To commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the Spitfire, a joint initiative with Spitfires.com and the Royal Air Force will fly a painted Spitfire on a tour of mainland UK.
Spitfires.com has painted one of their two-seat Spitfire BS410 in the colours of the K5054 to tour from 7 April to 17 April.
The plane will complete a series of 9 flights, each representing a decade of the 90 years. It will fly from a series of airports in the UK, staying in the sky for around an hour each day.
The RAF will have at least one escort for each of the 9 Spitfire flights. RAF aircraft included are the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Aircraft, Eurofighter Typhoon, F-35B Lightning, Phenom Trainer, Chinook, and Hawk T1s of the Red Arrows.
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The first Spitfire flight took place on 5 March 1936 from what is now Southampton Airport by test pilot Joseph ‘Mutt’ Summers, who flew the prototype K5054. The iconic planes went on to play a vital role in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
Some of the flights have already taken place, but it's still worth looking out for the upcoming flights.
The planned route is:
- 7 April - Southampton Airport to RAF Coningsby
- 8 April - RAF Coningsby to RAF Leuchars
- 9 April - RAF Leuchars to RAF Lossiemouth
- 10 April - RAF Lossiemouth to Prestwick Airport
- 13 April - Prestwick Airport to RAF Valley
- 14 April - RAF Valley to MOD St Athan
- 15 April - MOD St Athan to RAF St Mawgan
- 16 April - RAF St Morgan to Exeter Airport
- 17 April - Exeter Airport to Southampton Airport
You can view the complete Spitfire 90th Anniversary Flight flight path on this map: