Spitfire@90 Celebrations

2026 marks the 90th anniversay of the Supermarine Spitfire’s first flight. To commemerate this landmark, Spitfire.com, the RAF, and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight came together to organise a country wide ‘tour’ of one of Spifire.com’s two seat aircraft, with seats being auctioned or offered as competiton prizes, in association with the Telegraph newspaper.

I was very fortunate that a friend, Rob, had managed to secure the back seat on the final leg from Exeter to Eastleigh – home of the very first proptotype flight back in 1936.

Rob offered me the opportunity to join the welcome party at Eastleigh, and take a few photos.

The flight from Exeter Airport was accompanied by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Dakota.

During the flight, the Spitfire and Dakota accompanied each other for a number of circuits around the Needles for the benefit of airborne camera crews. Later in the year, a documentary film is expected to be released showcasing each leg around the UK, flying over or visiting landmark sites in the aircrafts history.

I was indeed very fortunate to be allowed to photograph the culmination of this project, and be a part of the final chapter in the Spitfire’s 90th birthday celebrations.

On March 5, 1936, at around 4:43 pm, Captain Joseph ‘Mutt’ Summers climbed into the cockpit of K5054, a Supermarine Type 300 – the prototype of the now world-famous Spitfire. The flight lasted just 8 minutes. And on landing, Summers simply said: “Don’t change a thing”

Rob’s flight was in BS410, now registered as G-TCHI. For a short time only BS410 has been painted as the Spitfire prototype K5054 for the 90th Anniversary of the first flight of the model. 

BS410 was ordered from Vickers Armstrong (Supermarine) on 24 October 1940 as one of 1,100 F.I aircraft but was eventually built at Salisbury as a Merlin 61-powered F.IX in he batch BS383-411; final assembly was at Chattis Hill, from where it made its first flight on 28 October 1942.
 

The Spitfire was allocated to No. 315 (Deblin) Polish Squadron, based at RAF Northolt on 6 November 1942. Between November 1942 and early April 1943 BS410 carried the squadron code letters PK-E but these were changed to PK-A by mid-April. In March 1943 BS410 was sent to Air Service Training at Hamble for fitting of the camera gun in the starboard wing root, before re-joining No. 315 Squadron at Northolt.
 

BS410 flew 35 operational sorties with 315 Squadron including Ramrods, Rodeos, Circus, and escort sorties. She was also flown by a number of well known Polish Battle of Britain pilots and aces. Her other claim to fame came on the 27 Feb 1943, when Pilot Officer Blok of 315, took BS410 on a patrol over Wembley stadium for the England vs. Wales football match.

On 13th May 1943, pilot Piotr Kuryllowicz was forced to abandon BS410 after her cooling system was damaged during combat. 62 years later, she was excavated by Association Somme Aviation 39-45 during 2005 from her final resting place and was subsequently purchased by Martin Phillips of Exeter. Her restoration has spanned 15 years where BS410 has been meticulously restored to flight whilst being converted to the two seat ‘Tr9’ variant. Now operated by Spitfires.com, BS410 flies alongside her sister aircraft to provide guest experiences and pilot training.

Some further information/reading:

https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/spitfire-flights-mark-90th-anniversary-of-first-flight/

https://www.memorialflightclub.com/blog/spitfire-maiden-flight-90th-anniversary

Iconic Spitfire begins historic UK tour while adverse weather causes some early disappointment