The legendary warplane is celebrating 90 years since the first Spitfire flight
Incredible pictures show the Spitfire passing Formby (Image: Liverpool Echo / Colin Lane)
Incredible pictures show a Spitfire which flew over Merseyside this morning, Monday, April 13. The legendary warplane passed over the region on its way from Scotland to Anglesey to mark 90 years since the first Spitfire flight.
The flight, part of a lap of Great Britain to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Spitfire’s first test flight in 1936, took off from Glasgow Prestwick Airport on the west coast of Scotland at 10am. The flight to RAF Valley in Anglesey was expected to take an hour and 15 minutes.
Maps showed the plane would pass over Sefton, Liverpool and the Wirral before turning along the North Wales coast towards RAF Valley.
The Spitfire, a genuine model that was flown in WWII, flew by with two RAF Hawk jets, and our photographer captured some brilliant shots of it as it passed Formby.
It has been given a turquoise paint job to replicate the original prototype. The prototype for the plane that became the Spitfire was first flown by Captain Joseph “Mutt” Summers on March 5, 1936. On landing, Summers is reported to have said: “Don’t change a thing.”
The Spitfire is midway through its journey around the UK, having taken off from Southampton Airport on April 7. The plane flew along the south coast and then north, flying close to east London and across Essex before turning toward RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire.
Our photographer captured these incredible shots from Formby beach(Image: Liverpool Echo / Colin Lane)
It headed north along the east coast to Scotland, landing in Fife and then Lossiemouth in the Highlands before spending Saturday night at Prestwick.
After passing over Merseyside and landing at RAF Valley, the legendary fighter will follow the Welsh coast to MOD St Athan in South Wales, with stops at RAF St Magwan in Cornwall and Exeter Airport before landing back at Southampton Airport.
The Spitfire 90th anniversary circumnavigation of Great Britain is a joint initiative by the RAF, led by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and Spitfires.com.
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