spitfire formation

Battle of Britain: Spitfires and Hurricanes flypast the Isle of Wight today

Update: Take off has been postponed until 2pm due to bad weather

If you’re a fan of vintage aircraft, you might want to take some time out around lunchtime today (Tuesday) when we’ll be treated to an historic flypast of Spitfires and Hurricanes.

It marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and will see around 40 Spitfires, Hurricanes and Blenheims take part in flypasts around the south of the country.

As you can see from the route map below, the flypast (which it is hoped will be fairly low) can best be seen from (possibly) Culver, Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor and up along the most southern to western point of the Island.

Battle of Britain Flypast along the South/West Coast

There’ll also be a flypast along the Solent (see below), where Islanders from Ryde round to Yarmouth may be able to see the planes, depending on how close they get to the Island.

Battle of Britain Flypast along the Solent

All systems go
The aircraft are due to set off from Goodwood at noon, at four minute intervals, so should be with us fairly quickly, depending on weather conditions and other factors.

This historic event brings together in one place more Battle of Britain aircraft than at any time since World War II, with aircraft having travelled from around the world to take part.

To find out more about the flypast, visit the Battle of Britain Day Website

Image: Airwolfhound under CC BY 2.0