On Tuesday lunchtime, there’ll be a chance to see a fly past of Spitfires to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the ‘hardest day’ of the 1940 air battle.
It will be quite a spectacle, as 18 Spitfires and six Hurricanes take to the skies from Biggin Hill and after splitting into three formations, one of those (including eight Spitfires) will fly past the Isle of Wight. Ryde should be the best location to see them from.
Honouring the courageous
The displays will honour the courageous pilots, engineers, armourers, operations staff and ground crews who faced constant attack from the Nazi Luftwaffe on 18th August 1940 and during that period.
The first formation (Grice flight) of eight aircraft will be scrambled at 12.45 from Biggin Hill, head south and west to overfly Surrey and West Sussex en route to the Solent, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and returning via Dunsfold.
The flightpath
You can expect to see them sometime between 13.10 and 13.30, although the times may vary slightly for operational reasons.
Image: Airwolfhound under CC BY 2.0
