This coming Friday (20th August) marks two very special events.
Spitfire P7350 (Mk IIa)
There will be a reciting of Winston Churchill’s famous speech, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”, at precisely 3:52pm, marking the 70th anniversary of the day – and time - the speech was originally delivered by Churchill.
The recital will take place outside the Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall – and will be followed by a flypast over Whitehall by a Spitfire and a Hurricane at 4pm.
The Spitfire is P7350, the oldest airworthy Spitfire and the only Spitfire still flying to have actually fought in the Battle of Britain, while the Hurricane is LF363, the last Hurricane to enter service with the RAF.
Veteran Battle of Britain pilots will also be at the Cabinet War Rooms, although I am not sure if they are doing anything public or are just there for the benefit of the media.
In addition though – the flypast will be part of an all-day event where two Spitfires and the Hurricane will fly over all the key Battle of Britain fighter bases.
Click for a zoomable Google map of the route over London
The map presumes they are flying point to point and not diverting anywhere
The key times and venues for us in London (and South East) are:
…coming in from oop Norf
13:08 – Rochester
13:13 – Gravesend
13:18 – West Malling
13:29 – Redhill
13:30 – Kenley
13:37 – Croydon
13:40 – Biggin Hill – Land
15:40 – Biggin Hill – Take-off
16:00 – Cabinet War Offices
16:03 – Hendon (RAF Museum)
16:06 – Bentley Priory
16:16 – High Wycombe
…down to Southampton and Portsmouth then back up again
17:15 – Uxbridge
17:20 – Northolt – Landing
The full map for the whole UK route is available via this PDF file.
Other blog posts you might like:
List of military fly pasts over London (and surrounds)
Visiting the “Battle of Britain” Underground Bunker
When the Central Line was used as a fighter plane factory
…thank you for this information, so helpful. This is such an important anniversary today, and to see an original Battle of Britain Spitfire in the air will be wonderful. My father was a pilot long after the war and I’m only young and I know many people my age didn’t take in their history lessons, but I’m sure our lives would not be the same today if this fight had been lost and we owe these men and those planes our liberty and cultural identity.
hoping to see it… 10 to 4 now.
What happened to them? I waited at Tangmere in the rain for over half an hour!
Thanks for the details. Most of the large crowd outside the Cabinet War Rooms didn’t see much of the fly past due to the trees of St James’ Park. Fantastic atmosphere and the former Battle of Britain pilots were great as they were happy to chat to the crowd and sign autographs.