Having achieved his lifelong dream, Stuart Shield shares the incredible experience of flying a Spitfire.
Many boys of the generation born to those who lived or served during the Second World War built and played with plastic model kits of fighter planes that saw action during the Battle of Britain. Airfix was the most popular and once the glue and Humbrol paint dried, the graphic decals featuring the roundels and other markings were floated off in warm water and stuck to the wings and fuselages. Some boys would even attach black thread to their models and hang them from their bedroom ceilings. They would then shine their torch up at them at bedtime, dreaming of being a pilot.
The most popular design was the Spitfire and to me was the most beautiful aircraft to grace the heights of my bedroom. As most women say, the boy never grows up but just gets older. Cars, boats, helicopters and planes are often referred to as Big Boy’s Toys with Spitfires often described as being the ultimate.
The desire to fly a Spitfire never fades but for many it is always going to remain a dream. For a start, of the 22,000 built, only 35 remain in flying condition. It would cost £2 million or more to buy one and they just keep going up in value. Those ‘few’ who own
these rare warbirds would be very reluctant to lend their pride and joy to anyone else to fly, so what are the chances of the dream becoming a reality?
Big surprise
On my 60th birthday, my wife handed me a large envelope that I thought contained a jokey oversized card that would say, ‘The reason this birthday card needs to be so large is so you can read it without your glasses’. It didn’t, instead it was a flight in a two-seat Spitfire, one of only four in the UK. I thought I had run out of birthday surprises but this one was way beyond any other.
When the day arrived it was perfect in every way and blessed with the first warm sunshine of 2018. I wore the Nomex RAF pilot overalls I normally wear at the Goodwood Revival and drove to the visitor gates at Imperial War Museum Duxford. The guard mistook me for an actual pilot and told me to report to the airfield guardhouse for a car pass. I was then directed to the control tower for a flight safety briefing during which I was shown how to bail out in case there was a need.
Following this, I was introduced to the pilot Steve, who was a retired British Airways captain who asked me if I had any flying experience. I told him I had over 30 hours training for my PPL in a Cessna 152, a washing machine with wings when compared with the graceful Spit. He said that he would hand over control of the aircraft to me once we had climbed away from the runway but warned me the controls were very responsive.
