Fly in a Spitfighter, anyone do this ?

http://www.boultbeeflightacademy.co.uk/spitfire-flights

A 30 min flight over the English Channel is £2,750... $3,660 USD.

Not cheap but it sounds like a hell of a ride. Considering I spent $1,000 ish to do a NASCAR experience this doesn't sound all that crazy, but then again I was driving the car...

 

The Collings Foundation takes their WWII planes around the country every year. They have 2 dual-control P-51 Mustangs for $2200/half-hour and $3200/one hour. You fly it. If you have the right pilot and know how,you can do aerobatics. Four years ago I flew their C model and did a few rolls and a loop.

 

I'm going to look them up! Sounds like a great time

 

Sounds pretty neat but I'd still take the Mig flight in Russia


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Piston engines are scary. Having said that, I asked my Sr.Air Canada friend if he would fly a Lancaster (four spit engines)...he said "absolutely ". He said there are enough procedures to get any aircraft back on the ground safely.

 

In 1985 I had a flight in P-51, " Worry Bird", when it was at the 50th Anniversary on the B-17. An unforgettable experience for someone who had never been in an airplane with that much horsepower in one place.

 

New Spitfire documentary coming later this year:

https://www.facebook.com/spitfirethefeaturedoc/

 

The law was changed in the UK in only the last few years to allow this to happen. There are now quite a few organisations offering these Spitfire flights and there is an article online (that I cannot find!) that gives a comparison of all the available offers. The prices vary a lot and so does what you get for your £/$. Now that people are able to use their Spitfire to generate more income then in the past, more and more restorations of single-seat aircraft are being carried out with a second seat. There is even a two seater Hurricane on its way!

If I can find the article I will post a link.

Robert

 

Those T.VIII and T.IX Spits were mostly postwar creations, except for a couple of prototypes and a few that were converted at the unit level. Luckily, most did not see much service and were in good shape when retired. The conversion plans for the T versions apparently still exist and all were Malcom Hood versions, not the later bubble canopy versions like the MkXIV and later 20 series.

 

I had a few flights in the Convair C-131.

Sounds like a WW II movie on full blast.

 

R2800s, same engine as the P-47, Hellcat, T-29 ( I have 200 hours in those) and Corsair. If they were not leaking oil, they were out of oil. Pretty much dead reliable.

 

Good name for a WWII plane...Spitfighter!

I think it's a big expense, but worth it. You would never forget it. I'm going to take my son and ride in a B-17 the next time one comes through.

 

+1 on Collings Foundation. In addition to the P-51 experience you can ride in a B-17 or B-24. They used to allow you pay extra and get 'stick' time in the bombers (with logbook entry), but apparently no more. Still fun to ride in one and hear those 4 radials while sitting in the nose cone.

 

Though I've never flown in a warbird, in Greenville (SC) a few years ago, the Collings folks let me pose my Ferrari with another "prancing horse", their unique two-seat P-51C.
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In a way, a Ferrari and a piston engined fighter reminds me (more or less)...
...of a trip I had in mid-April with a friend, who invited me to try his 550 Maranello for size; we went outside Paris for a drive, then after an hour and a half stopped on the parking lot of the tiny grass airport of Beynes (South-west of Paris, deep in the middle of nowhere) to swap places and have a cup of coffee at the airport's bar (my friend did some gliding at that airport many years ago).
We doubled back when we saw that shape in the hangar...It's a Gloster "Gladiator"; there are exactly two fliable in the world.

That one is from "The Fighter Collection" in Duxford, U.K; it came to France for the annual La Ferté-Alais meeting in May 2017, but couldn't fly back to England due to engine problems.
Once solved - or at least they thought these were solved - it took off from La Ferté-Alais in September to fly back to the U.K, crossing the channel, but the Bristol "Mercury" engine quit abruptly after only a few minutes, and the pilot landed it on the next grass strip aivailable: Beynes airport.
They tried to find the trouble during the eight months that followed, but couldn't, so two gentlemen were dismantling wings and tailplanes from the fuselage when we saw it in April, to bring it back to Britain by road, on a low-trailer.
Sorry for the mediocre picture.
Rgds
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this?

 

Yes!

That is the one although I think when I first saw it, it was just text and no pictures. I had found it via a link on Facebook from the Spitfire Survivors page but could no longer find the link and an online search brought up too much other stuff.

Thank you.

 

By coincidence I came across it the other day whilst looking for something else.

I'd quite like a flight in a Spit ...

 

The oil comment reminded me of a B-29 crew chief that said the R3350 was the only externally oiled engine in the Air Force. Mind boggling that each engine had a 55 gallon oil tank behind it that was near empty after a 12 hour mission.

 

Here... it's back in England...

https://foftfc.com/gladiator-returns/

 

Gladiator flying...

 

Those converted Spits have dual controls, so you can drive them too. As long as you don't screw up...

 

At any air event with round engines, there will always be an oil pan directly below the engine(s). I don't recall seeing those under inline engines!

 

Jim, if you get the chance look at an illustrated breakdown of an R3350 and you would be amazed at how many pieces make up the case. Each joint a leak point .

 

Jim- I do not recall any of the inline engines still producing power with a cylinder or two shot off, either. One of the reasons the 56th refused to give up their P-47s. Once they received P-47Ms, they were even happier they kept them.