The Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar is looking for sponsors for the Hurricane and Spitfire flypast for this Sunday's Remembrance Day. There will be six Spitfires and one Hurricane taking off from Biggin Hill Airport at 10.50am. Biggin Hill Airport was home to the RAF, particularly during the Second World War, so Armistice Day is extremely close to our hearts.

 

The first aircraft the Heritage Hangar possessed was the Kent Spitfire, TA805. Making up part of an order for 1,844 aircraft in April 1944, TA805, a Mark 9 Spitfire known as ‘Spirit of Kent’ was bought by a local man with his business partner in 2006. Records have been found to show TA805 included in the 1945 Battle of Britain ceremonial flight over London, so it is a real connection to the war. 

 

This Spitfire flies in memory of No. 131 (County of Kent) Fighter Squadron. No. 131 Fighter Squadron was bought with money donated from the citizens of Kent, and this was the first time a UK county gave money for a complete squadron. Unfortunately, the squadron was separated in 1944 without any of the aircraft flying from a Kent airfield, though some aircraft did come down in Biggin Hill airport to refuel and re-arm.

 

The Spitfire’s insignia is worth noting. Its fuselage is printed with the ‘prancing horse of Kent’, which is a symbol to represent how Kent was ‘unconquered’. In addition to this, in 2010 its owner flew TA805 to France with D-Day markings as a personal homage to the Veterans.

 

The Kent Spitfire serviced with the South African Air Force until 1992 when its remains returned to the UK. Having gone into storage in Sussex, it was removed by Airframe Assemblies, a company in Sandown who specialise in Spitfire restoration, who brought it back to flying condition for the present owner.

 

Restoration started in 1996, and whilst the majority of the original airframe was used in order to make it as similar as possible to the original, there was still work to be done. Wings needed to be built, systems and cockpit instruments had to be installed, the tailplane was constructed, and crucially the engine required fitting. After the final assembly, test flights began in 2003. 

 

The Biggin Hill Heritage Hanger has in its collection two Mark 9 and two Mark 16 Spitfires, a Mark I, a Hurricane, a Harvard and a Piper Cub, and The Spitfire Company Ltd is currently restoring another three spitfires. The owner aspires to use this collection to educate schoolchildren on the type of aircraft their ancestors flew and maintained. 

 

Every Remembrance Sunday, the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar strives to pay the best tribute to all those who fell in the wars. Kent is the only county able to put up seven warbirds in a formation, and we feel privileged to do this. We mustn’t ever forget the sacrifice they paid for us, and this is a flying and living memorial. It would be an awful shame for this to go unsponsored as those soldiers are eternally deserving of commemoration.

 

http://bigginhillheritagehangar.co.uk/

 

Many thanks to Robin Brooks from the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar for information and photographs.

Katie Mercer, Caterham School