BBMF hangar visit

Some time ago, I saw a display box on eBay with three 1:144 models of aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight: Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane. 

Guess what happened next ...

Given that the BBMF hangar is just 20 minutes down the road from East Kirkby, where we met up with "Just Jane", it would be silly (and rude!) not to drop by for a visit and see the real aircraft

So we drove to Coningsby the day after having met "Just Jane".

The BBMF hangar has a small visitor centre ...

... and also offers hangar tours, which, of course, we signed up for. We were there to see the aircraft, after all!

The BBMF currently has five Spitfires, two Hurricanes, one Lancaster and one Dakota. The Lancaster wasn't present in the hangar, as it's undergoing major maintenance, but all other aircraft were. I'll focus on the Spitfires in this blog post, but there is a bit more on the other aircraft here.

The first Spitfire we saw is a Mk II (P7350), the oldest airworthy Spitfire and the last still-flying Spitfire that saw combat in the Battle of Britain. 

At the back is one of the BBMF's PR XIX Spits (PM631), sans engine and clearly undergoing maintenance.

Spitfire number three we saw is a Mk V (AB910); a model of this Spitfire is in the BBMF box. The real aircraft now sports invasion stripes.

The second of the BBMF's PR XIX Spitfires (PS915) at the back of the hangar, also missing its engine and undergoing maintenance.

And the final of the five Spitfires flying with the BBMF is this Mk XVI (TE311). 

The other side of this aircraft has the squadron code L-NG, in honour of Mark Long, who was killed when the Spitfire he flew for the BBMF crashed.

Really pleased to have visited the BBMF hangar and seen all five of their Spitfires!