The F1 community has always enjoyed a close relationship with the fighter community, especially the Red Arrows and Mike Ling MBE, (@MikeLingPilot) our local Biggin Hill boy who is now the longest serving member of the Reds.

Take this back a few years, and it would have been those flying spitfires. So it’s heartwarming to see news of quite an  amazing project – namely, flying a restored spitfire around the world.

At the tail end of next summer, Matt Jones and Steve Brooks intend to take off in a polished silver Spitfire Mark IX from southern England, head north-east, and return to Blighty by Christmas having pushed the aircraft to new limits. When they touch back down, they will have made more than 150 stops in over 30 countries, soaring over many airspaces the Spitfire has never before entered, and flying over territories, such as the Far East and North Africa, where it hasn’t been seen since the war ended.

Good luck to them, and let’s hope the project goes well. It’s a brave challenge.