Spitfire experience flights are coming to council-owned airport

Richard Youle, Local democracy reporter
Spitfire flights are coming to a council-owned airport in Wales in a fortnight’s time.
The famous fighter plane with its rumbling Rolls-Royce Merlin engine will take to the skies for paying customers at Swansea Airport on May 11 and five dates in June, July, August and September.
Representatives of Swansea Airport Stakeholders Alliance, which operates the airport at Fairwood Common, are thrilled at the tie-up with the company involved, FlyaSpitfire.com.
Boost
The company has three T.9 Spitfires and flies seven days a week from its Biggin Hill Airport headquarters south-east of London, and at airports in Surrey, the Cotswolds, Norwich and Blackpool.
Commercial manager Darren Dray said he hoped the new flights will give a boost to Gower and Swansea. “I think it’s going to be a beautiful place to fly from,” he said.
One Spitfire will come to Swansea on each flying date, with all three T.9s potentially visiting over the course of the season.
Extra flying dates will be added if the current ones sell out. Although a once-in-a-lifetime experience, the flights are expensive.
There are 30-minute, 45-minute and 55-minute options costing £3,375, £4,875 and £5,875 respectively, which include a free video of the flight and a victory roll. All the planes have dual controls.
Progress
The company said the costs of restoring and operating a Spitfire were high, with various key components having to be replaced at set intervals to comply with Civil Aviation Authority regulations.
Swansea Airport Stakeholders Alliance – a group of experienced aviation enthusiasts – said it was pleased with progress at the Swansea Council-owned airport, which it began operating on a temporary basis last September.
“There is a real buzz about the place,” said alliance chairman Bob Oliver.
“We are delighted to welcome FlyaSpitfire.com to operate at Swansea Airport throughout the summer. We are in discussions with a number of other companies and hope this will be the first of many exciting aviation opportunities.”
The airport has two flying clubs, a skydive business, a dog-friendly cafe now open seven days a week, plus Thai food four evenings a week.
Mr Oliver said the alliance has acquired a fire engine, fuel bowser, operations truck, two static caravans for staff and pilot use, and grounds maintenance equipment. An entertainments licence application for evening events has been submitted to the council.
The alliance has 150-plus members and operates on a not-for-profit basis. It has two paid part-time operations staff, with a third due to join this year.
The council intends to look for a long-term operator for the airport, which was requisitioned during the Second World War for use as an air defence airfield, via a competitive tender process.
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Might want to check the news with the Spitfire in that image, it wont be flying for a while, the pilot and passenger are OK.
But what a sound for the Swansea bay and area.
The Spitfire in the photo made a successful forced landing in a field in Kent yesterday…
The last Spitfires to be shot down were shot down by WW2 ex-comrades over the Israel / Egypt border in 1949.
The last Seafire (RN Spitfire) shot down was by ‘friendly fire’ by a US B-29 gunner in Korean skies in 1950…
As a child of about twelve I once sat in the cockpit of a Seafire (Marine Spitfire) as it was being dismantled at the old Pengam airfield. The Merlin engine was out but the rest was pretty intact. Claustrophobic even at that age , I remember it to this day. It was so much “smaller” than in Biggles hero movies. And the ME109 was apparently worse given the top fuselage profile. *It would be really great if we could have some Messerschmitt 109s etc as well for our many Reform voters to fly in. I’m sure they’d be a big… Read more »
I see where you’re coming from, but I’d have thought a couple of Sturmoviks and a Yak would be more appropriate given Nige’s admiration of Putin
Not after the crash inKent they won’t!