Excellent day out in Biggin Hill

**PreyStalker** · May-19-2017, 10:06

If any of you are ever near Biggin Hill, you must try to visit these places....

Start the day with a hearty English breakfast at the Spitfire Cafe,
http://www.spitfirecafe.co.uk/

then head on over to the heritage hangar and check out the amazing BoB aircraft,
https://bigginhillheritagehangar.co.uk/

My Birthday treat was to sit in a Spitfire but, if you've got the cash, they'll take you up in one too !!!

They probably thought I was a bit weird because I was showing a bit too much interest in the single 109 E4 they were working on

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Oh, how I love these.

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Feels strangely familiar too

Anyway, playing CLOD gave the day out an added buzz and I'm sure any of you who visit will feel that extra special sensation that maybe regular visitors don't get....

I highly recommend a day out there.

**BOO** · May-19-2017, 10:36

£800 to crank her up then £1000 per 15 mins of flight or thereabouts. I doubt the operators are doing much more than covering costs and perhaps paying a small wage or two off it either. Just shows how much these things cost to run, insure and maintain....

**Vlerkies** · May-19-2017, 13:27

A belated happy birthday wish from this hemisphere.

What a treat!! Can see you really enjoyed it and really who would not, I'm green with envy.

More people in our current society really need to experience the really small spaces where so many others made huge, and often ultimate sacrifices, for them to be able to honestly appreciate their current freedoms, and understand the written history.

Thank you for sharing.

**ATAG_Freya** · May-19-2017, 13:54

Yeah happy b-day man! That grin reminds me of when I visited Hendon! I couldn't stop smiling. It was like heaven..

**ATAG_Lewis** · May-19-2017, 15:12

Thanks for sharing this PS....~S~

I love it when folks share pics of themselves too...It about the community here and without the faces its as if we are all anonymous...so great to see you buddy...

I haven't been to Biggin Hill...but I will now I see what they have to offer there...I would be like you fascinated with the 109...We see so many Spits and often hurries too in the UK...but rarely 109s...So that would be the one to check out...We even have a lot of full size fibreglass Spits and Hurris parked or on stands outside of many of the museums too...again, not 109s...

What Mk was the Spit they have there?...and...Was it a flyable that you could sit in?....

...Lew...

**Marco** · May-19-2017, 16:52

For those in the UK, on the Quest TV Channel is a program called Combat Dealers. This Tuesdays episode featured items acquired for Peter Monk and the Heritage Museum at Biggin Hill.

The episode is still available 'On Demand' on the Quest website (http://www.questtv.co.uk/combat-dealers/) for the next 3 days.

For those who have never seen it before the dealer is a chap by the name of Bruce Crompton - what a wonderful job to have!

~S~

**ATAG_Snapper** · May-19-2017, 19:45

This is on my bucket list, for sure!!!!

Great post, PS. And happy belated birthday!

Hey, Lew: you oughta set up a laptop and your Sidewinder stick in a little booth and charge £1 for a 20-minute checkride in a Clod Spit!

**ATAG_Flare** · May-19-2017, 22:20

[QUOTE=ATAG_Lewis;266903]What Mk was the Spit they have there?...and...Was it a flyable that you could sit in?..../QUOTE]

It looks like a Mk. IX from the cockpit, gun button, and gunsight, but I'm not 100% sure.

**BOO** · May-20-2017, 04:07

[QUOTE=ATAG_Flare;266952]

Originally Posted by ATAG_Lewis

What Mk was the Spit they have there?...and...Was it a flyable that you could sit in?..../QUOTE]

It looks like a Mk. IX from the cockpit, gun button, and gunsight, but I'm not 100% sure.

Very Likely Flare - in the site blurb it mentions that it shot down a UH1H, Viggen and L39 Albatross over Normandy........

**PreyStalker** · May-20-2017, 07:51

Originally Posted by ATAG_Lewis

Thanks for sharing this PS....~S~

I love it when folks share pics of themselves too...It about the community here and without the faces its as if we are all anonymous...so great to see you buddy...

I haven't been to Biggin Hill...but I will now I see what they have to offer there...I would be like you fascinated with the 109...We see so many Spits and often hurries too in the UK...but rarely 109s...So that would be the one to check out...We even have a lot of full size fibreglass Spits and Hurris parked or on stands outside of many of the museums too...again, not 109s...

What Mk was the Spit they have there?...and...Was it a flyable that you could sit in?....

...Lew...

Hi Lewis,

I'm like you, i'm curious to see what we look like too. Does Karaya sit there in a Darth Vader suit ? Is YotheGuy actually Clint Eastwood ? Sure sounds like him to me. God knows what DRock looks like ? Gotta say, you always looked approachable....Maybe we could start a new thread with everyone's mug shot.

Back to topic, all the aircraft there are flyable or will be when complete. I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure it was a mk9 I sat in. It had twin rads and cannons anyway. There were other Spitfire marks there too, maybe they rotate the one used for public seatings. Wealthy individuals own the aircraft and they agree to allow public access as part of the storage and maintenance package offered by the hangar. Bloody good idea I think.

Check out the videos on their site, they'll give you a better idea of what's there than me trying to explain it.

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My brother re-living his childhood fantasies

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Cheeky snapshot of my virtual office

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One for you Lewis, me and my baby !

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In case any of you have £2500 going spare

Oh, and many thanks for the belated birthday wishes by the way. I have to admit my birthday was in September and I've only just got round to posting about it. No rush, I like to take my time....

**PreyStalker** · May-20-2017, 08:14

Originally Posted by Marco

For those in the UK, on the Quest TV Channel is a program called Combat Dealers. This Tuesdays episode featured items acquired for Peter Monk and the Heritage Museum at Biggin Hill.

The episode is still available 'On Demand' on the Quest website (http://www.questtv.co.uk/combat-dealers/) for the next 3 days.

For those who have never seen it before the dealer is a chap by the name of Bruce Crompton - what a wonderful job to have!

~S~

Now after watching this, maybe the full English breakfast is not the best idea if you are going to fly in a Spit later...

Thanks for posting this Marco

**Bart_NL** · May-20-2017, 11:25

Thanks for posting!

I noticed an orange triangle on the Spit, left of the cockpit door. That marking was used by Dutch pilots/crew when flying for the RAF. Was that Spitfire flown by a Dutch pilot during WW2 perhaps?

Edit: nope. https://bigginhillheritagehangar.co.uk/spitfire-rw382