From Cessna to Spitfure: A Pilot’s Journey

A Spitfire is not just special because it’s a beautiful aircraft, it’s also historical, rare and valuable! Personally, I think we’re very lucky to still have them around to see at all (and hear!), let alone be able to take a flight in one at places like Ultimate Warbirds at Sywell Aerodrome in the UK.

But, to be handed the proverbial key and allowed to go and soar in one ‘solo’… now that’s something else! I asked Andy about his tail dragger journey, and would those same steps of progression be good advice for other pilots aspiring to get themselves into a Warbird?

“The Harvard is really a great intro into the world of larger powered tail draggers,” he says. “It’s big, has presence, and inertia. It’s got a decent sized radial engine and some systems to think about. It vibrates in the right kind of way; it has the sort of resonance you expect from an aircraft that has some proper power and weight to it.

“I was lucky enough to get some time in one or two and really appreciated the step it offered. I found flying them required some finesse, as did learning their ground handling personality. The Harvard rightfully commands respect from the pilot and delivers a very satisfying flying experience as it’s reward.”

So then, what about that step up onto the wing of the Spitfire – how and where did that come about?

Well, following an unexpected meeting with Spitfire legend Richard Grace, Andy struck up a friendship in the truest spirit of aviation, and was invited to fly the world famous ‘Grace Spitfire’; ‘ML407’. Interested in hearing how that went? read on…

A Gift from Grace

Andy’s first flight in the Spitfire, and perhaps one of the most significant of his flying career, was with Richard Grace himself. “By way of introduction” Andy began, “you generally expect a rear seat (P2 position) for your first training sortie in a Spitfire.

“This gives the trainee the opportunity to ‘absorb’ the aircraft. To take it all in; the sounds, the feel of it, and the experience of just being inside it whilst it soars around one cloud and ducks under another.

“You actually get more from your first P1 experience if you don’t combine it with the emotional encounter of just being airborne in it for the first time! Instead, a good demonstration is a very good lead in.”

So how did it feel to be in such an important piece of aviation history? “The enormity of the occasion was palpable.

“Once the engine fired up, the experience was almost overwhelming to all the senses. The smell, in fact the taste of the fumes on start-up! The vibration that your whole body feels that perhaps only a Merlin can deliver as it fires into life.

“I remember thinking the sound inside the aircraft was very different to that outside. It was like being inside a living beast, rather than just observing one from afar. Very different!

“I feel incredibly lucky to have some truly amazing ‘first experiences’ in my aviation career, but as Richard opened the throttle for take-off for the first time, it was an experience that perhaps an artist could better communicate.

“It might sound odd, and maybe it’s part nostalgia and respect for what the aircraft represents historically, but there felt a real connection between man and machine, beyond that of touch. It was very special.”

At the Controls of a Spitfire

Once airborne, Richard offered Andy the controls; “I remember being surprised just how sensitive she was, particularly in pitch. And there’s quite a bit of active foot work to do due to the amount of prop slip stream effect.”

Slip steam effect meaning prop wash contacting the left side of the fin, so essentially right pedal is required with application of power. But it’s not linear, meaning at high speed you need less [right] pedal, whereas at low speed and particularly with high power, you need a lot!

Andy continues: “The aircraft requires a light touch on the controls, definitely a conscious effort to remain ‘finger and thumb’. But once you get used to it, it’s more like wearing it than flying it. To soar with a Spitfire almost doesn’t require conscious thought, you just become one with it.”

Following his outing with Richard it was time for his check flight (yep, just the one!). The location was Duxford, it was the summer of 2016, and yes, he had definitely had his Weetabix!

Extensive briefings completed, they strapped in and, amazing as it sounds, less than an hour later, the instructor climbed out and Andy was off on his first solo! Not only was it in one of the worlds most iconic and historically important aircraft. It was also owned by one of his best mates. No pressure!

Read about Andy’s first flight in the Mk. IX Spitfire by clicking to read the GA Buyer May digital edition, or online via the Page 3 button below.