Committee Visit to Spitfires.com at Goodwood

On Sunday 4th Oct 2026 the Committee were invited to attend a tour at Spitfires.com hangar and their Spitfires based at Goodwood. The event was organised by Tony (club Secretary) as he is an Ops Lead/volunteer at Spitfres.com. Unfortunately Martin was unable to make this occasion but Nick, Scott and I were able to go.

We all met at Goodwood Hangar 8 which is where Spitfires.com operate from and is their HQ.

We were given a tour of the offices and the Briefing Room which were very plush and we met a number of the other pilots and volunteers there.

We then entered Hangar 8 which contained 2 Spitfires and one replica hanging from the ceiling.
One was in 'regular' wartime livery and the other has been polished to become 'The Silver Spitfire' which in fact was flown around the world.

This is the 'regular' Spitfire

Scott, Nick and I in Hangar 8

This is the 'Silver Spitfire'

We were given permission to sit in the 'Silver Spitfire ' cockpit which is a rare privilege and an opportunity we weren't going to turn down.

Here's Scott enjoying his time in the cockpit

I managed to wangle 2 goes in the cockpit which I found to be rather smaller than I imagined.

We were then led onto the apron outside the hangar where there were 3 more Spitfires.

This Spitfire was covered up and not flying at this time.

This Spitfire was getting ready for take-off with a customer on board.

We would like to thank Tony and Spitfires.com for allowing us to visit their facility and get access to their wonderful collection of flying machines.

Take Great Care in this Very Hot Weather

 

I would like to issue a note of caution to all our members during this exceptionally hot and dry weather.

The BMFA Free-Flight Technical Committee has postponed all competitions until later in the year due to the hot and dry conditions. The Ashdown Forest Flyers have also decided that they will not fly during this very hot spell for fear of doing damage to the Forest.

As we primarily fly on areas of the South Downs which are tinder dry grass at the moment, I would caution all members to be extremely diligent and careful when using LiPo or similar batteries on areas of grass which are very dry.
Any very hot batteries or sparks can start a grass fire, so I ask that you all be very careful indeed.

Many thanks for your co-operation.

Best regards
Rob Stanley