Spitfire Dawn to Dusk Challenge

Hello everyone,

I am the Deputy Editor of Today’s Pilot magazine, Key Publishing’s private flying magazine.

This summer, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Spitfire, my friend and I will be flying a Piper PA-28 Cherokee aeroplane around the UK visiting as many former Spitfire airfields as possible. We are doing this to raise both money and awareness for the Flying Scholarships for the Disabled charity.

This flight, dubbed the Spitfire Dawn to Dusk Challenge, will form an entry into the Pooleys Dawn to Dusk competition, an annual competition judged by a panel led by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

We have received generous sponsorship from a number of high profile companies and associations and this has enabled us to fund the project and name a date. Our ‘window of opportunity’ is June 26 thru July 7 and we will decide on the exact date after we have reviewed the long range weather forecasts.

Thanks to impeccable support from the staff at Southampton Airport we will be departing the airport (from whence the prototype Spitfire first flew 70 years ago this year) at 04.30. We will then be landing at a variety of former Spitfire airfields before returning to the aircraft’s base at Oxford Airport prior to the deadline of 21.30.

A number of these landings will be ‘flying visits’ (pardon the pun!) but at selected airfields we will be holding press conferences to speak to the regional press and extol the virtues of Flying Scholarships for the Disabled’s charity work.

Although we have received support from a number of organisations we are still reliant on individual sponsorship to raise funds for the charity. The commemorative D2D polo-shirts are being designed by Pride of the Skies will be available to order very soon (with all profits going to the charity) but you can also pledge online at our website.

The site, at http://www.spitfired2dchallenge.co.uk , is updated regularly with progress reports and includes a list of possible ‘target’ airfields, details of the crew, the charity and the Spitfire in general.

Whether you’re interested in sponsoring the flight (as a company or an individual), are involved with an airfield that would like to host us on the journey or can offer help, advice or encouragement of any type we’d be delighted to hear from you.

Thanks for your support

Steve Bridgewater

Deputy Editor – Today’s Pilot