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Looking back on it all more than 80 years later, Group Captain John 'Paddy' Hemingway starts to chuckle: 'I just wondered what would happen next — and luckily the right thing happened next!' That is one way of recalling an experience so terrifying that most of us would probably have nightmares to our dying day. One moment, on the afternoon of August 26, 1940, Pilot Officer Hemingway, aged 21, was flying his RAF Hawker Hurricane head-on towards a fleet of German Dornier bombers bound for London in broad daylight. The next, he took a bullet in the wing — then...

Iron Maiden experienced a Spinal Tap moment on Monday night when their Spitfire replica plane malfunctioned during their set-closing performance of "Aces High." The Powerslave opening track has been a fixture of Iron Maiden's ongoing Legacy of the Beast World Tour, which began in 2018. The song — which previously opened the band's set and now closes it — features a 90% scale replica of a Spitfire, the single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force during World War II. Typically, the Spitfire "flies" (i.e. floats) above the band during "Aces High." But during Tuesday's performance at the DCU...

Mary Ellis blazed a trail for female aviators, as one of the first women to fly Spitfires, heavy bombers and jet aircraft. She was a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), which employed civilians to deliver planes from factories to airfields during the Second World War.... At one RAF base, the ground crew refused to believe she was the pilot of the Wellington bomber she had just landed. "They actually went inside the aeroplane and searched it," she recalled. "Everybody was flabbergasted that a little girl like me could fly these big aeroplanes all by oneself."... Mary Ellis died...

A photographer captured the moment two of the most iconic planes in Britain's history flew just yards apart in the skies above North Wales. A Lancaster bomber - the type of plane which carried out the Dambusters raid - and a Spitfire fighter - the like of which defended the UK during the Battle of Britain - flew alongside each other on Saturday to celebrate Armed Forces Day. The two aircraft were joined by a Hawker Hurricane, another Battle of Britain fighter, and flew in tight formation to wow crowds of 250,000 in Llandudno. The 10th annual Armed Forces Day,...

They are the last remaining heroes of the glorious Few, whose daring and bravery saved Britain from Nazi tyranny. Of the dwindling band of men, who were part of the near 3,000-strong aircrew who served with the RAF Fighter Command between July 10 and October 31 1940, just eight surviving members of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association remain. Many of the men were still teenagers or in their early 20s when they repelled Hitler's Luftwaffe in what may be the most important battle this country has ever fought.

A Polish war veteran is leading a British poll for the greatest Second World War Spitfire pilot by hundreds of thousands of votes. Franciszek Kornicki, 100, the last surviving Second World War Polish squadron commander, leads the online survey by a whopping 300,000 votes following a viral social media campaign by the UK's Polish community. A member of the high-scoring 303 Squadron during World War II, the war hero famously escorted a group of British bombers over northern France, where he led a daring attack on Nazi warplanes.

Amazing pictures from World War II have unveiled the swathes of Spitfires which were gifted to American forces by the RAF. The stunning images show how the RAF emblem was removed and replaced by America's 'stars and bars' of the USAAF. The mixture of colour along with black and white images show brave pilots standing by their newly-donated planes, often with a fresh lick of paint on them. The pictures are in Tony Holmes' new book entitled Star-Spangled Spitfires. Mr Holmes said: 'The USAAF received Spitfires because it lacked suitable fighters of its own in Britain with which to engage...

A German Second World War pilot has made his maiden voyage in a Spitfire seven decades after he flew for the Luftwaffe. Hugo Broch, 95, who last flew in 1960, took to the skies above Kent on Tuesday as a passenger in a British TR9 MJ627 Spitfire. Born on January 6 1922, Broch is a former Messerschmitt 109 fighter pilot and Luftwaffe ace. During his career, Broch flew 324 combat missions and shot down 81 enemy aircraft on the Eastern Front, including 18 Soviet Sturmoviks. His score included twelve double victories and three triple victories.

A vintage Spitfire fighter flipped and nosedived into the ground at an airshow in France, terrifying onlookers. Footage captured the moment the WWII plane is about to take off, but its propeller hits the ground. The aircraft then flips on its head, sending dust and debris everywhere at the Longuyon-Villette Airport, near the French city of Verdun.

A spitfire shot down over France in 1944 has flown for the first time since the Second World War after a £3 million restoration. The NH341 took part in 27 combat missions between June and July 1944 and was flown by nine pilots in the Royal Canadian Air Force's 411 (Grizzly Bear) squadron. Pilot John Romain flew the historic aircraft over Duxford, Cambridge, after a 30-month restoration project, which was declared a 'huge success'.

Soaring into the skies above the green and pleasant land they so spectacularly fought to defend 76 years ago, they are the last of the few airworthy Spitfires left. Now an air-to-air photographer has completed an exhilarating project - getting up close and personal to the legendary fighter planes in order to capture them like never before. Using the skill and experience of former RAF pilot Tim Ellison, John Dibbs was able to fly to within 15ft of different Spitfire marks.

I know there are some Spitfire fans here, so I thought you might like this vid. Footage from 'The First of the Few' coupled with music from Public Service Broadcasting, an eccentric English band. Hope you enjoy. They also did a live session at KEXP: https://youtu.be/sikBHMlG20M

Thinkstock Eighty years ago the first Spitfire prototype flew from Eastleigh aerodrome in Hampshire. One man reveals the impact piloting this aircraft had on his life. It was always an exclusive club, and now there are only a handful of people left who can claim membership. To fly a Spitfire, especially in combat, is as close to holding a place in mythology as modern times allow. But Sqn Ldr Geoffrey Wellum DFC, still passionate and engaging at 94, cautions against hyperbole. "I didn't think of myself as glamorous but certainly I was aware it was a privilege," he says. "Everybody...

The skies above southern Britain echoed to the sound of massed Spitfires and Hurricanes today as the iconic aircraft took to the skies over south-east England to commemorate 75 years since the heaviest day of fighting during the Battle of Britain. The famous planes patrolled the skies once again after what was known as The Hardest Day, when the Luftwaffe launched a major offensive in a bid to wipe out RAF fighter command and achieve aerial superiority over the Channel. Just 600 RAF and Fleet Air Arm air crew managed to fly 927 sorties in an effort to stop 2,200...

Link only due to copyright. WWII vet flies Spitefire for first time in 70 years

One of the first Spitfires ever made has gone up for sale for a staggering £2.5 million after spending 40 years buried in sand at the French beach it crashed on. The iconic Mark 1 plane was among the first built in March 1940 as Britain scrambled to ready itself for the epic battle that took place in the skies just a few months later. But Spitfire P9374 never made it to the Battle of Britain as it crash-landed in May 1940. The fighter plane was being piloted by Flight Officer Peter Cazenove over Dunkirk when it was hit by...

Prince Harry is seen flying a Spitfire upside down in footage released from his charity work with injured veterans. The prince was cheering and smiling as he rolled the plane during a flight along the Isle of Wight coastline in August last year. The stunt was to promote his Spitfire scholarship which offers training for wounded servicemen and women. He also met two trainees who are hoping to pilot the aircraft in a Battle of Britain flypast.

For aviation fans, get ready for a ton of wonderful archival footage coming your way in William Lorton's Spitfire 944. A true-life story, Lorton has discovered rare 16mm footage of a 1944 spitfire crash and tracks down the pilot, now an 83-year-old World War II veteran to show him the footage. The early parts of this film consists of wartime remembrances and nostalgia for days gone by. The elderly pilot recalls his time spent with his comrades and explains the basic information involved with his aircraft. What he doesn't know is that he is about to see, for the first...

Spitfire vs Bf 109 and F-14 vs Su-27: the difference is always the pilot May 31, 2013 Not always the best aircraft is the one that wins in an air-to-air engagement. Most of the times it is the training the pilot has received and his/her skills, experience to make the difference: that’s why a well trained pilot with a less capable aircraft can defeat a more powerful plane piloted by a scarcely trained airman. During World War II two of the most successful fighters of aviation history faced one against the other, in a duel that began over the coasts...

In 2005, an 83 year-old World War II pilot is surprised to see 16mm footage of his 1944 Spitfire crash for the first time.