For the famed broadcaster and wartime Spitfire pilot, flying the Supermarine fighter again after nearly 30 years — thanks to Aeroplane — was a truly unexpected pleasure
Just before lunch on 12 May 1945, after a 20-minute air test, I casually landed my Spitfire XVI, LO-X, at Ludham in Norfolk, and sauntered to the pilots’ room of No 602 Squadron’s dispersal without a care. Life was simple and life was good. I commanded the Best Flight of the Best Squadron flying the Best Aeroplanes in the World. Clearly we had beaten the Germans and were about to fly off to the Far East to beat the Japanese.
