Action Stations!
Thank you for visiting our site - no doubt like me you have a passion for the Spitfire, or you know someone who has! You may have just entered Spitfire into Google, or you may be on a mission to buy a friend or relative the most sensational gift imaginable - a flight with a Spitfire.
Whatever the reason you are here, let me kick off by describing exactly what we do here at Action Stations!
Located down here in Kent, Battle of Britain country – where the most intense aerial fighting took place in 1940, we operate a Spitfire and as she is flying we fly groups of people up in a Jet Ranger helicopter, to meet her in the air.
Once the two aircraft meet up, , we begin a specially choreographed flight programme, in which you can see the Spitfire in a way that you probably have never seen before – exceptional ‘air to air’ photographic / filming opportunities.
Photographs courtesy of StuartAdams Historic Aircraft Collection Ltd.
If the group flying are up for it, we will fly with the doors off, so that you can actually hear that Merlin growling away, seemingly only feet away (please note that we abide and fly strictly within CAA regulations.) We fly close enough to thrill - and far enough for safety! (For reference, the video footage was shot from our helicopter, so you can see exactly the distance we fly at).
Once we are into the routine, then you begin to understand exactly why we fly by helicopter, and what is so exquisitely unique about our flying experiences.
The helicopter is of course a rotary aircraft, and the Spitfire is fixed wing - and never the twain shall meet! These aircraft are like chalk and cheese - they both come from completely different drawing boards. In fact the people who fly helicopters refer to fixed wing aircraft as flying planks - and those that fly fixed wing call helicopters blitter blatters! I come from the school of tolerance that says ‘If it flies’ that’s fine by me!
The helicopter is unique in that it can be operated as an observation platform - that’s why they are so effectively used by the police. With their excellent visibility, you can see virtually 360º around the aircraft from inside, so when the Spitfire flies in our routine, you can see her winging around outside for apparently long periods of time.
It is especially dramatic when you she passes below and over the top.
It is these aspects of the helicopter that give you the opportunity to enjoy the most breathtaking and memorable views of the Spitfire, which you can see and photograph to your heart’s content!
The biggest thrill for me though was seeing our first customers’ reactions to their flight. People were grinning, laughing, and some were crying - they were so overcome with the sight and sound in the air of this wonderful aircraft – the Spitfire.
For a surprisingly simple idea, it has been quite hard to get across to people up until now. I hope that from this introduction, and the presentation on the site, we have been able to portray our Spitfire flying experiences, and that we will have the pleasure of hosting your visit down here in Kent.
I am confident that you will have the flying experience of a lifetime,
Kind regards – Steve
Stephen Burt – Director, Action Stations! and owner A4A Ltd
Some Background
How it all startedI’ve had a lifelong interest in WW2 aviation, starting as a boy growing up in the fifties. I was one of the early Airfix kit generations, and made their first model, which was a Spitfire. Its’ squadron markings were JE – J, and it was the aircraft that Johnnie Johnson flew. He was one of the most decorated fighter pilots of WW2 and if you want to know how these people lived at the time – and their achievements you should read his obituary from 2001, when he died at the age of 85.(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1320495/Air-Vice-Marshal-J-E-Johnnie-Johnson.html) |
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Whenever I made an aircraft, I was as interested in those who flew them, and the places they flew from, and being pre- internet times, I started collecting many books and magazines over the years that today make up a sizeable library!
In this collection are the Aircraft of the Fighting Powers volumes, which my father passed on to me. They had originally been given to him during the war, when they were first published. Each volume was originally neatly covered in brown paper, with his name carefully written in copperplate lettering, a hallmark of my grandmother, and her generation – when people could actually write beautifully, using ink fountain pens.
Spitfire MK2
Volume 1 - First edition 1940
The Aircraft of the Fighting Powers volumes are now collectors items, and are the ‘bible’ for anyone with a real interest in WW2 military aviation. Of course at the age of 7 or 8 years old, I didn’t appreciate their value, but now I’m so glad that I looked after them!
I was particularly fascinated by the general arrangement drawings that faced the description of the aircraft. These were drawn at 1:72nd scale, handily enough as this was the same scale that Airfix used / and use today. The kits at the time were very basic, and invited modification, inspired by the drawings in my books.
I think my first ‘serious’ modification was converting the fighter version of the Mosquito (MK2) to the bomber version (Mk4), with the transparent nose, adapted from that of a Lancaster - not ideal!
Films and Airshows
The films of the time, Reach for the Sky, Dambusters, 633 Squadron, all created an impression on me - and for weeks afterwards I would be building replicas of the aircraft featured - faithful in every detail, which would then be hung from my bedroom ceiling - sometimes crashing onto me sleeping below!
My mother - like all mothers I think, was afraid that this fascination for aircraft would lead me to join the RAF. She had lived through the war as a young girl, living not far from the RAF bomber station at Hixon, in Staffordshire. In 1940 she would have been 8 years old, and one day a Harvard with two young Canadian pilots onboard crashed nearby. Together with my grandmother they ran from their house in Sandon, across the fields to try and rescue the crew. When they got to the burning aircraft, the heat was so intense they couldn’t get the pilots out. I’m sure that Mum carried this image with her, and this is perhaps why she related the story to me as young boy. I was around the same age that she was when this happened, and she probably thought that the story she told would deter me from signing up.
She needn’t have worried – I really didn’t have any other interest in flying anything apart from a Spitfire, and they were going out of service by the time I was old enough to fly! Not for me those silver cigar cases called jets - no, a real aeroplane had a Merlin up front, and a ruddy big propeller - preferably with three or four blades, attached to it!
As children we were taken to air shows of the time, when squadrons would fly over - the air would be thick with aeroplanes! We would watch flights of V bombers, Lightnings, Buccaneers, Sea Vixens, Scimitars – the noise would shatter the air as they flew over!
And then there were the displays by the last piston engined aeroplanes of the time – Spitfires, Mustangs, Hurricanes, Sea Furies Mosquitoes, Hornets, and the four engined jobs, Lancasters , Lincolns ( what an ugly aeroplane!) and finally the Shackletons – looking very smart in their Coastal Command livery.
We may have seen a Sunderland, but I can’t clearly remember.
Then we had Battle of Britain week, and the whole country used to remember the Few, and aircrew who lost their lives during the wars. People selling lapel flags, and paper ‘Wings’ - collecting money for the RAF Benevolent fund, and other causes to help the aircrews who had been injured during the war, and supporting families who had been left behind.
The call to Action!
When we recently moved down to Kent, I spent time visiting the Battle of Britain sites in the area. Kent was really the front line as far as the RAF were concerned – this is where the rubber hit the grass as far as our ability to defend the country against enemy attack. This county was in No 11 Group - Fighter Command, headquartered from Uxbridge, with main airfields being Biggin Hill, Hawkinge, Manston and Gravesend.
Having visited the sites, the museums, and the Battle of Britain memorial at Capel le Ferne, I felt that my experience was incomplete. Yes, individually these places tell their own story - or part of the Battle of Britain event - but only when you visit them all do you get an overall sense of the significance and magnitude of what was achieved - not only by pilots, but groundcrew, and the people of Kent who were living - and dying through it all.
During the Battle, in the village of Littlebourne, where we live now, people lived underground in their cellars for 3 months - venturing out quickly to get provisions – if they were lucky. Over 2,400 Flying Bombs landed in Kent during the war - one that landed in Littlebourne killed the local doctor’s wife. As you travel around this beautiful county today - you would hardly know these events had occurred. And talking to people of all ages and background, the majority don’t seem to know about the events of seventy years ago now. One lad in his late twenties actually didn’t know what the Battle of Britain was – and a Polish girl of a similar age, didn’t know that Polish people flew in the RAF.
So I felt something had to be done, and I started thinking - if those aircrew were amongst us today, how would they like us to remember them? Surely not as just names on stones - or by the relics of their aircraft in museums? No, these people were in many cases extroverts - yes they were fighting a war - but they were also characters, individuals, had style and a joy for living.
So let’s reflect that in how we remember them,and create experiences for today’s generation – give them the sight and sound of a Spitfire - in the air, just as it was in 1940.
And so this is how we came up with the Action Stations Spitfire Flying Experiences
- please join us and enjoy these, and always remember The Few.