7 Members of the club and guests enjoyed a great day out at the Spitfire museum at Blackpool Airport.

The group had a guided tour of the museum by very friendly and viewed a lot of the exhibits collected locally over many years. Centre stage was the collection of Spitfires, a Hurricane and a Messerschmitt BF109.

Highlight of the day for some members was to experience what it was like sat in the cockpit of a Spitfire. Extreme respect must be paid to all those pilots who flew the aircraft during WW2.

Pete

It was an early start for me, and a 145 mile journey on busy motorways to arrive in time for our Club visit to the Spitfire Museum at Blackpool (alongside the Airport). I actually arrived in good time so was able to take a quick drive down the seafront to the Tower and back again (in the pouring rain).

The location of the Spitfire Museum could easily get missed, which is a shame because it really is well worth a visit – it is run by volunteers, and they all made us most welcome. The museum is located in an a hangar that was built and used throughout the 2nd World War.

There was 11 of us visiting the museum and we were split into 2 groups and taken separate tours around the exhibits, with our group starting in the Operations Room. It was explained to us how the Radar Stations, Observer Corp and cascading Operations Rooms were able to direct the fighters from different airfields to converge on the attacking enemy planes.

We then were guided around the various aircraft, with detailed explanations given about the history of each and the part it played in the 2nd World War. Many of the Spitfires in the museum have local connections to Blackpool and the surrounding area.

Our visit finished after a couple of hours there, with a group photo opportunity beside a Spitfire.

A great visit to somewhere I would likely not have visited had it not been part of an organised trip with our Greater Manchester Jaguar Enthusiast’s Club – Thanks to our Chairman Pete Smith for organising it all.