What does it take to become a flight academy?
By Simon Oliver | Spitfires.com
Spitfires.com, formerly known as the Boultbee Flight Academy was the brainchild of London-based property developer Steve Boultbee-Brooks and his then personal business jet pilot, Matt Jones. It had been Steve’s long-term dream to learn to fly the most iconic aircraft of the Second World War, the Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire. Very few establishments at that time could offer such training and the only two seat Spitfire was privately owned and used for charitable pursuits.
Steve’s philanthropic nature and Matt’s commercial aviation experience created the ultimate combination of financial ability, technical knowhow and business acumen. A plan was soon hatched to source and purchase a Spitfire TR-9, the two-seat trainer variant of the beautifully balanced Spitfire Mk IX. Steve was adamant that he would fulfil his vision – to become a fully-fledged Spitfire pilot.
In April 2009, the perfect opportunity arose. Bonhams was presenting to the market a Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire TR-9, tail number SM520 at the annual event held at the Royal Air Force Museum in Colindale, North London. The auction was usually reserved for classic cars (one of Steve’s other passions) but on this occasion, the star of the show was an aircraft, a Spitfire TR-9. Bidding was started at £850,000 and an anonymous telephone bidder was leading the offers with a bid of £1,550,000. The auctioneer coaxed Steve with a suggestion of £1.58m which finally sealed the deal. With the premium of £200,000, the historic aircraft was Steve’s for a grand total of £1.78m.
Manufactured at Castle Bromwich in November of 1944, SM520 (her tail number) had been brought into service with 103 other Spitfire Mk IXs towards the end of the European theatre. As the war steadily moved east, SM520 proved to be surplus to requirement and she wasn’t destined for a life of service with the Royal Air Force. Instead, four years later she was equipped with a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and shipped to South Africa to start a life with the South African Air Force. Having been originally built as a single seat Spitfire, she was converted to the TR-9, the two-seat variant to accommodate a passenger for the purpose of flight training.
Unfortunately, SM520’s records from that period were sadly lost. However, there are some suggestions that she was damaged, along with another aircraft in 1951. She was marked “for disposal” in early 1952 but another two years passed before she was formally retired from service and sold to a scrap metal firm, the African Metal & Machinery Co. The forlorn Spitfire was kept at their facility in Salt River until 1979 when what remained of her was rescued by the South African Air Force Museum.
In 1981, SM520 was bought by Charles Church, the British property developer and aviation enthusiast. She was then passed from one wealthy owner/collector to another, but it was Charles Church who had begun the long, labour-intensive process of returning her to airworthy condition. In 1989, having been partially restored, SM520 was sold to Alan Dunkerley who subsequently sold her to Paul Portelli in 2002. Paul was owner of the London-based company, ‘World’s End Tiles’ and had the vision and the means to commission Classic Aero Engineering to return the aircraft to an airworthy status.
Fast-forward three years to 2012. Steve and Matt’s plans were really coming together. Having invested significantly in the purchase of the Spitfire, Matt was charged with starting the Boultbee Flight Academy. The academy began at Oxford Airport and so did the long approval process working extensively with the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) to gain the permissions to train licensed pilots to fly this pinnacle of historic aviation. It would be another two years and a change of location to the idyllic surroundings of the Goodwood Aerodrome in West Sussex before the academy was granted the Safety Standards and Consent (SSA&C) approval to take members of the public flying in a Spitfire. Once the approvals had been granted, not only was the academy the only official provider of Spitfire flight training, it was also the only place in the world offering a number of Spitfire flights for passengers.
In 2015, the academy hosted the world’s largest gathering of airworthy Spitfires for the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. With 32,000 spectators (including veterans and members of the Royal Family) packing the Goodwood Motor Circuit outfield to witness the event (arranged by Matt Jones and his team), 35 Spitfires and Hurricanes readied themselves for the largest flight of these aircraft types for over 70 years.
The Academy has also worked extensively with Prince Harry’s Endeavour Fund, offering members of the Armed Forces flying scholarships for wounded servicemen. Alan Robinson, one recipient of the scholarship, had lost his leg from injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident and it was Matt Jones’ vision to sponsor him through his Spitfire conversion course. Alan successfully flew the aircraft solo and was the first amputee to do so since Douglas Bader, the infamous double-amputee who did so during the Second World War.
2019 was quite a year for the company and Steve personally, who finally realised his dream of solo flying a Spitfire. Along with several sponsors and with the support of the Swiss watch manufacturer IWC, Steve, Matt and a team of experts circumnavigated the globe in the most original and airworthy Spitfire Mk IX. Polished to a high lustre aluminium finish, G-IRTY, MJ271 flew from Goodwood Aerodrome on the 5th of August in a westerly direction. 74 locations across 30 countries, 22,138 nautical miles and four months later, the team successfully returned to Goodwood on the 5th of December.
In 2020, Boultbee Flight Academy was bought out by co-founder Matt Jones and the business changed its name to Spifires.com – The Spitfire Academy. With seven different durations of flight experiences in two Spitfire TR-9s (from 30 minutes to 75 minutes), two locations on the South Coast (Goodwood Aerodrome and Solent Airport Daedalus), fly alongside experiences (with another two-seater Spitfire TR-9 for your friend or family member or a single seat Spitfire Mk IX to fly in formation with you), a North American Texan T-6G (for flight training and fly alongside operations), a De Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk (for flight training and tailwheel conversion courses) and the world’s only ultra-realistic Spitfire Mk IX flight simulator which has been painstakingly constructed from over 90% real Spitfire parts (used for flight training and flight experiences).
Spitfires.com continues to go from strength to strength and this summer, due to demand for these incredible flights and machines, a newly restored Spitfire TR-9 joined their fleet. Built to commemorate the Polish pilot, Piotr Kuryllowicz, BS410 with the civil registration of G-TCHI now flies passengers and adds an additional airframe for Spitfire flight experiences, formation flights and flight training. One of Spitfires.com’s main objectives has always been to be custodians; keeping these extraordinary machines busy and in airworthy condition.
Spitfires.com is headquartered at Goodwood Aerodrome on the Goodwood Estate. The aerodrome nestles into the foot of the South Downs, just outside the historic city of Chichester in West Sussex. The company operates six to seven Spitfire flights seven days a week from April to late November/mid-December and offers flights over some of the UK’s prettiest landmarks from the impressive cliffs of Dover and/Beachy Head to the East and the white cliffs of The Needles on the picturesque Isle of Wight to the West. There really couldn’t be a more historic or beautiful location to fly Spitfires from, in the world. As long as you are above the age of 18, are below 6’4”, under 17st and have no medical conditions that would preclude a flight on a commercial airliner, you too can fly in R.J. Mitchell’s masterpiece, the Supermarine Spitfire!
For further information or to book an experience, please visit their website www.spitfires.com or call their office on +44 (0)1243 531147
Spitfire Mk.IX Simulator – SPECIAL OFFER
To kickstart this exciting partnership, Spitfires.com is offering a discount on the incredible Spitfire Mk.IX simulator to all Airfix Club members – the world’s only Spitfire simulator that can be used for training new Spitfire pilots as well as offering a hands-on wartime combat experience to non-pilots.
Some say recreating an Airfix Spitfire is the closest one can get to the real thing – this goes one step further; this simulator is a real Spitfire! The fuselage is built from approximately 50% wartime parts – this means the airframe has in fact (and in part) fought in WWII. The remaining parts are modern restorations, required to meet strict standards, and of course made specifically for the simulator to aid the conversion from analogue to digital information.
Far from a wooden approximation of a Spitfire cockpit, the cockpit is indistinguishable from the real thing – even to a wartime or modern Spitfire pilot, including original gauges, dials, and needles. Many of the controls are original and all work exactly as they would in the aircraft – including the spade grip, meaning one is in fact operating a piece of history.
