That the Supermarine Spitfire has become the stuff of legend is without doubt, from a historical perspective it ticks all the boxes. The right aircraft at the right time and most importantly, with the right people. The R.A.F. aircrew who were prepared to step up to the line – “the few” without whom there could be no Legend of the Spitfire, no Legend of The Battle of Britain and possibly no free Europe.

The few are recognised as the aircrew, they couldn’t have funtioned as effectively without the many supporting them. They were a generation of British, probably beyond compare – who gave more than anyone had a right to ask of them.

The Legend that was Britains defensive shield, forged in the blood and grit of less than 3000 young men from sixteen different nations flying many aircraft types, has over the years been focused on the Spitfire – yet there was so much more than just the aeroplane.

Although we tend to equate the Legend with the Spitfire there were a great many other contributions to the victory in the Battle of Britain, the people, the technology, the aircraft and so many other things. When the then Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave the speech mentioning the few, it was done knowing that what he could say was limited for security reasons.

There was no way he could mention radar or the situation rooms or probably a hundred other things that contributed to the victory, but he could mention the aircrews. With an average age of 20, they blunted the tip of the Luftwaffe spear – the aircrews of the Luftwaffe who were not so different from their counterparts in the R.A.F.

A quick trip to EGPF today, to drop off passengers for the Stanstead flight. A trip to London for them, For me a round trip to the Airport, however there was the operchancity to test out the all new Campsie Kitchen. A good cup of Coffee and an excellent “Roll n Sausage with Brown Sauce”, all for the princly sum of £2.50 – about a quid less than a cup of Coffee from any of the better known chains.

I’d rate the Campsie Kitchen as being up there, it’s the preferred nosh stop at the airport – need to check the opening hours and if the aircraft are in tune time visits accordingly.

I’m obviously not the only one that thinks it’s up there, they’ve had a complete makeover – new everything except the smilley attitude which didn’t need a change.

What else is new, well reading a book on the cold war spy flights – courtesy of Mr. Craig – a jolly interesting read it is too. This was sparked by finding a picture of RAF B-45’s, the same picture is actually in the book.

What’s happening at EGPK, not a lot at the moment – also the weather is crap for standing on the mound at the moment. An other update when I get the chance!

Well it was down to the mound at Prestwick today, just for a couple of hours for the last two A-29B’s on delivery to the Nigerian Air Force. The two that had been held up in Iceland, presumably as the Pink Panther was lying down – he was the one that had been sick and delayed the flight to Prestwick.

 There were probably close to a hundred spotters there when I arrived, nice to see that people will still make the effort for something different. Other stuff that was there was a couple of broken C-17’s, a Ryanair P7 and a 1/2, Cargolux lump and a Cessna Caravan II – along with the usual bits of wood.

After the A-29B’s arrived, there was an exodus of spotters, which was a good clue that the Splash ‘N’ Dash had turned into a nightstop. So after a quick chat with some of the other spotters, time for heading home.

What rumours from the mound, well it seems that there is to be a Boeing facility at Glasgow – more on that after I have a hunt for some info. There are to be two Squadrons of F-35’s at Lakenheath, this isn’t really news – but the information that the Squadrons will comprise 27 aircraft each is interesting.

Don’t know if this indicates that the F-35 is a hanger queen, or that the new size of the squadrons will be carried through to the others that will surely follow.

Yesterday I was told a French Air Force CN-235 ‘141’ went into Ashaig, this is pretty unusual and I’m kind of intregued as to why it landed. There have been quite a few military movements over the years that I lived on Skye, but this was the biggest military visitor that actually landed that I’m aware of.

There have been the odd C-130 touch and goes, but none actually put down as far as I’m aware. There have also been a couple of Hawks visited in the past couple of months, I’m pretty sure that these weren’t connected to Joint Warrior unless someone was scoping out where to get some lunch during the exercise. Although that pleasure usually falls to the Plockton Hotel, where the Merlins are operating out of Plockton International.

It’s more likely that you’ll see the odd light civil stuff at Ashaig, well upto the size of a Beech 350i – than anything military.

I’ll have to have a little dig around on this and see if they local grape vine throws anything up, but that’s the way that spotting is – someone probably saw it if they were out walking their dog on the airfield.