Restored Silver Spitfire takes off on round-the-world trip

Two pilots have begun a challenge to fly a newly restored Spitfire around the world.

The pilots took off from Goodwood aerodrome in West Sussex - the home of the first school for Spitfire pilots - on Monday.

They will stop off at 100 locations in 30 countries during the five-month, 27,000-mile journey.

The route goes via Scotland, then westbound to the US, Canada, Japan, Russia and India and back to Britain.

The project, named Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight, is the first such trip of its kind.

Matt Jones, 45, from Exeter, Devon and Steve Brooks, 58, from Burford, Oxfordshire, are flying a single-seater Mk IX Spitfire, which was originally built in 1943 in Castle Bromwich, West Midlands.

They hope the trip will "showcase" an aircraft which changed the course of history and "reunite the Spitfire with the many countries that owe their freedom, at least in part, to this iconic aircraft".

When not at the controls the other pilot will be in a chase plane following the Spitfire.

The two aviation enthusiasts travel to Scotland, then Iceland, Greenland, Canada, the United States, Russia and Asia.

Mr Jones said; "I'm a bit nervous but excited to get going.

"The weather is going to be the biggest part of it but also getting fuel to the right places, Avgas is very common here and in the US, but in other countries we are having it supplied for us."

A chase plane will have a full-time captain, an engineer, as well as a camera crew to film the journey for a documentary.

Mr Brooks said: "It has taken us two-and-a-half years and the time has come to stop making excuses and to get going.

"The longest flight will be Hong Kong to Vietnam which is 500 miles.

"The Spitfire was built as an interceptor which had a range of 300 miles, so the question now is can we nurse it around."