Two British pilots have landed back in the UK after flying around the world in a newly restored Spitfire.
Steve Brooks, 58, from Burford, Oxfordshire, and Matt Jones, 45, from Exeter, Devon, took four months to circumnavigate the globe in the first trip of its kind in a Spitfire, which involved stopping off at 100 locations in 30 countries.
The project, called Silver Spitfire – The Longest Flight, started and finished at Goodwood Aerodrome, the base of Boultbee Flight Academy, the first-ever school for Spitfire pilots, in West Sussex.
The Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX today returned to the UK having completed a 27,000-mile around-the-world trip. Here it is photographed on approach to Goodwood Airport in West Sussex
British pilots Matt Jones (left) and Steve Brooks, stand in front of the IWC MK IX Silver Spitfire following their return to Goodwood Aerodrome, after successfully circumnavigating the globe in the newly-restored Spitfire
British pilot Matt Jones pictured right is greeted by his partner Nikkolay James, left, with their nine week-old baby, Arthur, upon returning to Goodwood Aerodrome, after successfully circumnavigating the globe in the newly-restored Spitfire
The historic fighter was escorted for the final part of its journey by two RAF Red Arrows jets as it approached Goodwood
The Red Arrows, pictured, are normally in Cyprus from October to December where they conduct winter training
A mission dubbed ‘The Longest Flight’ flies the newly restored original MK IX Spitfire, called Silver Spitfire, around the world
After stepping out of the plane, Jones hugged his partner and their newborn son Arthur. The former banker had to dash home for the birth from Russia during the circumnavigation. Steve Boultbee Brooks and Matt Jones (pictured with his wife and child) make aviation history after completing the first ever round-the-world flight in a Spitfire. Boultbee Brooks and Jones are pictured landing just in time for Christmas to a rapturous welcome at Goodwood airport in West Sussex, some four months after they set off on their epic expedition
Over the last two years, engineers and enthusiasts got together to restore rather than replace original parts of the Silver Spitfire
Pilots Matt Jones and Steve Brooks (centre, left to right) with their team in front of the Silver Spitfire at Goodwood Aerodrome
Silver Spitfire Pilot Matt Jones returns home after spending 3 months flying the Silver Spitfire around the world at Goodwood Aerodrome. He was flanked by two Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force aerobatics display team, trailing white smoke as it approached Goodwood, near the south coast of England
Those on the ground at Goodwood were treated to a victory roll as the Packard Merlin 27-litre V12 engine roared overhead
Silver Spitfire Pilot Matt Jones returns home after spending three months flying the Silver Spitfire around the world at Goodwood Aerodrome
The spitfire was flanked by two Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force aerobatics display team, trailing white smoke as it approached Goodwood, near the south coast of England. Jones did a roll and a few flypasts for the onlookers before touching down
British aviators Matt Jones, 46, and Steve Brooks, 58, took turns at the controls over 74 legs. Jones flew the final one-hour, 57-minute journey from Lelystad in the Netherlands back to the Silver Spitfire’s home hangar. After stepping out of the plane, Jones hugged his partner and their newborn son Arthur (left and right). The former banker had to dash home for the birth from Russia during the circumnavigation
The IWC MK IX Silver Spitfire flanked by two RAF Red Arrows, arrives at Goodwood Aerodrome after British pilots Steve Brooks and Matt Jones successfully circumnavigated the globe in the newly-restored Spitfire
A glitzy event was held for the departure in August attended by celebrities including Gone Girl actor Rosamund Pike, Rocketman star Taron Egerton and former Formula One driver David Coulthard.
Mr Coulthard said ahead of the arrival: ‘Seeing you off was very emotional and it’s fantastic to know it’s been a great, successful trip.’
The journey in a single-seater Mk IX Spitfire originally built in 1943, followed by a chase plane for safety, followed a route to Scotland, then westbound across the US, Canada, Japan, Russia, India, Europe and back to Britain.
The Silver Spitfire is painted silver to avoid appearing ‘provocative’.
Over the last two years, engineers and enthusiasts got together to restore rather than replace original parts.
Modern pieces of technology have been added to the fighter, including iPads, with a small support team at hand to follow the plane.
The restored 76-year-old plane, which flew in World War II, visited 24 countries on its epic journey westwards around the world, clocking up more than 23,300 miles (37,500 kilometres).
The aircraft has been de-militarised, stripped of its guns and paintwork, revealing the shining, silvery aluminium underneath.
British aviators Matt Jones, 46, and Steve Brooks, 58, took turns at the controls over 74 legs.
Jones flew the final one-hour, 57-minute journey from Lelystad in the Netherlands back to the Silver Spitfire’s home hangar.
The fighter, registration code G-IRTY, did a loop around the White Cliffs of Dover landmark as it reached the English coastline.
It was flanked by two Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force aerobatics display team, trailing white smoke as it approached Goodwood, near the south coast of England.
Jones did a roll and a few flypasts for the onlookers before touching down.
After stepping out of the plane, Jones hugged his partner and their newborn son Arthur. The former banker had to dash home for the birth from Russia during the circumnavigation.
But the journey was not completely plain sailing.
Mr Brooks and Mr Jones were left high and dry in the Russian town of Sokoi in September due to a delay in paying their handlers on the ground.
The so-called Longest Flight expedition saw the plane fly over the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Pyramids in Egypt.
The Silver Spitfire traversed the Atlantic Ocean via the Faroe Islands and Reykjavik, crossing Greenland before flying south over the remote wilds of northern Canada.
In the United States it spent two days on a ranch in Texas after the temperature gauge failed mid-flight, and went to Las Vegas and Santa Monica before visiting tycoon Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceflight project in the Mojave Desert.
After flights around the north Pacific Rim through Canada, Alaska and Russia, the Silver Spitfire hunkered down in Japan during recent typhoons.
It then flew on to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and India, bypassing New Delhi because of visibility-reducing pollution.
After stops in Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, the longest leg was 830 miles across the Saudi Arabian desert, in a three-and-a-half-hour flight from Kuwait to Aqaba in Jordan.
It then returned to Britain via Egypt, Greece, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.
Despite flying across the world, the 1943 aircraft still looks stunning with her polished bare aluminium fuselage
Mr Jones, pictured with his partner Nikkolay James and their nine-week-old son Arthur, left Goodwood in August before making 100 stops in 30 different countries
The Mk.IX Spitfire flew on 51 combat missions, escorting bombers, conducting fighter sweeps over France and dive-bombing targets on the French coast. It was in storage in a Dutch museum before its restoration began in 2017. All 80,000 rivets and parts were dismantled, checked, cleaned and restored over two years. Having stripped the paint off, they decided to leave the gleaming original aluminium panels on show – something never done before
The aircraft, pictured on a ferry flight in 1944, was built in Castle Bromwich and completed 51 combat missions
The fighter, registration code G-IRTY, did a loop around the White Cliffs of Dover landmark as it reached the English coastline. It was flanked by two Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force aerobatics display team, trailing white smoke as it approached Goodwood, near the south coast of England (pictured, pilot Matt Jones with his wife and child)
Steve Brooks and Matt Jones in front of the Silver Spitfire at Goodwood Aerodrome. The aircraft, duel flown by Matt Jones and Steve Brooks has been circumnavigating the globe since August this year
Mr Jones checked on the historic warbird after shutting her down following the epic around-the-world adventure
Matt Jones, left, and Steve Brooks, right, completed the epic around-the-world flight which included 30 countries
The aircraft underwent a dramatic two-year nut and bolt restoration which included stripping off the Spitfire’s paint and leaving it with a stunning polished aluminium finish
The around-the-world trip took four months to complete and involved crossing 30 countries
Of around 20,000 Spitfires built (pictured), fewer than 250 survive, with only 50 or so of those still airworthy. They rarely fly and are mostly based in Britain. A design classic with elliptical wings, the outline of a Spitfire is instantly recognisable
British aviators Matt Jones, 46, and Steve Brooks, 58, took turns at the controls over 74 legs. Jones (pictured) flew the final one-hour, 57-minute journey from Lelystad in the Netherlands back to the Silver Spitfire’s home hangar
The restored 76-year-old plane (pictured, pilots Matt Jones and Steve Brooks), which flew in World War II, visited 24 countries on its epic journey westwards around the world, clocking up more than 23,300 miles (37,500 kilometres)
Of around 20,000 Spitfires built, fewer than 250 survive, with only 50 or so of those still airworthy. They rarely fly and are mostly based in Britain.
A design classic with elliptical wings, the outline of a Spitfire is instantly recognisable.
The agile, short-range interceptors were crucial in the 1940 Battle of Britain as the UK held off the threat of an invasion by Nazi Germany.
G-IRTY, original registration MJ271, was built in Britain in 1943 by Vickers Supermarine.
The Mk.IX Spitfire flew on 51 combat missions, escorting bombers, conducting fighter sweeps over France and dive-bombing targets on the French coast.
It was in storage in a Dutch museum before its restoration began in 2017.
All 80,000 rivets and parts were dismantled, checked, cleaned and restored over two years.
Having stripped the paint off, they decided to leave the gleaming original aluminium panels on show – something never done before.