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FLYING HIGH

Spectacular images show spitfires soaring above White Cliffs of Dover ahead of D-Day 75th anniversary

By Dan Hall
3rd June 2019, 1:30 pm
Updated: 3rd June 2019, 9:51 pm

SPINE-TINGLING pictures show Spitfires taking to the skies over the White Cliffs of Dover once again ahead of the 75th anniversary of D-Day this week.

Flying group Aero Legends were out practising their recreation of the journey made by the iconic fighter planes on June 6, 1944.
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Aero Legends Pilots practice formation flying in their Spitfires over the White Cliffs of Dover ahead of the 75th anniversary of D-Day this week

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The Spitfires, named Elizabeth, St George, and City of Exeter, will all fly from Essex to Normandy, accompanied by a C-47 Douglas Sky Train

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Spitfires played a vital role in Operation Overlord – the code name given to D-Day

The three Spitfires, named Elizabeth, St George and City of Exeter, will set off tomorrow morning from North Weald Airfield in Essex for Cherbourg in Normandy.

They’ll also be accompanied by a 1944 C-47 Douglas Sky Train which actually participated in D-Day.

The veteran aircraft called Drag Em ‘Oot dropped 18 paratroopers of the US 82nd Airborne Division behind the Normandy beach heads.

It even has over 40 bullet holes to prove its D-Day credentials.

HISTORIC ROLE

A total of 55 Spitfire squadrons strafed and bombed Nazi defences on the Normandy coast during Operation Overlord — the largest seaborne invasion in history.

The planes’ mission began the day before the troops arrived in their landing craft on the morning of June 6.

D-Day ultimately proved to be one of the deciding turning points of the whole Second World War.

Between 1938 and 1948, 20,351 Spitfires were built for the war effort, including the Battle of Britain and D-Day.

Today, just 240 are left — and only about 60 of them are airworthy, as the rest are either used in static displays or are being restored.

This week, thousands of people will gather on both sides of the English Channel to commemorate D-Day.

D-DAY REMEMBERED

Hundreds of veterans will take part in the events — including those currently sailing from Dover on board the MV Boudicca to Normandy on a six-day voyage.

Last night, Rod Stewart sang his hit We Are Sailing on board the ship to the assembled soldiers, sailors and airmen.

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And on Wednesday, Donald Trump is expected to travel with Theresa May to commemorate D-Day together.

The pair will head to Southsea Common in Portsmouth for the commemoration events during the American president’s state visit to the UK.

The Queen is also expected to attend the national commemoration event with Trump during his stay.
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The Spitfire ‘St George’ was built at Castle Bromwich in late 1944 and was one of the last ‘high back’ Spitfires

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St George was sold to the South African Air Force in 1948, before being sold for scrap in 1954

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But she was recovered from a scrapyard in 1969 and, after passing through the hands of several owners around the world, St George was bought by Aero Legends in 2011 and was flown again for the first time in December 2013

PA:Press Association
Veterans waving flags from the MV Boudicca as it leaves the port of Dover in Kent, on day one of a trip arranged by the Royal British Legion for D-Day veterans to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day

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D-Day veteran Lewis Banham, aged 96,  greeted by a military policeman as he arrives at a function at Southwick House, which in June 1944 was the headquarters of Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower – the event was taking place before veterans boarded a ship to visit Normandy towns and villages

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Vera Hay, 96, who was a nursing sister in the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service and landed on Gold Beach shortly after D-Day, talks to Lt Colonel Duane Fletcher MBE, as they attend the function at Southwick House
Spitfires fly over the White Cliffs of Dover on for Vera Lynn's 100th birthday

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