Dogfight over Kent - at the War and Peace Show

For the first time since the Second World War a Spitfire and a Messerschmitt will battle for supremacy in the skies over Kent.

The historic aircraft will stage a showpiece battle at the War and Peace Show at The Hop Farm, Beltring, on July 25.

Using ground level pyrotechnics the German aircraft will shoot up the showground. Spitfire TA805 – the Spirit of Kent – will then roar out of the blue to attack the Messerschmitt, engaging in a fierce dogfight.

Eventually the enemy plane will be driven off, smoke pouring from its engine.

“The mock battle will revive memories for many of the older people in Kent, some of whom will have seen this kind of encounter carried out in deadly earnest during the Battle of Britain,” said Rex Cadman, organiser of the War and Peace Show.

“However in those days it could have well ended with one or other of the aircraft crashing in flames.

“The dogfight will give younger people an idea of how these battles were fought.”

Owned and restored by aircraft enthusiast Peter Monk, the Spitfire ties in with this year’s War and Peace theme marking the 65th anniversary of the Normandy invasion and Operation Market Garden.

It’s a Mark-9 version, similar to that which shot down the first enemy aircraft over Normandy on D-Day.

The Messerschmitt is the 108 version, not strictly a fighter, but developed as a sport plane and later used for liaison and communications work.

“It looks the same and will be painted in Luftwaffe colours,” said Paul Campbell, spokesman for The Kent Spitfire organisation, which is staging the show.

“You would never get the Messerschmitt 109 fighter version these days. There are only two still flying and one of those is in Canada.”

The Spitfire is flown by pilot Clive Denney, from Colchester in Essex, who said: "We are delighted to be able to bring the dogfight display to the War and Peace show this year.

“It is most appropriate that we will be recreating an aerial battle in the skies of Kent, the scene of so much action in World War Two."

More information on the War and Peace Show website

 

Clive Denney pilots The Spirit of Kent		ME108