Wing and a prayer

The legendary fighter was en route from Lincolnshire to a display in North Yorkshire when this stunning image was captured.

It was piloted by Squadron Leader Ian "Shiney" Simmons, a flying instructor at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, who has been flying the Spitfire on weekends as a secondary duty for six years.

The plane is a Mark LF IX E - a low-flying aircraft fitted with a 20mm cannon and half-inch machine gun, although neither was loaded as it flew over York.

Ian said he considered it a great honour to be the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) Spitfire pilot, a role which takes him to air shows and events up and down the country on most summer weekends. Last weekend, he appeared at the Battle of Britain event at Linton-on-Ouse and the Combined Services Memorial Weekend, at the Yorkshire Air Museum, in Elvington.

"The Spitfire is a wonderfully charismatic aircraft and I feel privileged to have been chosen as the BBMF Spitfire pilot," he said.

"The photo over the Minster reminded me of Remembrance Day, when I flew the lone Spitfire over Westminster Abbey."

Evening Press photographer David Harrison got the impressive shot from a Tucano aircraft, flown by Squadron Leader Dick Dyson, deputy chief instructor at Linton-on-Ouse. The pair took off from Linton and circled at 3,000ft near David's home town of Goole, while they waited for the Spitfire so they could fly in formation to York.

David, who was drafted in at the last minute after another photographer fell ill, described the assignment as a "dream job".

"It was my second flight in a Tucano, but the first time I had seen Goole from the air," he said.

"With the warm air, there were a lot of thermals about which made it quite bumpy. The G-forces when we turned also meant the camera could change it's weight quite dramatically.

"Afterwards, they let me sit in the Spitfire. It was just a dream come true."

Click here to view further images of the Spitfire in flight

Updated: 15:15 Wednesday, September 08, 2004