There was only ever going to be one winner. The Supermarine Spitfire Mk1 returning to the skies over Bicester, landing on the very same grass airfield the ’plane used to use and taxiing into the same hangar that sheltered them 80 years ago is the 2025 Moment of the Year, as voted for by you.
The reason for its appearance at the Scramble in April was two-fold. At one end of Hangar 113 was a gathering of military machinery like that from nigh-on exactly 60 years prior. May 1965 featured what would be the final Royal visit to RAF Bicester, and the station assembled vehicles from its history for the day – including Spitfires.
At the Scramble at the restored former RAF Bicester, the Spitfire owned and operated by the Aircraft Restoration Company (ARCo) at Duxford was joined in Hangar 113 by a Willys Jeep or two, a Series Land Rover with a secretive RAF past, a tank carrier, a David Brown tug emblazoned with RAF colours and more. Queen Elizabeth’s final Bentley even represented the late monarch.
The second excuse for the Spitfire’s spectacular appearance was more recent.
Simon Lane, formerly Q at Aston Martin’s specials department, gathered as many ‘Wings Series’ Astons as he could muster to celebrate a decade since the idea of aircraft-inspired editions bore fruit.
One such series was built with the Duxford team fully involved, and even included bits of Spitfire. Eight Spitfire 80 Editions were built in 2016 to honour 80 years since the plane’s first flight and, remarkably, seven of the Vantages joined the plane in Hangar 113.
The DBS Superleggera Concorde Edition, Reds Arrows Vanquish S and Blades Aerobatic Team Vantage S helped pack out the rest of the space.
ARCo’s John Romain said before Flywheel in 2023, when he flew the Bristol Blenheim back to its spiritual home, that: “The lovely thing about Bicester is that the hangars in all the photos are still there. You really get a feel for what it would have been like as an operational base.
“It’s fantastic.”
A feeling clearly shared by those of us on the ground, looking up as it flies in.
The Spitfire landing into the Scramble was voted as the Moment of the Year.
