Meet the Spitfire pilots

Chief Spitfire Pilot, Dan is a former RAF test pilot who began his operational career on Harriers.

Passing the RAF test pilots school course, he also attended the US Air Force test pilots school, where he flew everything from B52s to F16s. Dan‘s favourite is the Spitfire.

Barry Hughes is a highly-experienced ATPL qualified flying instructor who has flown over 12,500 hours on numerous types of light and piston engined aircraft.

Barry has been instrumental in developing Spitfire passenger flight operations since 2014 . He is a full time pilot here at Biggin Hill flying guests in our fleet of 2 seat Spitfires.

'Cookie' is an experienced instructor and examiner who is also a current Boeing 787 pilot.

He holds UK CAA flight instructor and examiner qualifications and EASA/FAA instructor certificates. Jon was chairman of the Pilot Coaching Scheme for the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) for many years, and is now a Regional Safety Officer (RSO) for GASCo.

In 2020, along with his fellow RSOs, he was awarded The Sword of Honour by the Honourable Company of Air Pilots. In 2010 he was the first FAA instructor in the UK to gain a Master CFI Accreditation from the Master Instructors LLC and was awarded a Bronze Medal by the Royal Aero Club in 2015 and 2019 for outstanding achievement in aviation.
Despite having over 22,000 hours, he usually modestly tells visitors that he's slowly 'getting the hang of it'.

Adam learnt to fly at Age 13 and first went Solo at 16 attaining his PPL at 19.

Gaining his Commercial licence thereafter Adam went on to fly as a Business Jet pilot flying the Learjet 45/75 and Citation Jet 525 Series aircraft. Adam joined us in early 2019 flying the GA8 Airvan on our Fly with a Spitfire Experiences.

In the past he has flown Vintage types like the Cub, Stampe, Bucker Jungmann and the Harvard IIB. With a passion for Vintage Aircraft he has since progressed onto flying our Two Seat Spitfires .

Pete Kynsey learnt to fly at the age of 17, making flying and instructing his career.

He has flown Helicopters, Boeing 737, 757s and 767s, was in the British Aerobatic Team and has flown most types of Allied and German WW2 fighters still airworthy.

With over 25,000 flying hours in his log book 'PK' is usually the go to test pilot for all our newly restored Spitfires.

Anna Walker started flying gliders at the age of 13 and has been a competition aerobatic and display pilot since 1993.

In 1999 she gained her commercial licence and started running her own aerial work business. She is a flying instructor on land and seaplanes, has flown more than 60 types of aircraft and is a current display pilot on the Spitfire, Hurricane and Mustang.

Jez gained his licence in 2005, and went on to fly 757s and 767s commercially.

He has also flown the Tiger Moth, P40 Prentice, DH Devon, Jackeroo, and Harvard before progressing to the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar in 2018, flying two-seat and Single-seater Spitfires. In April 2021 Jez reached the milestone of 500 flying hours on the Spitfire and has now passed 1000 hours.

Joining the team for 2021 'JC' brings a wealth of experience as a pilot, instructor and examiner with a passion for vintage aircraft.

Types flown include Auster, Chipmunk, Proctor and Prentice, twin engine Rapides, Dove, Avro Anson, Pembroke, Twin Pioneer and DC-3, and ex-military jets such as Jet Provost, Vampire, Venom and Gloster Meteor. He has also qualified on the Howard 500, Beech 18, Grumman Widgeon and Albatross, T-6 Harvard and Strikemaster. More recently Jon has been flying commercial business jets including Citation and HondaJet.

Charlie has over 25 years’ experience in aviation.

He has clocked up in excess of 12,000 hours as a commercial pilot, which has included flying the Airbus A320/A321/A330 family at Monarch Airlines, the four engine A340-600 at Virgin Atlantic and more recently as the Captain of a privately-owned Gulfstream jet. He's been part of the Biggin Hill team since 2021.

Michael started flying at a very young age being inspired by his father.

He won his first aerobatic competition aged fourteen and went on to become the youngest person ever to be awarded a CAA Display Authorisation for display flying. He has performed solo and formation displays all over the world, and at the age of twenty three, became the youngest ever British Advanced National Aerobatic Champion.

Michael is equally passionate about vintage aircraft and warbirds, ever since completing his Private Pilots Licence in a Bucker Jungmann. Michael has flown over fifty different aircraft types ranging from gliders to airliners and is a Captain on the Boeing 737.

Andy initially learnt to fly in gliders and gained his private pilots licence at 17.

He progressed to become a professional gliding instructor before qualifying as a commercial pilot on the Airbus A320.

Passionate about historic aviation, he instructs on a number of vintage types teaching tailwheel differences, aerobatics and formation flying. Andy is also an active display pilot.

Steve learnt to fly at Biggin Hill and flew solo at the legal minimum age of 17.

He then became a flying instructor at the age of just 21. He then flew various multi engine aircraft with charter companies and commuter airlines before becoming a corporate jet pilot. He has over 14,000 hours in over 75 different aircraft types including over 1000 hours operating in the Antarctic flying ski equipped twin otters for British Antarctic Survey. When Steve isn't flying our Spitfires he pilots Global 7500 and Boeing 737-800 business jets on worldwide flights. His passion has always been single engine piston aircraft particularly vintage tailwheel and high performance aerobatic aircraft such as Pitts Specials and Extras.

'STEG' is a currently a test pilot for Rolls Royce.

Originally he flew helicopters in the Army Air Corps including seasons leading the Blue Eagles Display Team. 10 years with Thomas Cook flying Boeings followed before a move into corporate aviation and aircraft engineering business.
You'll find Steg (always smiling) heading up our P-51 Mustang flights.

Richard has 20,000 flying hours.

Formally a BA training Captain, he is an instructor and examiner on fixed wing and helicopter aircraft and has flown extensively for the British and Jordanian Royal families. He was appointed a Lieutenant of the Victorian Order by Her Majesty in 2009. Richard now supports the Biggin Hill Spitfire operation in an advisory role.

Mark Flewin CBE is still serving in the RAF, following a fast jet flying career on the Jaguar and latterly Typhoon.

He also displayed both the Hurricane and Spitfire as a pilot on the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Passionate about the heritage of the RAF and still closely engaged with the broader veteran community, Mark has been displaying vintage aircraft since 2018, joining the Biggin Hill 'Fly a Spitfire' team in 2021 in a display capacity.