Spitfire to fly over Suffolk and Essex Hospitals to thank NHS

Katy Sandalls

Published: 8:03 AM July 10, 2020

Updated: 6:51 PM October 11, 2020

The special Thank U NHS Spitfire flying over Braintree at 10am this morning. Picture: JAYNE KIRKBY - Credit: JAYNE KIRKBY

A spitfire is to fly over our local hospitals this afternoon to say thank you to NHS heroes.

The special Thank U NHS Duxford Spitfire flying over the region to mark the 72nd birthday of the NHS. Picture: Vincent Hopper - Credit: Archant

The blue Spitfire PL983 ‘L’, a photo reconnaissance plane, will be flying across Suffolk and Essex on Friday afternoon.

The plane, looked after by The Aircraft Restoration Company, is being flown across the country to mark the work of NHS staff during the pandemic and bears the words ‘Thank You NHS’ on it’s underside.

On Friday the Spitfire will be taking two flights; one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

While the morning will cover hospitals in south Essex, Hertfordshire and Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge, the afternoon flight will see the Spitfire take to the skies of Norfolk, Suffolk and north Essex.

Unlike this spitfire, the one flying over Suffolk today is blue Picture: JOHN YAXLEY/ NEWZULU.COM - Credit: John Yaxley

The timings for our local hospitals are as follows:

• 16.00 - RAF Lakenheath Hospital

The Spitfire will be flying over Ipswich Hospital today Picture: SARAH LUCY BROWN - Credit: Archant

• 16.06 - West Suffolk Hospital

• 16.15 - Ipswich Hospital

• 16.20 - Colchester Hospital

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It all began with a thank you. Saying and receiving a thank you is one of the simplest pleasures enjoyed by humankind, it takes the smallest of efforts but can carry the vastest meaning. Over lockdown we begun thinking of ways that we could say thank you to the people who have supported us whilst providing the opportunity for others to join in too... this is what we've come up with… Over the course of the next few months (5th July - 20th September 2020) we are going to be hand writing 80,000 names onto our photo-reconnaissance blue Spitfire PL983 'L'. We need your help though, as the names we would like to add are those of your loved ones! Whether it's a member of your family, close friend or supportive neighbour who was there for you when you needed it most. You can say a special thank you to them by nominating their name for inclusion in the 80,000 names we are going to hand write all over the Spitfire. Each name nominated will also help us together as a nation say thank you to the NHS by contributing to the NHS Charities Together charity. To nominate a name you simply need to visit our JustGiving page and donate a minimum of £10 along with the name of the person and the reason for the nomination in the donation comment (instructions for donations included in JustGiving page story). We will be adding the names throughout the Summer and sharing updates via our social media pages as the blue outer-surface of the Spitfire slowly begins to be covered in the names of your loved ones! A modern day Spitfire fund, with a twist, set up to support the incredible people within our NHS. To get this NHS project off the ground, we will be flying around our local area today during the 5pm @togethercoalition #clapforourcarers ... you can see the route for today's flight in our stories #nhsspitfire #thankyounhs #nhsheroes #nhsbirthday #nhs72 #thankyoutogether #engineeredtoinspire ... taken on # by @georgelewisromain .

A post shared by The Aircraft Restoration Co (@aircraftrestorationcompany) on Jul 5, 2020 at 3:45am PDT

All route timings are estimates and could change during the flight.

The flypast is part of a wider project by the Aircraft Restoration Company who will be hand writing 80,000 names onto the plane in the next few months. They are hoping that people will nominate their local heroes who have helped them through the pandemic for the special honour.