Restored World Warfare II Spitfire begins round-the-world journey

A restored World Warfare II Spitfire has taken off from an English aerodrome on the primary leg of a deliberate 27,000-mile (43,000-kilometer) journey across the globe.

Pilots Steve Brooks and Matt Jones hope to circle the world in about 4 months with stops in 30 nations. They may take turns flying the single-seat Mk IX Spitfire, initially in-built 1943, whereas the opposite follows in a chase airplane.

Brooks stated Monday that his greatest fear is the climate, including that “touchdown is all the time the difficult half.” The airplane’s first cease can be Scotland, earlier than it heads west to Iceland, Greenland and North America.

The light-weight fighter airplane helped defeat the German air power within the Battle of Britain and the Spitfire has turn out to be an icon of World Warfare II.