Win a BBMF Spitfire cockpit experience

Header image: A BBMF Spitfire cockpit is waiting for the lucky winner of the RAF Memorial Flight Official Club ballot prize for March. (Photo: Lisa Harding)

This month one lucky member of the RAF Memorial Flight Official Club will win a ‘money cannot buy it’ opportunity to sit in the cockpit of a BBMF Spitfire and experience what it is like.

How to enter the ballot

All current members of the RAF Memorial Flight Club have been automatically entered into this month’s ballot.

If you’re not already a member, please join the Club or renew your membership before 31st April 2024 to be in with a chance of winning the prize. As well as being entered into this month’s prize draw, you’ll also receive a Club membership pack. Members can also claim free aircraft hangar tours at the BBMF Visitor Centre, they will receive our Club magazine, published twice a year, and can register for the monthly e-newsletters with content exclusive to Club members.

Join the RAF Memorial Flight Club

About this month’s prize

The winner will be allowed to climb into the cockpit of one of the BBMF’s airworthy Spitfires and the controls and instrumentation will be explained to them by a pilot who has flown the Flight’s Spitfires. The prize is available on any weekday, by prior arrangement, from June up to the end of September 2024 at the BBMF’s home at RAF Coningsby. Access to the BBMF hangar will be via the BBMF Visitor Centre. Only the prize winner will be able to sit in the cockpit, but the winner may bring up to three guests to take photographs and to share in the experience of a tour in the centre of the BBMF hangar, up close to the aircraft, with an expert guide.

Sitting in the cockpit of a BBMF Spitfire is a rare privilege and a once in a lifetime experience, but some restrictions apply. To make sure you are able to take up this prize and to be fully prepared for your day please note these points:

• Spitfire cockpits are small – please see the measurements above for your information.
• You will be required to empty all your pockets of all items to prevent the possibility of anything dropping into the cockpit and becoming a loose article or foreign object debris hazard.
• You must be physically fit enough to climb a small number of steps, lift your legs into the cockpit and support you full body weight with your arms to lower yourself into the cockpit and lift yourself out again.
• Please wear trousers. Skirts and dresses may be undignified or even restrict or prevent access.
• Please wear flat shoes with a good grip on them, the BBMF cannot allow access to the cockpit with inappropriate footwear.
• You are more than welcome to take pictures once inside the cockpit, but note that smartphones must be in flight/airplane mode. You can also be photographed in the cockpit from outside.
• Please note that bags, including camera bags and handbags, are not allowed in the BBMF hangar.