The next leg of my journey was to take me east through Dumfries and Galloway, through Cumbria and Northumberland to the Northeast of England.
My first stop was the tiny Dumfries Aviation Museum. This little museum is run by very enthusiastic volunteers. It is the home of the Loch Doon Spitfire. This Spitfire Mk2 saw action in the Battle of Britain and was later transferred to a Czech training squadron in Scotland. One of the trainee pilots crashed the Spitfire into Loch Doon. In 1976 a group of amateur enthusiasts decided they wanted to try and recover the spitfire. It wasn't until 1982 that the wreckage was found. The wings were never recovered, so they had fibreglass wings made to allow the spitfire to be suitably displayed
Other aircraft at the museum include Gannet AEW3 XL497, Meteor T7 WL375, Hunter F4 WT746, A French Air Force Mystere IV 318 and a Belgian Air Force Lockheed T-33 FT-36
Once across the Pennines, I called in to the North East Land, Sea and Air Museum at Sunderland. This museum has a varied collection of 35 aircraft. Some are displayed inside including a Gill Air SD330 G-OGIL, Sea Harrier FS2ZD582, Argentinian Air Force Pucara A-522, Royal Danish Air Force Hunter
F51 E-419, two F-86 Sabres, USAF 51-6171 and Greek Air Force 26541, and a Lightning F53 XS933
Outside were Vulcan B2 XL319, Canberra TT18 WJ639 and Hunter F6A XE6202
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