We are currently looking at the following airports to fly from in 2011:

• Coventry
• Blackpool
• Shoreham

Each Gift of Flight Experience Package includes the following:

• Flight Ticket for either a Pleasure Flight or a Loop the Loop Aerobatic Flight.  These can be redeemed at airfields around the country that relevant aircraft will be flying from.
• "Aircraft of the Classic Flight", the exclusive Classic Flight hardback book (RRP £25) 
• A Voucher for Free Entry for two into our Visitor Centre AIRBASE (RRP £16)
• A Voucher for Half Price Entrance into AIRBASE for One Year

For further information on AIRBASE please click here.

A classic flying experience you'll never forget

...plus a bunch of bonuses to make sure you never will!

Old aeroplanes are living creatures. That's why we hate to see them in museums, posed like sad, stuffed animals. They deserve to fly. We'd like to share the experience with you. Four of our squadron are here for you to fly in. Three of them give you a relaxed, leisurely stroll through the air in an atmosphere of what flying was like before the days of budget airlines. The other is more... stimulating.

If you fly from our AIRBASE living museum here in Coventry, you may well have the chance to fly over historic sites like Kenilworth or Warwick Castle. Wherever your flight takes you, you'll bring back some superb photos of the world below (or above if you're in the Chipmunk!). It's a once-in-a-lifetime present for someone very special to you (which includes yourself of course).

Let us introduce the four historic types that make up the Classic Flight Experience Echelon...

 Glimpsing Future Past in the de Havilland Dove

Looking at the sleek, modern lines of the Dove, you might be surprised to learn that it's a WW2 design. In fact our Dove (strictly speaking it's a Devon, the Dove's military counterpart) was built in 1946, only two years after Tango Mike, our much-loved blue Rapide. Comparing the low-wing, streamlined all-metal Dove with its wood and canvas biplane stablemate, it's easy to imagine that, in the 40s, this was a glimpse of the future. The cabin's comfortable, and the wide picture windows are a surprise to those of us who're used to the tiny, cloudy portholes that characterise modern airliners. You'll appreciate this when you're taking the photographs that'll keep this precious memory fresh. The cabin floor is level, thanks to the modern tricylcle undercarriage, but getting into the forward seats does require a certain amount of bodily flexibility as there's a big step over the main wing spar that runs right through the passenger cabin - ah the delights of vintage flight!

Refined Cruising in the de Havilland Dragon Rapide

There are three Rapides in our squadron. This was the aircraft that brought safe, comfortable passenger flying to the British Empire. The first thing to strike you as you approach them is the 1930s elegance of these graceful biplanes. Their nose-high stance has a poise that reminds you irresistably of ladies in white scoop-brimmed hats and men clutching at their trilbies in the prop-wash. Inside is pure art-deco, with comfortable individual seats and huge picture windows that give you a breathtaking view of the countryside sliding sedately by. Rapide flying is a civilised, refined experience, and the view over those slim wings is magnificent.

Lazy Hedgehopping in the Percival Prentice

The Prentice is a gloriously eccentric aircraft. Originally designed for a much more powerful engine, a contract cancellation caused Percival to resort to the proven Gipsy Queen engine. 250hp in a six-seater aeroplane makes for, er, somewhat relaxed performance. There's a standing joke that she doesn't so much take off as taxi as fast as possible and wait for the earth to curve away. She's no rocket ship, but that lazy performance makes her the perfect companion for vintage cruising. The cockpit's big enough for a small birthday party (Passengers should refrain from dancing during flight, as the pilot has to keep adjusting the trim!), and the perspex canopy makes you feel as though you're in a WW2 warbird. You can chat with the pilot and watch the world slip by below you at bicycle pace. Life doesn't get much better than this.

The World Turned Upside-Down in the de Havilland Chipmunk

Ask almost any pilot with a taste for vintage aviation what aircraft they'd choose for their dream hangar, and you'll find the Chippy right up there at the top. This was the RAF trainer that introduced thousands of fliers to aerobatics, and it quickly became a serious competition mount. Climb in and you'll start to understand the magic. You're cocooned in a fully glazed cockpit, strapped tightly by a full harness. Up ahead the nose tapers away to the sky. You could easily be sitting in a Spitfire, getting ready to take your chance in the Battle of Britain.  

A flight in the Chipmunk gives you the chance to feel the thrill of aerobatic flying. Looping in it is a greater blast than anything you'll find at Disney or Alton Towers.

So is it a white-knuckle experience? Actually no, as you'll see from the account below, it's not terrifying at all, just a gigantic thrill.

OK, so was this a good idea? I'm strapped into the rear cockpit of a sixty year old aeroplane. There's a smell of engine oil, fabric, and something else. Maybe it's the smell of history. We've been airborne for a little while now, and the pilot's just asked me if I'm ready for a loop. Good question, am I? "Yeah, let's go for it."

It all begins with a steep dive to build up speed, then I start to sink into my seat as the nose comes up. A huge hand is pressing my head into my shoulders; I'm putting on weight faster than John Prescott at a Roman Emperor's inauguration party. Later on I'll learn that we were pulling around 3g. Red Bull racers pull four times that. I'm humbled. Lifting my chin off my chest I look to the side to see that we're already almost vertical. The horizon rotates more and something rather surprising happens: I'm getting lighter. Much lighter. I risk a look straight up, and there, above me, is Coventry Airport. I'm suspended upside down above the world's largest Google Map.

But we're still moving. The nose comes over and we're in an inverted dive. Another look to the side shows the horizon returning to its position. The sky's back where it should be and - whoa! The weight's coming on again and we're climbing skywards. This time the pilot lets our speed decay. In a few seconds we seem to be hanging motionless from the prop, then a wing falls away and we dive again from the stall turn. So, was it a scary experience?  As someone who refuses any fairground ride that rises above five feet, I'll confess that my "Yeah Let's go for it" came out slightly croaky.  But once it all began it was another world. 

 Now I just want to do it again.

And Again.

Click here to see the Experiences we Offer