Of all the last-minute cancellations caused by the ghastly coronavirus, one of the saddest is the great national gathering which we should all have been enjoying a week next Friday.
May 8, 1945 – Victory in Europe Day – will always be one of the great milestones in our national story.
Ahead of the 75th anniversary, the Government had declared a special Bank Holiday in order to recreate that VE Day excitement with a series of major gatherings, including a service with the Queen at Westminster Abbey, march-pasts down the Mall and the Daily Mail’s spectacular finale at the Royal Albert Hall.
This was, after all, going to be the last major anniversary involving significant numbers of veterans. But not any more.
Ahead of the 75th anniversary, the Government had declared a special Bank Holiday in order to recreate that VE Day excitement with a series of major gatherings. Pictured: The Super Marine Spitfire EP120 MK V
Those who should have enjoyed star billing must, instead, withdraw from the stage altogether – for their own good, of course.
We will all celebrate in our homes, particularly when it comes to 9pm and the Daily Mail’s national We’ll Meet Again singalong with Dame Vera Lynn and BBC1.
But coronavirus rules mean that those who actually went through the war will be denied the applause of a grateful nation. Or will they?
Because the Daily Mail is pleased and proud to announce one exemption to the national lockdown on their behalf.
In short, if the wartime generation cannot take the salute, then the salute is jolly well going to come to the wartime generation. And what better way for us to say thank you than to send them the ultimate tribute – a Spitfire?
Come May 8, we will be sending the best-loved symbol of dogged wartime resilience across a great swathe of this country. The idea is to lift the spirits of all but, in particular, to pay tribute to the heroes of 75 years ago – and of today.
Our Spitfire will be honouring the veterans – including, of course, the great Captain Tom Moore as he walks the walk in his Bedfordshire garden. But it is our intention, too, to honour the frontline warriors in the fight against coronavirus.
Yes, this is VE Day 75 but we hope to make a very noisy and spectacular fuss of all those working all hours to keep our National Health Service and our care sector safe and sound.
So, at least one lucky hospital and one selected care home (we are open to suggestions) will enjoy the privilege of their very own flypast during VE Day. The route of our Salute The Heroes flight – which is being drawn up with Civil Aviation Authority (and its rulebook) – will also incorporate the Kentish epicentre of the Battle of Britain.
The gathering include a service with the Queen at Westminster Abbey, march-pasts down the Mall and the Daily Mail’s spectacular finale at the Royal Albert Hall. Pictured: VE Day Trafalgar Square 1945
There will be no need to gather in groups.
If people hear the roar of a Merlin engine, they can simply stand in a garden or car park or throw open a window, as they already do every Thursday night to applaud the NHS.
Overhead, they will see Spitfire MkIX SM520 (G-ILDA), built in 1944 at Castle Bromwich, which years later became a two-seater.
Owned by the Goodwood-based Boultbee Flight Academy, it has since been flown by, among others, two DFC-winning Battle of Britain pilots, Geoffrey Wellum and Tom Neil (both of whom passed away in 2018). Come VE Day, G-ILDA will be flown by Boultbee’s chief pilot Matt Jones, 46, a member of the team who last year were the first to fly a Spitfire round the world.
‘There really is no greater privilege I can think of than having the chance to honour our greatest generation on VE Day with a flypast,’ said Matt last night.
He is working on his flight plan. It is hoped that, as he flies across Kent, it might include the home of George Batts MBE.
As readers of this paper will recall, Mr Batts, 94, has been a driving force behind the Normandy Memorial Trust and the victorious campaign to build the first national memorial to the 22,442 British men and women who died there in 1944.
Work was due to finish in time for a grand opening this summer, but that is now off.
It has been a bleak few weeks for Mr Batts, a D-Day veteran who came ashore on Gold Beach and spent five days clearing landmines before fighting his way across Europe.
He is isolating on his own at home, where he is being supported by ‘lovely’ neighbours. But his computer is on the blink and he misses his Cheshire-based family.
We will all celebrate in our homes, particularly when it comes to 9pm and the Daily Mail’s national We’ll Meet Again singalong with Dame Vera Lynn and BBC1. Pictured: Children wave the British flag in 1945
So the sight and sound of a Spitfire would cheer him up enormously. ‘I’d be so thrilled to see it,’ he tells me, adding that his own memories of VE Day are mixed.
‘Everyone was partying like hell but I was at home on leave and two days later I was on a troopship to the Far East. We were supposed to invade Malaya and we didn’t feel much like a party.’
It is a reminder of the mix of memories VE Day still conjures up. That is why it is so important we mark it as properly as restrictions allow.
All general UK aviation is on hold. Countless air displays which should be filling the summer skies have been cancelled – including those scheduled for VE Day.
Only the RAF is free to move around, hence they will delivering an aerial birthday tribute to Captain Tom on Thursday as he turns 100 and opens his cards from the Queen and a million others.
However, at the outset of this crisis we sought a special exemption for VE Day. General aviation may not be ‘essential’ but a flypast on VE Day most certainly is.
The Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, has agreed. ‘Victory in Europe Day will always be a landmark in British history,’ he said last night.
‘We must all follow the current health advice. However, I have been delighted to authorise a one-off exemption for the Daily Mail’s Salute The Heroes flight.
‘The Spitfire has come to symbolise our fight for freedom and it seems an entirely fitting way of honouring all those who played their part.’