victory in the battle of britain was by no means certain, and depended on the skills and bravery of young raf pilots from britain and her allies. there they were flying the latest generation of fighter planes, the legendary spitfires and hurricanes. a key feature of these fighters was the way they were armed. the new planes were initially designed to carry four machine guns, but in the run up to war, or that would change. earlier this year i was lucky enough to find out what it was like to fly in one of these iconic planes. there we go. snug, isn t it? amazing!
the plane preparing to get up in the airfor the plane preparing to get up in the air for this fly past. rather marvellous. we expect the flyover to be around 25, 26 minutes past eight. at the imperial war museum it‘s been interesting, actually it‘s going to be reopening on the 1st of august, you can see these marvellous aeroplanes. that‘s where matt taylor is this morning. commemorating the battle of britain this summer, a new hangar at duxford. that‘s where the aircraft are stored. rather lovely there. you saw the brolly taken away there, we we re saw the brolly taken away there, we were closing in. someone holding an umbrella just above the pilot, his name is john,
why we are here is their curator from the imperial war museum adrian. tell us what duxford is so important when it comes to the battle of britain. it was an raf fighter base during the battle, also a station, it had an operations room that controlled the aircraft in the area. directed towards the enemy. several squadrons operated from duxford during the battle, particularly from september, they were quite heavily involved in the fighting over london and the south east. there is a lot of heritage here. it s been a tough time for everyone. you have closed as well but thankfully, with the commemorations, you re set to reopen. org is the first, we will be reopening with social distancing measures in place august the 1st. and in september, we will reopen our new battle of britain exhibition, we will have the operations block,
look at that scene. it could not be more perfect? yeah, i m very lucky indeed to be stood here. these are three of the planes from the battle of britain memorial flight. the spitfire at the end is the one that is going to be flying down to captain tom more s house. the one in the middle sadly not going. that is the middle sadly not going. that is the last remaining spitfire which took part in the battle of britain. then you have got the glorious hurricane next to me. that is piloted by mark, whojoins me now. what is it like to be taking part in this fly past of captain tom s house today? it is a huge privilege to be selected. it encapsulates everything we stand for. we are commemorating what he did 75 years ago. we are celebrating right now what he has achieved with his fundraising for the nhs. and inspiring the future for us all to pull together and work
house. they will be taking off in the next half an hour or so. you will see it all on breakfast. we we re will see it all on breakfast. we were listening as they pass tyre macro house. you can watch it all as it happens. pass tom s house. the best place to watch this, we will have the best shot lead to show you on bbc breakfast with the details of the flypast and the reaction from tom. the cabinet will meet this morning to discuss how the coronavirus lockdown measures may eventually be lifted. borisjohnson will lead the daily press conference for the first time since returning to work but he s unlikely to commit to any timings on the relaxation of restrictions. dan johnson reports. it is becoming clear our care homes have endured an undercurrent of coronavirus deaths.