10:21 pm, October 27, 2010
Ford dealership Stoneacre York has driven a Ford Transit ECOnetic around Britain for one very special sortie.
The Ford dealer drove the Transit on a 650-mile journey for Help the Heroes and the RAF Benevolent Fund to 12 locations associated with the World War II battle – on one tank of fuel.
The crew and their Transit ECOnetic set off from the York dealership last week and visited the Yorkshire Air Museum before heading to the RAF base at Leconfield in North Humberside.
RAF Wittering was next, followed by Coltishall, the Imperial War Museum Duxford, the Essex Battle of Britain station at Debden, Great Baddow – one of the Chain Home radar mast sites – and Biggin Hill.
The Transit then made way for Kent airfields Manston and Kenley, then Tangmere and Woolston. Journey’s end was the Eastleigh Ford Transit plant, near the old Eastleigh Airport, from which the Spitfire made its maiden flight.
Nigel Little project leader Stoneacre, said: ‘Ford’s Southampton Transit plant is the same factory that built the Spitfire.
‘With this being the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the 45th birthday of the Transit, it seemed the perfect time to commemorate those events and also to raise some cash for worthy causes.’
‘We finally arrived at the Transit factory at 13.04 on 21 October after covering 669 miles over two days’ said Nigel. ‘We were met by members of the Pompey Paras, the RAF Benevolent Fund, Transit plant manager, Thomas Fischer, and HR Manager Rob Ardley.
Stoneacre York’s fund raising can be supported via the following links:
www.justgiving.com/StoneacreFordYorkHFH and www.justgiving.com/StoneacreFordYorkRAF
