City to mark worst night of Blitz in Yorkshire with Spitfire flight

To mark the worst two nights of the Blitz, an RAF wartime Spitfire will fly over west Hull on Saturday, May 7 at 2.20pm.

It has been organised by the Heroes of Hull website, run by historian Alan Brigham, and is one of a number of events organised to commemorate raids which left 420 people dead and 350 others seriously injured.

The 20-minute flight starts over Rokeby Park, the site of the most westerly landmine to fall on housing within the city boundaries.

Mr Brigham said: “It will then fly over towards Anlaby Road, where it will circle the Carnegie Heritage Centre, where we are holding an exhibition on the Saturday and Sunday. From there it will fly over old Hull FC ground down onto Hessle Road and into town where it will fly along Ferensway before heading for Queen Victoria Square where the Prudential Tower was destroyed.

“It will then fly across Queens Gardens, along Holderness Road, past some of the worst bombing. It flies over the old RAF Sutton-on-Hull barrage balloon centre and onto north Hull, before heading back to the Carnegie, overflying the memorial to the civilian war dead in Northern Cemetery.”

Although the devastation wreaked on cities like London and Coventry seeped into the national psyche, attacks on Hull drew scant attention as it was often referred to as a “north-east town” in reports.

Perceptions are, however, changing. Some historians even calculate now that per head of population, more bombs fell on Hull than London.