Telegraph columnist and Blur bassist Alex James fulfills a lifelong dream flying a Spitfire.

Alex was given the chance to join the Boultbee Academy, a Goodwood based flying school that compresses as much as possible of what actual trainee spitfire pilots learned, into a twoday course.

Teaching begins, just as it did in the Thirties and Forties with a Tiger Moth, progressing to a more powerful Harvard before moving on to the Spitfire on day two.

"Probably all men dream of being a pilot at some time or another and all pilots want to fly a Spitfire," said Alex. "And it is one of those rare things that is even better than it sounds on paper. Or you could possibly imagine it would be."

Read Alex's emotional account of his flight in The Sunday Telegraph's Life section and online at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/...

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