A specially-painted spitfire will be soaring across the Kent coastline today.

The NHS spitfire will be departing from its Duxford home at 11am, flying over a number of hospitals throughout the day.

Within 15 minutes it will reach Southend University hospital and then onto Kent and Canterbury hospital at 11.25am.

From there the aircraft - painted blue with the words 'THANK U NHS' on the underside -will travel to Margate.

At 11.30am the plane will be viewable over the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM).

Next on its list is Buckland Hospital in Dover, which it will reach at 11.37am.

Only five minutes later, at 11.42am, it's expected to pass over the Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone.

Its last hospital fly-over is the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, which it will soar over at 11.46am before moving onto Conquest Hospital in Hastings.

The spitfire's owners, the Aircraft Restoration Company, have regularly been piloting the plane over medical facilities since the start of the lockdown.

Its first Kent trip was to Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford on July 10.

To say an even bigger thank you to those working hard to combat Covid-19, the owners are now offering a unique opportunity.

The company has offered 80,000 spaces for people to nominate their heroes and have their names hand-painted onto the spitfire's exterior.

All you have to do to nominate one of your heroes is donate £10 minimum to its JustGiving page for NHS Charities Together, and put the name of the person you want to select in the donation notes.

The opportunity runs until September 20.

For more information, click here.

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