Reconstruction of a Supermarine Spitfire

[Jean Loup]

This Spitfire (a plane of most beauty, besides saving Britain), P9374 has quite a story: http://www.christies.com/spitfire/inter ... L541010chr

[MASABI TROOPER]

Hola Jean
Lindo Avion para volar......................love The Supermarine............

Saludos
Bruno

[Hawkeye07]

Thanks for posting that Jean, facinating story of a real beauty.

[Flying Trucker]

Wonderful...thanks for posting the Link...well worth the watch...

[C]

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/spitregistry/spitfire-p9374-2.html

As it came out of the beach...

[Jean Loup]

The operational result with a steady hand at the yoke & the incredible sound of a Merlin III
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_E9daYlWsg[/youtube]

[expat]

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/spitregistry/spitfire-p9374-2.html

As it came out of the beach...

Not really reconstructed then. More a question of ID plate relocation to a newly built machine.......

Matt

[logjam]

Great movie. Seeing the open cockpit door on that Spit, reminds me of a very embarrassing situation. Way back in'63 or so, I was stationed at RAF Locking in Somerset. They had just mounted a Spitfire on a pedestal outside Station Hq as a Gate Guardian. It was in a beautiful pose, as I thought, attacking the armoury opposite the Guardroom. One night, about 3am, I couldn't resist it and found a way to open the little flapper door left side of the canopy, away from view. I guess they couldn't find the proper hardware to stop it opening while the lid was shut. So I wiggled my way in and sat there imagining me strafing the armory for 1/2 hour. Well, hard as it was to get in, believe me it was almost impossible to get out. I struggled and struggled, till the skies started to lighten with the dawn, before I decided to call out for help. Finally someone in the fire picquet heard me and mustered up a bunch of unwilling volunteers to extract me from this embarrassing predicament. If I hadn't been the O.O. I'm sure I'd have spent the rest of the night in the cells.

[expat]

If I hadn't been the O.O. I'm sure I'd have spent the rest of the night in the cells.

You saved that little snippet until the end..... I was reading and wondering what sort of shit this airman would have been in from and enraged SWO come the end of the story....

Matt

[garymbuska]

Wow what a discovery that was fantastic. How did you ever stumble upon this. Thanks for the great link. It reminded me of the Movie Memphis Bell.

[logjam]

Expat. Funny thing about the SWO at Locking during those days. He wasn't well liked at all, but he and I shared a love of motorbike racing and got to know him better than most. He had a son who at the time was going through his Medical Doctor training. Years later, when I found myself in Canada suffering from some horrible joint pains, the specialist I saw was his son!

[Jean Loup]

Wow what a discovery that was fantastic. How did you ever stumble upon this. Thanks for the great link. It reminded me of the Movie Memphis Bell.

You would not believe it was a FACEBOOK public group: "Taildragger Pilots United" I liked & became a member, receive all kind of taildragger news. https://www.facebook.com/groups/41407135412/

[C]

Wow what a discovery that was fantastic. How did you ever stumble upon this. Thanks for the great link. It reminded me of the Movie Memphis Bell.

It's been in the news quite heavily in the UK (for an aviation related item). John Romain, who runs the company who restored it (and several others over the years) and performed the majority of the flight testing, was even interviewed on the UKs biggest breakfast radio show on the BBC. Hence it was always going to get publicity beyond our borders eventually.

Not really reconstructed then. More a question of ID plate relocation to a newly built machine.......

It's kind of what we're left with now. All the ex-RAF gate guards have been restored; the Burma machines have been recovered and have been too. Really all "restorations" now will be full rebuilds (such as the Shuttleworth Vc), museum or grounded examples sold on to new owners, or "dataplate" restorations. There will soon be three airworthy that were written off in fatal incidents within the past 2 decades (Tr9 and Mk.XVI currently, soon to be joined by PR.XI).

[expat]

Not really reconstructed then. More a question of ID plate relocation to a newly built machine.......

It's kind of what we're left with now. All the ex-RAF gate guards have been restored; the Burma machines have been recovered and have been too. Really all "restorations" now will be full rebuilds (such as the Shuttleworth Vc), museum or grounded examples sold on to new owners, or "dataplate" restorations. There will soon be three airworthy that were written off in fatal incidents within the past 2 decades (Tr9 and Mk.XVI currently, soon to be joined by PR.XI).

A whole bunch of ID plates to be found here.......? Regardless, some very nice underwater shots.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... eabed.html

Matt