Some people don't deserve to own a Spitfire, genuine one or "replica". Glad the guy is OK though.
I have to wonder how many currently airworthy Spitfires are the genuine article. It's a bit like the antique broom that's only had three heads & two handles replaced since it was new. Many years ago I recall a warbird restorer (it might have been Charles Church) telling me that if I gave him a genuine manufacturer's nameplate he could build me a Spitfire to go with it. It would then be recognised as a genuine Spitfire. I'm not sure I see the difference between that & riveting a genuine nameplate onto an existing airframe.
Isn't MH434 reckoned to be the most genuine Spitfire around these days? Even so, this aircraft has had some major changes made over the years having started life as an early model MkIXb and ending up looking more like a typical late build IXc version.
I think there are very few. The main candidates have to be those that pre-date the work of Historic Flying Ltd (MH434, Shuttleworths AR501, AR213, and the BBMF examples, who's core airframes have always remained complete, ML407), and those that were former RAF gate guardians and restored by HFL. After that stock had dried up, identities have come from all sorts of odd places, including wrecks of previous restorations (PV202?).
I suspect nearly every restorations we see from now on will be very un-original (a dataplate job), unless the airframe has come from museum stock (eg, the new BBMF Mk XVI), or previously unknown storage.
