RAF Spitfire pulled from Irish peat bog

Telegraph.co.UK ^ | Jun 29. 2011

[Joe 6-pack]

"There is only one flying Spit..."

Um, not quite...

16-ship Supermarine Spitfire formation from the Duxford Battle of Britain Air show 2010

[rlmorel]

There are WAY more flying Spits, and nicer ones too. I have seen the ugly two seater at Oshkosh, but...Hell, I wouldn’t throw a two seater out of the rack for eating crackers in it!

[I cannot think of a name]

“lost his U.S. citizenship because of it.
Was his citizenship ever restored?”

Neither he nor anyone else that flew for England, or the Flying Tigers for that matter, actually “lost” their citizenship. They were put into some kind of administrative limbo so that they could go fight for another country while we were officially “neutral.” One of the Flying Tigers (Tex Hill I think) talked about this process. Once we were offically in the war, all that business went away.

[af_vet_rr]

There is only one flying Spit, and it is an ugly two seater. Any chance this one can be rebuilt?

I saw mention of a company on a PBS show, History Detectives, that was building World War II aircraft. They helped identify some parts from a Japanese aircraft that had crashed in Hawaii. They were building World War II aircraft from original spare parts or parts from aircraft that were unable to be fully rebuilt. When they showed the clip, they were working on building an entire B-17. Unfortunately a B-17 was lost recently.

There was a tank show on I think Discovery Channel, where they refurbish old tanks, and they mentioned a British company that was building World War II aircraft through mostly new parts, or at least the wings/fuselage were freshly machined. They were going by the original blueprints and working with some old RAF mechanics.

[WKUHilltopper]

“There is only one flying Spit, and it is an ugly two seater. Any chance this one can be rebuilt?”

Really? Just one Spit? I had no idea. That’s really sad (I guess the two seater was trainer).

[KeyLargo]

Forgotten Spitfire will fly again after major restoration
A project to create the most authentic flying Mark I Spitfire will be completed later this year when aircraft X4650 takes to the skies 70 years after the Battle of Britain.

By Alastair Jamieson

9:00PM BST 24 Jul 2010

The painstaking reconstruction of aircraft X4650 coincides with a public competition to design a permanent memorial to the aircraft’s designers.

It also shines a spotlight on the extraordinary story of young pilot Howard Squire who was flying the plane on a training mission led by RAF legend ‘Al’ Deere when the pair collided over North Yorkshire.

Sgt Squire, now 89, has visited the restoration project and hopes to see the finished aircraft fly over the south coast of England later this year.

Those involved in the project believe X4650 will be the most accurately-rebuilt Mark I Spitfire in the skies and will contain the highest number of original parts.

The wreckage was only discovered in the long, hot summer of 1976 when low river levels exposed the metal embedded in a clay riverbank on farmland near Kirklevington, Cleveland.
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It had been there since December 28 1940, after Sgt Squire, then 20, bailed out after colliding with X4276 flown by Al Deere, Flight Commander of 54 Squadron at RAF Catterick.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/world-war-2/battle-of-britain/7908245/Forgotten-Spitfire-will-fly-again-after-major-restoration.html

[KeyLargo]

Y2K Spitfire Restoration Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Z9SMn7Dg4

[KeyLargo]

Comox Air Force Museum Volunteers Speak Up About the Y2K Spitfire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAVibDCKRhQ

[MindBender26]

I was wrong about just one. There are more, thank goodness.

[MindBender26]

I was wrong about just one. There are more, thank goodness.

[MindBender26]

I was wrong.

Thank you for that information. I might give my “left one” for some Spitfire time.

P.S. I have 1.6 in the Goodyear Blimp. It was like flying a 500 foot-long waterbed

[MindBender26]

You are right. There are at least 16, thank goodness.

[Joe 6-pack]

If I'm not mistaken, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd owned one at one time maybe still does). He's an antique aviation aficionado, and at one time had opened his own museum, but I think it has subsquently folded.

The song, "Learning To Fly" makes a lot more sense when listened to in that context ;-)

[rlmorel]

Here is a great looking late model Spit I saw probably around 2000:

This was one of my favorite years, when they had a boatload of Corsairs there, I think there was between eight and twelve of them:

You can see I was loaded for bear...not gonna miss anything there...I am wearing the japanese soldier looking hat because it was so damned hot that year, you couldn't get out of the sun. Every shadow EVERYWHERE was completely filled with people, under planes, even in the two-foot shadows of buildings at high-noon, people were shoulder to shoulder, backs on the wall. That sucked...

[rlmorel]

I don’t know about him, but Roger Waters sucks rat bags.

[MindBender26]

Oshkosh?

[Amberdawn]

Married?

[rlmorel]

Indeed, I haven’t been in a few years, but I try to get out there every three years or so!

[rlmorel]

I sure am, to a wonderful woman who lets me go out there for a week and do my own thing...she understands how important that can be.

I was wondering why you asked, and then thought “Must be because I am flashing my hand...and no ring!” But then I realized it wasn’t my ring hand...:)

I am a lucky guy. She is an independent woman who doesn’t need me to entertain her (though she confides that sometimes I DO entertain her...but I am not sure she means it as a compliment...:)

I just wish she was as conservative as I am, but she isn’t a real liberal either, so I can deal with that. We have common ground in that area...:)

[dalereed]

A friend of mine, Nelson Whiteman, had a fully restored Spitfire given to him by his father when he returned from Korea.

I haven’t seen him in 50 years but Unless he crashed it i’m sure it is still in existance at Whiteman Airpark in No. Hollywood, California.