[Little Ray]

There are 55 Spitfires left? That is wonderful!
I wonder how they get the parts to keep ‘em flying?

[Hot Tabasco]

I wonder how they get the parts to keep ‘em flying?

I ask the same question about the old Chevy's in Cuba........LOL!

[billyboy15]

China

[Abathar]

I own a tool and die business, there is good money to be made for specialty machined parts for all sorts of antiques. Not enough to do it exclusively, but between jobs its good cash money.

[tanknetter]

There are all sorts cottage industries set up to manufacture replacement parts from scratch. Many warbirds these days really push the boundaries between “restoration” and “reproduction”, with some aircraft (including more than a few of these Spits) being “Data Plate Restorations” — essentially brand new aircraft that incorporate a small amount of material (and the data plate ;-) ) from an original airframe.

Metal 3D printing from CAD drawings is the next step for doing this.

[DAC21]

“There are 55 Spitfires left? That is wonderful!”

Actually that isn’t to bad. I think there are only two flyable Zeros, both which just flew over my house for the Chino air show. There are only about nine airworthy P-38’s with a few more in the restore process.

[elcid1970]

In the 1969 film “Battle of Britain” it seemed like there were barely enough airworthy Spits & Hurricanes to keep the movie going, and the “German” aircraft were mostly built in Spain.

I recall reading Punch magazine in the early 1970’s where there was an ad for a charity for R.A.F. fighter pilots who had fallen on hard times. Often the case following Britain’s wars, which Kipling wrote about.

[libertylover]

I wonder how they get the parts to keep ‘em flying?

I had a friend who worked part time for the FBI identifying counterfeit parts for aircraft. He told me, "It's amazing what a guy in a small metal-working machine shop can build."

[Iron head mike]

There hand made for the most part

[az_gila]

There are 55 Spitfires left? That is wonderful!
I wonder how they get the parts to keep ‘em flying?

---

A lot of the Spitfires flying now were used as “gate guards” at bases across the UK. In the 80’s the elements and vandalism were rotting them. They were replaced with Fiberglas replicas and the gate guards were restored to flying status.

This is the story of the one I used to see frequently near Chester in the 60’s -

http://www.touchdown-aviation.com/flying-legends/plane/spitfire-ltd/supermarine-spitfire-lf-mk-xvie-g-oxvi.php

It went from a somewhat sad looking gate guard at RAF Sealand - faded paint and an aluminium canopy - to it's present flying status.