Spitfire Porn

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 03/27/2014 at 16:32 • Filed to: Planelopnik

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Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk IX TA805 FX-M was built at Castle Bromwich in 1944. After delivery to the RAF it went to 29 Maintenance Unit (MU) in December 1944. From there she transferred to 39 MU in 1945 before getting her first operational assignment with 183 Squadron at Chilbolton in June 1945. From 183 Squadron she was transferred to 234 Squadron at RAF Bentwaters in July 1945 before going to 29 MU and being stored.

Eventually she was sold to the South African Air Force in 1949 where it served until she was sold to the South African Metal & Machinery Co. in Cape Town, before being scrapped in 1954. Her remains finally got to the South African Museum at Snake Valley. On that spot her remains were discovered and eventually returned to the United Kingdom in 1981.

The Spitfire was owned by Steve Atkins, Oxford, UK from 1989 to 1995 and her remains were sent to the Isle of Wight as a restoration project in 1995. She got new owners in 1996, being Peter R. Monk & Mike Simpson from Maidstone, Kent from 1996 to 2002. She was passed to the Aircraft Restoration Company at Duxford who completed the re-build.

On December 7, 2005 she made her first flight out of Duxford after restoration. Being painted in original markings TA805/FX-M while she was assigned to 234 Squadron at RAF Bentwaters in 1945. There she was part of a wing of 24 Squadrons led by legendary Battle of Britain ace and later famous test pilot Wing Commander Roland P. Beamont.

She bears the inscription "Spirit of Kent" on the fuselage as a tribute to Kent that was the only county in the UK to have paid for an entire RAF Squadron. This was all done due to the initiative of Lord Cornwallis who raised money for the Kent County Spitfire Fund that financed the complete 131 "County of Kent" Squadron.

The Kent Spitfire as she is known, has her home at Biggin Hill, Kent since 2006. This was also the base where the County of Kent Squadron was based in the first days of existence.

via YouTube

Svend > ttyymmnn 03/27/2014 at 16:47

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Absolutely beautiful.

Over the years she didn't stack up to analysis against the Hurricane or the German Messerschmidt, etc... but there is no denying how beautiful and graceful she is.

ttyymmnn > Svend 03/27/2014 at 16:57

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Over the years she didn't stack up to analysis against the Hurricane or the German Messerschmidt

Not sure what you mean here. The Hurricane was no match for the Messerschmitt at altitude. During the Battle of Britain, the Hurries took on the bombers while the Spits mixed it up with the 109s. I have no empirical data to back it up, but I would say that the 109 and Spitfire were superior to the Hurricane in just about every way, and that the Spit and the 109 were comparable.

Svend > ttyymmnn 03/27/2014 at 17:40

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I mean that the Spitfire was out performed by the Messer and if the Messer had a larger fuel tank it would of been a closer call. The Hurricane has over the last few years been seen as the superior of the two Brits. The saving grace was the Royal Observer Corps and radar putting the aircraft in the right place to intercept the Messers

ttyymmnn > Svend 03/27/2014 at 18:01

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The Hurricane certainly had more kills than the Spitfire, but there were many more of them. I think it would be safe to say that each plane did different things very well, and they complimented each other.

Svend > ttyymmnn 03/27/2014 at 19:52

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That is very true. They are to me both great aircraft with the Hurricane not getting as much credit as it deserved.
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a very impressive and inspiring display with a Lancaster flanked either side by a Spitfire and a Hurricane. This year should be even more impressive with the Canadian Lancaster coming to the U.K., the only two airworthy Lancasters in one place.

ttyymmnn > Svend 03/27/2014 at 20:38

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I would love to be there. I read that one of the DC-3s that participated in D-Day will be flying from the US for the anniversary. The plane will fly to France by way of Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland and Germany, each leg 5.5 to 7 hours. That will be one heck of a flight.

Svend > ttyymmnn 03/27/2014 at 21:18

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I believe its almost the same flightpath of almost every aircraft (certainly fighter) that was made in the U.S. Or Canada during WW2. Most flown by the W.R.A.A.F.