Spitfire PRXI PL983 Damaged in Incident

[Eric Mc]

It looks like the unique PR.XI PL983 sustained some serious damage when landing at an airfield in Holland on Thursday (22 August). It's the only Merlin powered PR Spitfire I'm aware of currently airworthy. Hopefully, they will get it back into the air before too long.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/228422



I was watching it flying only a few weeks ago at Duxford's Flying Legends air show.

[TRIUMPHBULLET]

Always sad to see this happen but it is the price paid to keep them in the air.
Would imagine that sorting repairs is already going on.
There is nothing to compare a flying aircraft to one kept in a museum especially one using a Merlin (or two or four!).

[Tyre Smoke]

Eric Mc said:

It looks like the unique PR.XI PL983 sustained some serious damage when landing at an airfield in Holland on Thursday (22 August). It's the only Merlin powered PR Spitfire I'm aware of currently airworthy. Hopefully, they will get it back into the air before too long.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/228422



I was watching it flying only a few weeks ago at Duxford's Flying Legends air show.

Please excuse my ignorance Eric, PR Spitfire?

[RDMcG]

Photo Reconnaissance??

[Tyre Smoke]

Ahh.

[Eric Mc]

All the photo recce Spitfires were given the PR prefix. The most common ones we see flying today are the PRXIX, which were the last operational Spitfires flying with the RAF. Even though there weren't a huge number of PRXIXs built, because they survived into the late 1950s, they make up a disproportionate number of the airworthy examples. The PRXIX was powered by the Rolls Royce Griffon. The PTXIX was based on the MkXIV airframe, but with the guns removed and cameras and extra fuel tanks fitted.

PRXIX



The PRXI was Merlin powered -



You can see that visually, the two versions are quite different.

There was also an earlier PRIV of which, as far as I know, none survive.