Odd Spitfire story in the Sun

[Mr_B]

Picked up a copy of the Sun at work the other day and there was a story of a restored very early mark Spitfire that was said to be the most orginal of the 50 or so still flying, yet it was found in a river bed.
Can anyone shed any light or what the real story is with this ?
Thanks

[Eric Mc]

There was one restored from a beach in Northern France recently. It belly landed on teh beach during the Dunkirk evacuation so is pre-Battle of Britain.

Is it this one?

Without having a link to the article it's difficly to say much more.

[FourWheelDrift]

Spitfire Mk1 X4650 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/world-w...

[Eric Mc]

Says The Daily Telegraph -

"Britain was littered with wrecks in the years after the Second World War until enthusiasts began to recover them for sale or for museums".

No - not really.

[Simpo Two]

'Sgt Squire, then 20, bailed out'

'forcing them both to ditch'



Doh!

[Mr_B]

FourWheelDrift said:

Spitfire Mk1 X4650 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/world-w...

That's the story - thanks.

[aeropilot]

Mr_B said:

Picked up a copy of the Sun at work the other day and there was a story of a restored very early mark Spitfire that was said to be the most orginal of the 50 or so still flying, yet it was found in a river bed.

Probably should have be written as the most authentically restored (*cough* recreated) Mk1 Spitfire of the 50 or so still flying.

The most original would be one or more of the static examples of the early mark of Spitfire in various museums around the world...

Either, Mk11a P7973 in Australia or one of the 4 x Mk1 versions in UK museums.

[FourWheelDrift]

P7973 is complete and unrestored so it's possibly the only one that's 100% original, but I wouldn't like to fly it.

[thatone1967]

FourWheelDrift said:

P7973 is complete and unrestored so it's possibly the only one that's 100% original, but I wouldn't like to fly it.

I think I'd risk it....

[williamp]

I think this is amazing that there are still there, ready to be restored. I would have thought they were all known and recovered by now.

HAs anyone worked out how many Spitfires, potentially are really left?

[TheEnd]

williamp said:

I think this is amazing that there are still there, ready to be restored. I would have thought they were all known and recovered by now.

HAs anyone worked out how many Spitfires, potentially are really left?

Is that including the Australian cave?

[Eric Mc]

williamp said:

I think this is amazing that there are still there, ready to be restored. I would have thought they were all known and recovered by now.

HAs anyone worked out how many Spitfires, potentially are really left?

I would say there are around 100 Spifires still in existence plus lots of Spitfire components. Of these, around 50 are currently airworthy with a number of restoration projects in various stages in progress. The rest would be on static display in museums around the world.

These numbers should be taken in the context that around 25,000 Spitfires/Seafires were manufactured.

[dr_gn]

Eric Mc said:

williamp said:

I think this is amazing that there are still there, ready to be restored. I would have thought they were all known and recovered by now.

HAs anyone worked out how many Spitfires, potentially are really left?

I would say there are around 100 Spifires still in existence plus lots of Spitfire components. Of these, around 50 are currently airworthy with a number of restoration projects in various stages in progress. The rest would be on static display in museums around the world.

These numbers should be taken in the context that around 25,000 Spitfires/Seafires were manufactured.

According to this website :

http://www.strijdbewijs.nl/birds/spitfire/surv.htm

There are 214 surviving Spitfires, of which 61 are airworthy

and

14 surviving Seafires, of which 3 are airworthy.

Not sure when the lists were compiled, but a very quick glance seems to indacate that none are double counted.

There are of course quite a few Spitfire crash sites littering the world, which presumably now only contain fragments of the original aircraft.

[Eric Mc]

dr_gn said:

Eric Mc said:

williamp said:

I think this is amazing that there are still there, ready to be restored. I would have thought they were all known and recovered by now.

HAs anyone worked out how many Spitfires, potentially are really left?

I would say there are around 100 Spifires still in existence plus lots of Spitfire components. Of these, around 50 are currently airworthy with a number of restoration projects in various stages in progress. The rest would be on static display in museums around the world.

These numbers should be taken in the context that around 25,000 Spitfires/Seafires were manufactured.

According to this website :

http://www.strijdbewijs.nl/birds/spitfire/surv.htm

There are 214 surviving Spitfires, of which 61 are airworthy

and

14 surviving Seafires, of which 3 are airworthy.

Not sure when the lists were compiled, but a very quick glance seems to indacate that none are double counted.

There are of course quite a few Spitfire crash sites littering the world, which presumably now only contain fragments of the original aircraft.

Interesting - more than I thought.

[richw_82]

thatone1967 said:

FourWheelDrift said:

P7973 is complete and unrestored so it's possibly the only one that's 100% original, but I wouldn't like to fly it.

I think I'd risk it....

Given that the magnesium based rivets used in its construction will probably be a head, a tail, and not much in between... I'll just watch someone else fly it.

Rich