RN Seafire Serial Numbers

880

You don’t say what the sources of your ‘production details’ are?

It won’t be SW2_5 as there was no such batch. The third production batch of Seafire F.XVs, however, began with SW781 and therefore the only two possible contenders are SW785 and SW795. Of these only SW785 seems likely as there is little known about it (SW795, on the other hand, is known to have served exclusively in the UK). Having been delivered to 33 MU at RAF Lyneham in June 1945 it is next recorded being in store at Trincomalee in January 1946. This would fit in with it being possibly issued to 880 NAS for service in the 8th CAG aboard Implacable in the waters off Australia, the incident presumably being between June and September and leading to it being dropped off at Trincomalee when the carrier returned home soon after VJ Day.

The other serials you mention can be fairly easily worked out, but it takes a bit of time and lateral thinking. You don’t mention what your father’s name was, and without that I can’t determine whether his logbook has ever been seen by the Fleet Air Arm Museum, but if not perhaps you might like to consider allowing them to borrow it for copying (or indeed submit a photocopy of it yourself for their records)? It is by interpretation of such documents that we have, over many years, managed to piece together the individual airframe histories for all Fleet Air Arm aircraft, and no matter how seemingly ‘routine’ many of the entries may appear, in the right hands they can unlock many hitherto unsolved details that might otherwise be lost to posterity.

Lee

Lee, I think I saw you today, if you were in an office at the FAA Museum at Yeovilton this morning looking through a log book.

I gave my father’s log book and loads of photos to Tom Langham and a lady, so all the information you asked for about Seafire numbers should be there close to you.