6000 guinea Spitfire…

The plot thickens!

 I found a photo on Flickr of RW388 at Earls Court and it looks like the fuselage had been modified to look like a MKV before the Royal Tournament appearance. so it seems unlikely that it is RW388 on the trailer.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dugspr/2370464274/in/photostream/ 

I thought about RW388 too but looking into its history I came across a photo of it at Edinburgh Castle on the Stoke Museums website. It was camouflaged but had been converted to look like a Mk Vb. That’s not saying that it is not RW388 just not at that time. I looked at quite a few Mk XVIs as possibilities but the problem is that, thanks to the BoB movie, they were all on the move around then!

Ooh, now that’s an interesting proposal. Can anyone confirm,  because it sounds plausible especially given that the photo shows a clipped wing.

I believe Takers were based at Andover so is it possible that the photo shows RW388 the gate guardian from RAF Andover. It was painted silver at Andover but was painted as AB917 (so probably camouflaged) for the 1968 Royal Tournament and Edinburgh Military Tattoo as well as being displayed outside Cardiff City Hall for a special event? The Bedford S type tractor unit towing the trailer dates from the mid fifties so it is possible they were still in use in 1968.  

I take your point, Mothminor, but it seems a bit of a specific requirement, having a Spitfire on a Queen Mary with a tug. Unless there were lots being moved post-BoB?

Plus of course, if its not NH238 in the photo, which one is it?

Avion ancien, I had never heard that before,  that’s staggering! 

Concerning my assertion that Taskers designed and constructed the Queen Mary trailer in double quick time:

In 1938 the Air Ministry, which was forming plans for setting up the Civilian Repair Organisation, sent out a tender for a recovery trailer able to carry an entire fighter aircraft. Ten days later Taskers arrived in Whitehall, not only with a written and costed proposal, but also with a prototype trailer.

Not necessarily, Adrian. The Christie’s catalogue for the 1981 Strathallan auction had a stock photo of a Blenheim representing the partially rebuilt Bolingbroke in the sale. Historical images of some other aircraft were shown rather than the condition they were in at the time. All these aircraft were kept in the main display hangar and easily photographed,

If I can find the right issue of the mag (I usually pass them on to my godson, so I may not have it) I’ll see what else it says about the sale, as this is in the letters in response to it. Though I’d expect if it was an auction catalogue that it would have a photograph of the actual lot in it, rather than a stock photo?

Yes, sorry, I should have made it clear that when I said NH238 I was referring to the 6,000 guinea Tasker museum Spitfire rather than the aircraft on the transporter which is most likely a Mk.XVI. My thoughts on that one (which may be totally wrong) is that it is a stock photo used by the original publication. As to it’s identity I’m afraid I have no idea!

Weird, must be my phone! I have found his stream by searching now.

Where’s Mark12 when you need him?

Just to clarify my above post – the link that Mothminor posted in post #4 works fine for me and clearly shows NH238 as a high back spit Mk9,so the other pic is obviously a different a/c.

Just to muddy the waters –

AFAIK there were some Low Back Mk9’s.

Also a Mk16 was basically a Mk9 with a Packard built Merlin 😉

And there were (of course) some High Back Mk16’s.

Simple innit 🙂

The Queen Mary trailer, designed and constructed by Taskers of Andover in double quick time!

Intriguing, lots of docs connecting her to the Taskers sale, so what’s gone awry? Supposedly highly original,  which didn’t sound as though she was rebuilt as a high-back.

Mothminor, Flickr tells me the link is invalid, have you missed a bit off the end?

The Spitfire in the picture that Adrian posted from the Old Glory magazine is not NH238!

Look closer and you will see it has a cutback rear fuselage and MK.XIII type rudder!

So a MK.XVI I would say.

Cheers

Paul

Thanks Adrian. I’ve just come across a Flickr photo album of LEP Transport shots which includes several of NH238 on the move “around 1970”. 

There are lots of great pics in Dick Gilbert’s photostream. Definitely worth bookmarking!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryclaggers/albums/72157712847066393/wi…

30 minutes… just like the old days! Thanks, mothminor, looks as though she had a number of threads in here eg https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/69513-spitfire-nh238

Also looks as though she is still in a storage container somewhere

Hi Adrian,

The Spitfire is NH238. Here’s a link to a previous thread on here –

https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/57705-newark-air-museum-sp…