Arkangelsk Spitfire Recovery?

July 2009:
You park these engines up for a few weeks and they start breeding!

I wish . . . .:(

Pete

Here are a couple of photos of the finished engine in case anyone`s interested.
I still cannot find the ID of the aircraft, which is a bit strange as Spitfires are so well documented. I need to do some more research.
For the sharp-eyed amongst you, yes, we have fitted a later-pattern intercooler!

Pete

Crackin work Pete!! 🙂

Thanks Peter,

Do they have something to attach it to then? TE330 is sold isn’t it?

Cees

So that makes three Spitfires Mk IX from Russia then. I believe that a Mk V tailsection was also retrieved from Russia and used by the Subrizky family in a restoration. As a lot of Spits have been exported east, are there more that came “back”?

Russia must still be a source for raw material.

Cheers

Cees

It was still unattached when I saw it last year.

It is actually from a PR IV. I have a provisional ID, thin but not robust enough to launch, as evidence is circumstantial.

Don’t forget also the Norwegian/Swedish PR IV – BP923, the serial now 100% confirmed from Russian source.

Mark

So that makes three Spitfires Mk IX from Russia then. I believe that a Mk V tailsection was also retrieved from Russia and used by the Subrizky family in a restoration. As a lot of Spits have been exported east, are there more that came “back”?

Russia must still be a source for raw material.

Cheers

Cees

Just spotted the update – Pete, the engine looks fantastic – a credit to you!

Thanks very much Mark.
That makes a lot more sense.
I haven`t seen the wreckage of that aircraft, but I would imagine some of it to be in reasonable condition. Although this engine appeared to be from a surface recovery, the inlet manifolds were full of dried peat, so I assume it had laid inverted at some stage, partially covered.

Pete

This engine is from Mk IX Spitfire SM639, recovered from Russia circa 1995

‘Thin but robust’ provenance.

It is in private ownership in the UK and will I am sure eventually fly.

Mark

Yes, she does run.
I have had it fired up breifly in the workshop, but it will have to be tested properly before it goes on display in the customers business premises.
There is still one ignition harness to manufacture or rebuild yet.

We did build a running Merlin XX for the same customer last year, and this is fitted on a road-going test bed.

Zoot, I will update anything I find out on this post, I cannot believe it will be that hard to find out the origins of it, after all, it was recovered and brought back to the UK, probably with the remains of the airframe.

Pete

Back in the mid 90s I was offered a trip in a Kamov Ka-32 over the Kola peninsula with a German bloke looking for wrecks from the Great Patriotic War.

Sadly the whole thing was cancelled when an earlier trip failed to produce anything of interest despite involving a local who had ‘detailed knowledge of where the wrecks were’.

Lovely Pete – can I have one please?

Makes my classic cars 1275 cc A series engine look a little underpowered.

Does it run?

Here are a couple of photos of the finished engine in case anyone`s interested.
I still cannot find the ID of the aircraft, which is a bit strange as Spitfires are so well documented. I need to do some more research.
For the sharp-eyed amongst you, yes, we have fitted a later-pattern intercooler!

Pete

Those hefty 14 swg skins and nose ribs squashed flat, whilst the actual main spar was still pretty much intact. I presume it went into soft-ish ground / snow perhaps?

Chumpy.

The collision was in late May 1945 so I guess the ground had thawed on the Kola Peninsula by then. I think it came down inverted, slightly nose down but the airframe remained substantially above the surface.

Caused by high energy impact with the ground – aircraft inverted at the time. As an aside, both the pilot of PT879 and that of the sister Spitfire with which it collided both bailed out at 1,500m and survived the incident.

I wondered how the wing L/E ended up like that, looked like it had been ‘gently’ run-over by a tank!

Those hefty 14 swg skins and nose ribs squashed flat, whilst the actual main spar was still pretty much intact. I presume it went into soft-ish ground / snow perhaps?

Chumpy.

Well that rules out both RK858 and PT879 then!
This engine wasn`t from a high-speed crash.
Back to square one!

Pete

What’s with the wing? The wingskins seem to be draped over the spar like cloth:confused:

Caused by high energy impact with the ground – aircraft inverted at the time. As an aside, both the pilot of PT879 and that of the sister Spitfire with which it collided both bailed out at 1,500m and survived the incident.

What’s with the wing? The wingskins seem to be draped over the spar like cloth:confused:

Hi Fouga they look like that because plane hit the ground at quite some speed !!!

Steve

Photos taken in March 1998 at Airframe Ass.

What’s with the wing? The wingskins seem to be draped over the spar like cloth:confused:

Thanks for the replies. I have a feeling it could well be one of those aircraft, and I will make some further enquiries.
Although it is not the engine shown in Chumpys post, we do have a set of damaged mild steel stubs which look just like those in the pic, and could be the same ones because the engine we have here has very little damage.
There was another Russian Spitfire IX, RK858, but I know who has that engine, and that is also in pretty complete condition, so if the engine shown above is another Russian one, that makes 3.

Pete