First official post restoration flight Mk. VIII Spitfire MT719

A great thrill to see this aircraft at the time, and my good mate Alex bought along his original period flying gear for our Walter Mitty moment!

Early Heritage Flight? November 1983 in Germany.

Just to be pedantic, the aircraft is actually regd. G-VIII in these last two photos.

T J

Here are a couple more pictures of MT719 taken in 1990 at Duxford and Boscombe Down

Graham

Spitfire VIIIc MT719 / I-SPIT / G-VIII Duxford 1990

Spitfire VIIIc MT719 / I-SPIT / G-VIII Boscombe Down 1990

Another shot of her in the fictitious squadron colours….

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Saw her at Manston in the summer of ’86 too: Paul Day again I recall.

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Back in 1986 a friend and I went to the Fighter Meet at North Weald. On the Thursday and Friday prior to the show we helped the Harvard formation Team clean their aircraft. I-SPIT was the plane parked beside us next to the Aces High hangar. Can’t believe it’s over 30 years ago… 😮

T J

Any recent pics or news??

Never knew she was used in Perfect Hero, that’s a surprise! Only time I saw her was the BofB Anniversary show at RAF Abingdon in 1990, had never seen an SEAC scheme before. Hard to believe that such a relatively rare mark of Merlin Spit could be left unflown and seemingly unloved for so long, here’s hoping she sees air under her wheels again before too long. The last surviving SEAC Spit surely deserves better…

Painted up briefly for the TV series A Perfect Hero.

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(Colin Smedley pic)

All I did was drink the vino, eat the pasta and pizza, good days.:)

Don’t forget your own part in this restoration Chief, take some credit ?

It was seen at the North Weald Fighter Meets in about ”95 .

A dear friend from 17 Sqn flew it in Burma Don Healy

Yes RAFR, it was a Germany based Jag squadron. I remember seeing it in Aircraft Illustrated.

Blimey! I remember reading about that in Flypast back then. I was only 13. Might be foggy memory, but I remember a photo of it in formation with a couple of Jaguars. Could be wrong though.

I saw her at Oshkosh in 1994 in company with TE308.

I saw her again at Cavanaugh in 2010. She was sitting on flat tires looking awfully sorry for herself.
An employee said that she had not flown since “the nineties” 🙁

Andy