Lost Spitfire from 1968

Very interesting link Mark12, thanks I’d totally missed that thread first time around.

Ahhh a reminder of the so called good old days, Control Column highlighted finds and then the few stalwarts tried to save airframes and parts. Sadly even though the RAF had cadets, apprentices and associates bringing parts back from places like Larkhill( Fairey Battle, P40 )range and remote hills there was no certainty that the parts were then safe. We did not know that at the time ! Now the internet is active there is a chance for last minute saves once the word is out.

Interesting that Spitfires were still being scrapped as late as 1970, I never realised that.

In the UK until at least the end of 1962

https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?92674-Spitfires-that-almost-survived

…and certainly in to the late 1960’s in foreign parts.

Mark

There is at least one generation of VHS noise in the video I linked to. The original broadcaster might have either a digital copy of the original broadcast or even a digital copy of the 8mm. I’ve seen some remarkable detail extracted from 8mm film when it is digitised correctly. I think it had a bad reputation at one point because so much of it was ‘transferred’ simply by projecting it onto a white screen and then filming the results with a camcorder. As such a good transfer of the 8mm film of the Bex crash and aftermath might be quite interesting.

‘Plein Les Yeux’ simply translates to ‘eyeful’, so the watermark in the video isn’t giving away much!

I have part of the engine bearer from AB910 after that damage. Would like some stills!

Thanks Mark12, that was roughly the same in the Wrecks and Relics number3 . Interesting that Spitfires were still being scrapped as late as 1970, I never realised that.

Wonder what Mark12 has to say about this.

This rumour goes back to Wrecks and Relics number 1 in 1963.

From that you can assume that the ‘story’ goes back some time further than that, probably to the late 1950’s.

Put it in to context…for the average enthusiast this was a time of pre-computers, email, mobile phones and indeed for many land line phones. Communication was basically word of mouth, a letter, Air Pictorial, and Air Britain.

There were a number of such Spitfire stories that lingered on. Most were spurious but the occasional has one proved true. Occasionally they still appear world-wide. One as late as November 2017.

Well to remember that between 1955 and 1970 (call it BoB film premiere) some 600 odd Spitfires and Seafires were lost around the world to the scrap man.

Mark

The collision at Bex can be viewed here:

The link in #8 shows a sequence of stills from the same footage, which looks like Super 8 to me. I don’t blame the Harvard pilot for getting out of there quickly as it rolls back quite a distance!

Spitfires are never lost they are just in hiding til the data plate surfaces

So EN410 must be one of those that got away. Wonder what Mark12 has to say about this.
Cees

Not Sweden, not a T-6 and not 1977. It was at Bex, Switzerland, August 21st, 1978.

The Harvard was taxiing to the runway threshold at the time and had to go around several parked aircraft, entering the active runway (with ‘clearance’ from local improvised ATC). The Spit was taking off at the time (also with ‘clearance’), tail up and then noticed the Harvard in the way. Pilot put the tail down and braced for impact. The pilot of the Harvard IIb broke his leg when he vacated the wreck rather hastily, jumping down.

Accident sequence here: http://www.hdekker.info/Nieuwe%20map/1978.htm#21.08.1978

They where taking off from both sides of the runway??? :confused:

(or maybe taxing down runway to start take off run on other side. Similar to Tenerife accident)

AB910 doesn’t wear Mk XVI wings. Wing parts from MK732 (a IX) were used as patterns for the rebuild after the Bex collision but the airframe of MK732 remained substantially complete afterwards (other than the tail group which went to another airframe). Parts from BL614 ahead of the firewall were also used.

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Knew about AB910 accident ,but back to original thread does anyone know anything about EN410 job:).

Not Sweden, not a T-6 and not 1977. It was at Bex, Switzerland, August 21st, 1978.

The Harvard was taxiing to the runway threshold at the time and had to go around several parked aircraft, entering the active runway (with ‘clearance’ from local improvised ATC). The Spit was taking off at the time (also with ‘clearance’), tail up and then noticed the Harvard in the way. Pilot put the tail down and braced for impact. The pilot of the Harvard IIb broke his leg when he vacated the wreck rather hastily, jumping down.

Accident sequence here: http://www.hdekker.info/Nieuwe%20map/1978.htm#21.08.1978

Lucky escape!

The Harvard was brought back to Holland in 1978 and was stored until 1991 when it was sold to a museum in Graz, Austria, where it is undergoing a long-term restoration to static.

That’s the one then, it was at Bex in Switzerland.

Sweden 1977. Its on Youtube. The Harvard would not have stood a chance if AB910 had ploughed in. Shows the construction of the Spitfire and how good it is!

Was that after the runway collision with a T-6 at Bex? Remember seeing a pic and thinking the Spit came off best…

In 1977 AB910 was rebuilt with the wings of a LFIVIE. I wonder what they did with the rest of it?

It is a serial number, which ties into a PRXI, but they had it as a missing Mk IX. All a bit strange but wondered whether there is a small grain of truth in it.

EN 410? Doesn’t look like a genuine registration to me!