Spitfire in Worthing garage

Quote: after attention from British engineer “Buster” Paine.

Buster Paine was my father who dissassembled & packed said a/c at Blackbushe, & subsequently reassembled her at Phoenix in ’77 with help from WKW.
My father was due to go again the following year to replace one of the radiators, but unfortunately he suffered a fatal heart attack just before leaving for the US of A.
It is nice that she still gets air under her wings.
Keith

Can’t say that I blame you, Roger. But the third edition is the only one in the series that I don’t have.

…….. But if anyone has a copy for sale, or knows where I might find one, I’d be grateful to hear from you!

I’ve got one – in my loft with a lot of other books I can’t find 😮 But, sorry, when I DO find it it won’t be for sale :diablo:

Roger Smith.

Getting back to SL721 – some interesting snippets and photographs here:

http://www.vintagewings.ca/page?a=40&lang=en-CA

‘called the Swandean Spitfire.’
Surely it was the ‘Swandean Special’?

According to the info in the links I posted it was called the Swandean Spitfire Special so we were both half right (and half wrong!).

ChrisG I did a google search which lead me straight to the same site as the link you had posted but must admit I had missed the link in your posting.

Here’s a shot of SL721 taken on Sept. 10, this year.

And one I took many years ago at Mount Hope – WAY prior to CWH years.

Lotus you could be right, memory not my strong point these days.
But I never went to Brighton Speed Trials so saw it at either Brands Hatch or just possibly Goodwood. In the mid to late ’50s.

‘called the Swandean Spitfire.’
Surely it was the ‘Swandean Special’?

You can see and hear the Swandean Spitfire in all it’s glory at the following
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=47874

Another link I found said that the car was tested on the lane outside the garage which seems to be confirmed by the newsreel footage. I don’t think you would get away with it now!

The Swandean Spitfire survives in the USA – more here
http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z16048/Swandean-Spitfire-Special.aspx

and a link to alternative uses for Merlin engines on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin_alternative_uses

Incidentally both the above state that the car used two Daimler Dingo chassis which seems to ring a bell from something I read about the car in a book. It might also help explain the source for the armour plating around the gearbox.

No doubt others will remember seeing a “bitza” racing car in the late ’50s early’60s, called the Swandean Spitfire. It was an old RR chassis with a Merlin shoehorned in. Sounded very rough and appeared a real handful to drive.

PMT (Potteries Motor Traction) bus chassis I think. I believe it ran at Brighton Speed Trials only though it was before my time.

Indeed it will … but you’ll have to wait until next year for Volume II !

Interesting photo… I was on that photo-flight, and am wondering if this is one of my photos, as it looks very familiar. Just curious, but who is credited with the image?

Cheers,
Richard

Thank you, Gordy. Short of saying what was in the sandwiches of those who shipped the aeroplane, there’s not a lot more to be added!

No doubt others will remember seeing a “bitza” racing car in the late ’50s early’60s, called the Swandean Spitfire. It was an old RR chassis with a Merlin shoehorned in. Sounded very rough and appeared a real handful to drive.

Spitfire Survivors – Then and Now: Vol II

Here’s an extract from the chapter on SL721 covering the period between Worthing and Blackbushe – I’m afraid it won’t be published until Vol II comes out next year.

In February 1955 this Spitfire was bought for £150 from the Air Ministry by Mr F. M. Wilcox, a Worthing garage owner, and it was delivered to Swandean Garage Ltd in Arundel Road, Worthing, and was, for several years, exhibited in a compound on the garage forecourt. The aircraft was well preserved by Mr Wilcox, as was evident in later years when it was overhauled in Chicago and found to be in first-class condition.
Mr Wilcox ran the engine for some 40 minutes each year, usually on Battle of Britain day, it being inhibited again after each run. In September 1958 the aircraft was loaned to RAF Thorney Island for the Battle of Britain display and was actually flown, although this was at the time very unofficial, the pilot to this day being unknown!
As the Swandean Garage at Worthing was expanding Mr Wilcox decided to take up an offer from Lord Montague of display space at the new Beaulieu Motor Museum. SL721 was moved to its new home, being fully cocooned and then repainted with its blue colours and code “JMR” in 1962. Monty Thackray of M. D. Thackray Ltd had for many years tried to buy SL721 from Wilcox, but it was not until 1965 that a deal was struck. SL721 passed to Thackray in exchange for the vintage 8-litre Bentley that Wilcox’s father had once owned, the aircraft staying at Beaulieu. Its new owner, however, soon sold it to The Marquis of Headfort. Early in Thackray’s ownership an American had expressed interest in the aircraft, but the sale went through, the American being unlucky. He did, however, come back a second time and Thackray repurchased SL721 for re-sale in the U.S.A.
William D. Ross of Chicago bought SL721 from Thackray and contracted Simpson’s Aeroservices Ltd of Elstree to dismantle and arrange shipment of the aircraft, and in December 1965 SL721 was crated and shipped to the U.S.A., being delivered to Bailey Johnson of Mustangs Unlimited of Atlanta, Georgia, for rebuilding. Bill Ross contracted Battle of Britain Flight Chief Tech Stan Puchynski, recently retired from the RAF, to assist in the rebuild. The engine, a Packard Merlin 266, No. 361736, fitted in July 1948, was overhauled by Paul Szendroi in Chicago and the completed aircraft first flew in the U.S.A. on 11 May 1967, with George Roberts at the controls. SL721 had been registered N8R to Bill Ross and was soon based at his Du Page County Airport facility. Painted in camouflage with codes “JM—R” the aircraft graced many airshows in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In 1972 the engine was overhauled again to improve fuel consumption and new fuel tanks were fitted, but English collector Doug Arnold had long expressed a desire to buy SL721 and by early 1973 a deal had been struck. SL721 was shipped from Baltimore to the U.K. and reassembled at Leavesden, Hertfordshire, having been registered G-BAUP, the aircraft emerging with owner’s initials “D-A” as the code. The aircraft moved to a new base at Blackbushe, Hants, but did not fly much in the Arnold ownership, and before long had been sold back to the U.S.A., the new owner Woodson K. Woods of Scottsdale, Arizona, having the aircraft repainted with his initials WK-W and with registration N8WK, making its first flight as such from Deer Valley Airport on 19 September 1977 after attention from British engineer “Buster” Paine.

It was sold to America then back to Doug Arnold and thence back to the states.

Here ’tis. at Beaulieu
John

So can someone fill the gap in its history between Edward Montagu and Doug Arnold?

Yes 🙂

It’ll all be in some book… 😉

Indeed it will … but you’ll have to wait until next year for Volume II !

So can someone fill the gap in its history between Edward Montagu and Doug Arnold?

It’ll all be in some book… 😉

……………and to continue. It was still at Beaulieu in 1963 for that year’s edition of W&R comments that:

“The Spitfire LF.16e is on display in the Montagu Motor Museum, after being transferred from a garden in Worthing, where it was kept by Mr F.M.Wilcock, a garage owner. The aircraft is lettered ‘JMR’, a reminder that it was once flown by Air Vice Marshall J.M.Robb”

Presumably it had gone elsewhere by 1974, for there is no entry for Beaulieu in the fourth edition of W&R published that year. I can’t comment on the situation in 1968, when the third edition of W&R was published, as I don’t have that. But if anyone has a copy for sale, or knows where I might find one, I’d be grateful to hear from you!