OK, all you Spitfireholics, can you resolve this one? On another forum photographs of Spitfire XVI TE380 have been posted along with a text that says:
‘It was presented by Royal Air Force Fighter Command to the United States Air Academy at Colorado Springs, as a symbol of wartime comradeship, in a ceremony held at R.A.F. Odiham, in Hampshire, in 1958. American air cadets paraded together with Royal Air Force men as the Spitfire was handed over by the C-in-C, Fighter Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Thomas Pike, to Colonel Benjamin Cassidy. The Presentation Spitfire bore a scroll on the fuselage that read: “This Spitfire is representative of the aircraft flown by the pilots of Fighter Command during the Second World War, 1939-1945.”‘
(Q.v. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=5678.0).
Thus I googled the aeroplane details, expecting to find something of its subsequent history and that it is extant in the USA. However the only reference I could find was to the effect that TE380 was scrapped on 25.02.53 at ‘AFD’. Is this reference incorrect? Or was it that the presentation aeroplane was not TE380 and that the photographs and the text have become associated erroneously? I don’t know so, hopefully, it’s over to the experts?
By: DazDaMan - 22nd June 2015 at 04:36
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By: Zac Yates - 22nd June 2015 at 00:30
The USAFM acquired a Spitfire XI, a type which the USAAF operated extensively, to replace a type they never used at all.
And I believe after the exchange the new owner then on-sold it, it ended up in NZ being restored and was then sold at auction to China.
By: Mark12 - 20th June 2015 at 18:31
…but actually taken in 1957/58.
Most likely on the 13 October 1957 photo sortie.
Mark
.
By: 205_Guy - 20th June 2015 at 12:29
I was browsing my photo collection when I found this picture of TE330, taken apparently in 1967, and investigation bought me to this thread. Any thoughts ? Incidentally, I also thought it was TE380, but closer inspection confirms it as TE330
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By: Bruce - 25th October 2013 at 18:50
TE330
More interesting would be to know how this Spitfire, given as a symbol of wartime comradeship, came to be disposed of on the open market .
DD
The USAFM acquired a Spitfire XI, a type which the USAAF operated extensively, to replace a type they never used at all.
By: avion ancien - 25th October 2013 at 17:51
Thank you all. However I wonder if some kind moderator might add to the end of the thread title ‘…..or TE330?’, in view of what has developed since my initial post.
p.s. can someone tell me what the initials AFD stand for?
By: Mark V - 25th October 2013 at 17:06
I have to say that it looks like an ‘8’ but, equally, it could be an optical illusion, making a ‘3’ look like an ‘8’ by virtue of the position of the dividing line between the two camouflage colours.
I would agree – that is exactly what you are seeing.
Apparently the photographs are labelled ‘Presentation Spitfire’, so I assume (perhaps unwisely) that they were taken in 1958.
Looking in Spitfire Survivors Vol,2 that does seem to support the 1958 date – perhaps during or around the time of the N Weald to Odiham ferry flight prior to presentation to the USAF.
By: DazDaMan - 25th October 2013 at 16:27
By: Discendo Duces - 25th October 2013 at 14:25
TE330
More interesting would be to know how this Spitfire, given as a symbol of wartime comradeship, came to be disposed of on the open market .
DD
By: j_jza80 - 25th October 2013 at 13:02
She isn’t outdoors any more. A member recently posted pictures of her indoors, along with a P-61, a Yak and several MIGs IIRC.
By: SADSACK - 25th October 2013 at 12:54
re;
She seems in good nick but should not be outdoors…
By: antoni - 25th October 2013 at 11:25
TE380 6 MU 14-7-45
587 Squadron 3-8-45
691 squadron 20-6-46
RFS Exeter 19-3-51
Scrapped AFD 25-2-53
By: avion ancien - 25th October 2013 at 09:58
……or, when someone at the Air Ministry was asked to supply photographs of TE330 for the presentation programme, did they fail to use their magnifying glass and so, erroneously, supply photographs of TE380 instead!
By: avion ancien - 25th October 2013 at 09:18
Here’s an enlargement of one of the photographs on the other forum which shows the serial number. I have to say that it looks like an ‘8’ but, equally, it could be an optical illusion, making a ‘3’ look like an ‘8’ by virtue of the position of the dividing line between the two camouflage colours. But taking a hypothetical approach to this mater if, for the purpose of the presentation, this Spitfire was painted wth the serial TE380, what reason might there be for that? Did TE380 have a conspicuous service history and/or some connection with an American pilot or military service?
By: avion ancien - 25th October 2013 at 08:16
Apparently the photographs are labelled ‘Presentation Spitfire’, so I assume (perhaps unwisely) that they were taken in 1958. As you will have noted, if you’ve looked at the thread on the other forum, their locations are given, and appear to be, over Canterbury and the White Cliffs of Dover respectively.
By: Mark V - 25th October 2013 at 08:04
When was the photo taken?
By: avion ancien - 24th October 2013 at 22:02
Thank you, gentlemen. I will pass the information on.
By: antoni - 24th October 2013 at 21:46
It was TE330
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/spitregistry/spitfire-te330.html
By: DazDaMan - 24th October 2013 at 21:39
If the photo is anything like this, then it’s TE330….
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By: DazDaMan - 24th October 2013 at 21:36
I’m guessing you must be a member to see photos (which I am not), however, going by the description “TE380 over the white Cliffs”, I’m guessing the aircraft concerned is in actual fact TE330 instead, which is a survivor. Incidentally, this was the aircraft that ended up in a Chinese museum a couple of years ago.
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October 24, 2013 at 9:22 pm