She’s in Chino I believe. Poor old girl was heavily corroded and it was decided that she’d do the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends prior to going to the Hinton’s and Matt Nightingale for a full restoration. Someone posted some pics of the bare fuselage not too long after GML, the search facility is your friend…

C6

can anybody enlighten me on why this has never flown since re-build ?? previous message’s quote 10 hours since last re-build, since stored, re-built again and now it seems it’s off stateside !!
it cannot be the mark or engine as i believe SM845 is virtually a sister ship and PS853 must be more technical, no ??
or has the bottom dropped out of the Spitfire market ????
can anybody put me right, cheers

Unfortunately it’s been paperwork issues holding up the test flying of ‘969.

The Spit came to TFC as part of a 2 aircraft deal and AFAIK the intention was to restore it correctly (it was hideous on arrival to TFC) and then move it on. The team at TFC have done a superb job and should be proud of their efforts. It’s been known for some time that this particular aircraft would be going Stateside upon completion. At the end of the cliche, money talks and the purchaser has a nice late model Spit to play with. TFC still have their very similar Mk XIV for us all to enjoy.

To give you an idea of what 969 was like I’ll liken it to an old banger that would past an MoT, but rough around the edges. Now it’s like a new pin. In it’s previous colour scheme, it would appear the have been painted using the technique of dropping a hand grenade into a tin of silver and standing well back! It was the only Spitfire I’ve seen to have patented rivetless construction and silver painted wheel grease……the paint was so thick and badly applied,no exaggeration!!

If you want a Mk XVIII, then I believe there’s still one for sale with ARCo/HFL.

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The curved one is the earlier rudder style and the later is the ‘broad chord’ type. The chord is the distance from the leading edge of the rudder to the trailing edge. The broad chord rudder has greater surface area and gives more authority through the speed range, though I believe it’s particularly noticeable at low speed. Greater authority equals greater control equals less prone to a messy take off and landing….

Not a popular view I know, but I would love to see ‘Hawg Wild’ finished in an RAF Washington B.1 scheme.

I’d rather see it on the flight line in it’s current markings, beating down the runway and rotating!

C6

Goalposts??

Have the goalposts changed again Fluffy??! I thought the “policy” was that each time a major or repaint was done, it’d be one of the existing RAF Squadrons for the fighters representative schemes?

Now don’t shoot me down about “what colour I paint my Spitfire” etc, I’m just wondering who writes the hymn sheet.

Ta

C 6

PS I knew that “policy” would be way too limiting for BBMF types. Even a bloody building at Waddo has an RAF (Reserve) Sqn number….it’s pityfull!