…Mark12 .. Do you have or know the precise quote from Spencer Flacks’ comment ?….for the sake of posterity here on the forum, it would be good to round it out and be documented….

and also please… is she still attending airshows ?.. and when did she last fly ?

`…to my knowledge, when confronted with a heckler who had frowned upon the colour he had chosen, became the very first person to publicly coin the phrase… ” and what colour might your Spitfire be “….(or similar words to that effect)…

The danger in this scenario brings about a fundamental flaw, whereby some un-airworthy airframe items are gifted to various individuals for whatever reason. Someone decides to embark on a full and faithful rebuild to airworthy status, not realising that “Bloggs’ has decided to go down the same road with his gifted/discarded airframe bit.

… Under this rule they are both entitled to “build” their shiny, new Spitfire, but who has the rights and propriety ??… Assuming that no other aircraft exists with these numbers/serials etc.

..great stuff Bellarine .. All the best to you and the crew for the next one…..

..Mark 12 knows the guff….And i think his keyboard finger is itching to write a reply…

…… gently, gently …..

…just a late edit .. are we sure this is in fact a Seafire?….I thought they were fitted with the head restraint attached to the seat armour…(and especially in 1945 when the catapults were becoming more exploited ?)…realistically it just looks like a fairly late Mk 9 Spitfire ???

…with respect to all contributors to this thread, and hopefully not upsetting the mods any further…. we all know there is a very worthy, viable restoration project being embarked upon to see an otherwise extinct Whitley bomber come back to life and in need of an FN4A or B to help see the job through.

…i have absolutely no connection with the Whitley project people, and although I feel collecting a very rare item just for the sake of a bit of capitalising later on is OK, it can also appear a bit mean spirited to the “family” here that makes up the forum/restoration crew to have something obviously not needed where it is, but otherwise quite needed elsewhere to see a worthwhile project out to a completion.

…I extend my apologies to all for the heavy handed first post of mine earlier in the thread….sometimes a bad day or a frustrating niggle can lead to a somewhat ill considered outburst……Cheers to All

…being a purveyor of a lovely drop of ink….can we include the inevitable officers mess ?….(or even the sergeants)… to make up a good place to enjoy a pint of your favourite from way back in the day ?…..

….. there still are a few mess’s to sign the visitors book what…..??

…the “VIA” part of the riddle I take literally as being “Victorian and Interstate Airways”…..unit number 3 ??

…also appears to be a lot of trainer yellow showing through….