Orginal and unrestored a time capsule? I dont think so! This was restored from the ground up back in the 80s wasnt it as G AIDN and it flew in yellow primer?
Not quite “yellow primer” … it was gloss yellow approximating to its original colours when flown as “N32”:)
There’s a picture of an RN Proctor IIA (BV559) in the Putnum book on British Naval Aircraft. Colour scheme COULD be Temparate Sea Scheme over yellow.
Similarly in Air Britain Squadrons of the Fleet Air Armhas Z7246 (mk II) of 754 Squadron and a mk IIa of 752 Squadron
Putnam scan …
Thank you G-ORDY that was very fast. Can you please say more? Who did it belong to then and where is it now for example?
Thanks.
This was what we wrote about this particular Spitfire in the Second Edition of our book Spitfire Survivors. Since then it has been fully restored and placed on static display in the Swedish Air Force Museum.
Spitfire PM627, like its sisters PM630 and PM631 (q.v.), was ordered from Vickers Armstrongs on 2 June 1943, as an L.F.VIII but built as a P.R.XIX, powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon 66 engine, as part of batch PM596—637. It was built at Southampton, issued with constructor’s number 6S725878 on completion and first flown in the autumn of 1945, being delivered to No. 6 M.U. RAF Brize Norton for storage. It was at Brize Norton as at the Air Ministry Home Census of Aircraft on 21 March 1946, and stayed there until April 1949, when it was issued to No. 2 Squadron of the 2nd TAF in Germany, where it was coded OI-X. It stayed with the squadron until 9 March 1951, when it went to Airwork General Trading Ltd at Gatwick for refurbishing, which took until May the following year, when it was signalled as completed awaiting collection. The requirement for Spitfires was not urgent at this time and PM627 stayed at Gatwick until 4 June 1952, when it was ferried to No. 9 M.U. RAF Cosford for storage.
In early 1953 the Indian Air Force had a requirement for Photo-Recce Spitfires and PM627 was purchased by AGT Ltd at Gatwick, acting for the Indian Government. It was dispatched to India, where it was issued with serial HS964. Details of Indian service are little known, but it was at No. 1 Base Repair Depot in 1955, and in April 1957 was with No. 101 (P.R.) Sqdn of the Indian Air Force at Palam Air Base, New Delhi. In 1967 PM627 was allocated to the new Indian Air Force Museum at Palam Airport, but due to other Spitfires so allocated being in better condition, it was stored by the Museum.
News of the Spitfire’s existence spread to Canada, where the Canadian Fighter Pilots Association heard of the aircraft, and decided to try to acquire it as a Museum piece. A deal concluded, the aircraft was collected by a RCAF C-130 from Palam, and arrived at Toronto on 3 February 1971. The aircraft was refurbished by the RCAF at Downsview and certain parts fabricated, including canopy and windscreen, and the aircraft was coded “YO-X”. It was later displayed at Ontario Place, until dismantled on 17 November 1973, and moved by Toronto Air Reserve Squadron to the Ontario Science Centre.
A permanent home was difficult to find and it was known by the early 1980s that the owners were willing to sell the aircraft. The Swedish Air Force Museum was keen to acquire a Spitfire P.R.XIX to represent those it used in the 1950s and had shown interest in P.R.XIX PM630 (q.v.), but a deal to acquire this was not possible, but they were lucky and PM627 has now joined that Museum, where it has been issued with serial 31051 as the 51st Spitfire to be on Swedish Air Force charge. 31001 to 31050 were in service in the 1950s but as none was retained for Museum use the Swedish Air Force decided to issue another Spitfire serial for PM627.
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