History

The Spitfire Mk XVIe ‘TE184’ left the production plant in 1945 and was delivered to the Royal Air Force later that year. Once delivered to the RAF she was immediately put into storage at the No.9 MU and later at No.20 MU and No.6 MU. In 1948, TE184 was taken out of storage and on the 7th of September 1948 she was delivered to the No.203 Advanced Flying School (later renamed No.226 Operational Conversion Unit) where she remained for a short period.

On the 27th of February 1950, she was transferred to No.607 of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force and was based at RAF Ouston Airfield until the 13th of June when she was transferred to No.33 MU at RAF Lyneham for storage. She was retired by 1952 and moved to Air Training Corps (ATC) at Royton until 1967 when she was taken to Henlow for use in the ‘Battle of Britain’ movie as a static airframe. She wasn’t used due to corrosion and instead went to RAF Cranwell as a gate guard. She soon moved on, first to RAF Finningley, then RAF Leconfield and finally to RAF Aldergrove where she went into storage in 1972.

In 1977 she went on display at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and remained there until sold to Nick Grace in 1986. A restoration to flight was started, but Nick sadly died in 1988 and the project was sold on.

The restoration was completed as a “high-back” and she flew again at East Midlands Airport in November 1990, registered as G-MXVI. After a variety of owners and colour schemes, she is now owned by Stephen Stead and based at Plzen Airport wearing the markings of 127squadron, RAF. She specifically represents Spitfire RR227 in which Squadron Leader Otto Smik was shot down and killed on 28th November 1944, during a diving attack on Zwolle railway station in the Netherlands.

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The Aircraft

Supermarine Spitfire LF.XVIe

The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, using several wing configurations, and it was produced in greater numbers than any other British aircraft. It was also the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war. The Spitfire continues to be popular among enthusiasts; nearly 60 remain airworthy, and many more are static exhibits in aviation museums throughout the world.

The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works, which operated as a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong from 1928. Mitchell pushed the Spitfire's distinctive elliptical wing with cutting-edge sunken rivets (designed by Beverley Shenstone) to have the thinnest possible cross-section, helping give the aircraft a higher top speed than several contemporary fighters, including the Hawker Hurricane. Mitchell continued to refine the design until his death in 1937, whereupon his colleague Joseph Smith took over as chief designer, overseeing the Spitfire's development throughout its multitude of variants.

During the Battle of Britain, from July to October 1940, the public perceived the Spitfire to be the main RAF fighter, though the more numerous Hurricane shouldered a greater proportion of the burden against Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe. However, Spitfire units had a lower attrition rate and a higher victory-to-loss ratio than those flying Hurricanes because of Spitfire's higher performance. During the battle, Spitfires were generally tasked with engaging Luftwaffe fighters—mainly Messerschmitt Bf 109E-series aircraft, which were a close match for them.

After the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire superseded the Hurricane to become the backbone of RAF Fighter Command and saw action in the European, Mediterranean, Pacific, and South-East Asian theatres. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire served in several roles, including interceptor, photo-reconnaissance, fighter-bomber, and trainer, and it continued to serve in these roles until the 1950s. The Seafire was a carrier-based adaptation of the Spitfire that served in the Fleet Air Arm from 1942 through to the mid-1950s. Although the original airframe was designed to be powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine producing 1,030 hp (768 kW), it was strong enough and adaptable enough to use increasingly powerful Merlins and, in later marks, Rolls-Royce Griffon engines producing up to 2,340 hp (1,745 kW). As a result, the Spitfire's performance and capabilities improved over the course of its service life.

The Mk LFIXe Spitfire was built in March 1944 and fitted with a Merlin 66 engine with a two-speed, two-stage supercharger optimised for low altitudes.

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Gallery