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History

The Spitfire Mk XVI ‘SL721’ left the production plant in August 1945 for the 6 Maintenance Unit (6MU) where it was stored for a number of months. In 1946 Spitfire XVI, serial number SL721 was delivered to the Fighter Command Communications Squadron, then to the Metropolitan Communications Squadron, where it became the personal aircraft of the Air Chief Marshal Sir James Milne Robb adorned with J-MR codes and a special shade of light blue. Following his transfer, the spitfire was sent to the Maintenance Unit.

In 1949 Sir James Milne Robb took another active command and sought out his Spitfire, which was still in the Maintenance Unit. In 1954 the SL721 was sold to private hands and lived on a garage forecourt in the hands of the Beaulieu Motor Museum. In the 1960s, it made its way to the collection of early warbird restorer Doug Arnold, though nothing was done with the airframe other than to store it indoors – an improvement since it had been stored outside before this and was quite weathered. In the early 1970s, Arnold sold the Spitfire to an American collector, Bill Ross of Chicago where the Spitfire was restored and painted in Battle of Britain colours with the initials JMR. Sold to Woodson K Woods in 1977 where it was rebuilt again and painted in RAF camouflage with Woodson’s initials WKW.

In 1999 son Chris Woods restored SL721 to the way it was when flown by Air Vice-Marshal Sir James M. Robb in 1949 in the light blue scheme with the initials JMR.

Sold to Michael Potter of Ottawa in 2000, three years later he contacted Spitfire historian Bob Swaddling to oversee the repainting of SL721 at Sky Harbour in Goderich Ontario. Through Bob’s research, they decided to have it repainted to represent No. 421 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force camouflage as AU*J which represents an aircraft flown by Flight-Lt. William Harper of Niagara Falls, Ontario. Canadian. The original AU*J (TB886) was named Dorothy II but Potter elected to replace this with 421’s adopted logo – the Indian head motif of the McColl’Frontenac oil Company which was applied to most of the squadron’s Spitfires. TB886 was the first low-back Mk. XVI to fly with the squadron and Harper had always wanted the logo applied to his Spitfire but the supply of decals had run out. Flight-Lt. Harper flew the first Canadian Mk XVI bubble canopy Spitfire used in action during the war.

In 2018 Spitfire Mk XVI SL721 was again sold to Mr Kris Van Den Bergh in Belgium and reassembled at the FAST Aero Workshop at Brasschaat. On May 6th, 2018 it became the first Spitfire to be registered in Belgium in over half a century and the first to depart from Brasschaat Aerodrome.

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The Aircraft

Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk. 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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