K5054 and the replica at Tangmere

Last week was the 90th anniversary of the first flight of the Spitfire prototype, K5054, and, fittingly, there was a talk at Tangmere Aviation Museum about the replica of that aeroplane that they have on display (the original was destroyed in a crash a few years after it first flew, and subsequently scrapped). So back to Tangmere we went, following our latest visit just under a year ago.

We arrived well ahead of time, to give us some time to look around (they have so much on display; no way you can see all in one visit). And, specifically, we wanted to see the Rolls Royce Merlin engine that the museum acquired recently. Here it is!

Would be rude not to pay attention to the Rolls Royce Griffon engine next to it, wouldn't it?

But our main reason for visiting this time was the talk about the replica of K5054, how it came to be, and how it ended up at Tangmere. Whereas I had of course seen the replica aeroplane in previous visits, I knew next to nothing about its history.

The talk was given by Bill Williams, who was the manager of the project to create a replica of K5054.

How it all started in his garage, ...

... how none other than Jeffrey Quill offered advice and parts, ...

... the trials and tribulations of the financial and engineering challenges they faced, ...

... finally resulting in the K5054 replica as it is on display in the Museum today!

Bill gave an excellent talk, very informative and knowlegeable (coming straight from the "horse's mouth", with him having been the project manager) as well as very entertaining, sprinkled with humour throughout.

After the talk, we had to pay homage to the K5054 replica, of course, and take some more pictures.

I couldn't resist getting a Spitfire 90 mug from the museum shop just before we left ...

Spitfire PR XI

Third Spitfire kit, this time of a PR Mk XI.

A bit more about the history of this particular aircraft can be found here; and this is a picture of the Spit that the model is based on.

Ever wondered ... ?

Ever wondered what would happen if you put a Rolls Royce Merlin engine from a Spitfire into a car? Well, wonder no more, because someone insane enough to even think about it has actually done it ...

This insane individual is called John Dodd, and he fitted this monstrous car with a Rolls Royce grill, complete with 'Spirit of Ecstasy' hood ornament. As you might expect, Rolls Royce wasn't too happy with that, and dragged John Dodd to court. You can read more about what happened here.

Some years on, and the car is now in Britain, with a new owner, and officially registered as a Rolls Royce coupe. Happy to see that the ugly mustard yellow has been replaced with much more fitting grey tones!

Feast your eyes on the Spitfire engine under the bonnet (this picture was taken when the car still had its mustard yellow livery):

And if you want to hear this 27-litre V12 Spitfire engine start up, and see this 'Beast' being driven, check out this video:

Totally utterly insane ...

Tr.8 Spitfire

Following my kit of a Spit in civil service, I picked up another kit to build, this time of a Tr.8 two-seater.

Decided to build and paint it in the colours of the 1949 G-AIDN version.

It turns out this Spitfire (MT818) has a long and varied history. Built in 1944, it was converted to a two-seater training plane in 1946, and was also used for air racing between 1947 and 1959. For more information, see here.

And this Spit still flies today! Last year, it got a completely new livery, with USAAF markings, and is now known as Lady Ellen III.

'Aces High' Spitfire

This blog post is about a rather unusual Spitfire. One which never flew, and basically never really existed .... 

Curious? Read on!

The heavy metal band Iron Maiden brought out the single Aces High in 1984. The song is about the experience of an RAF pilot in the Battle of Britain, and the artwork of the single shows the band's mascots, Eddie the Head, in the cockpit of a Spitfire.

During live performances of the song, a large model of a Spitfire is often suspended over the podium. 

Turns out there is a 1/72 model of this 'Aces High' Spitfire! Of course I had to add that one to my collection, even though it's a lot more expensive than the other models in the collection so far ... 

Note that the identification markings are imaginary; there never was a Spitfire with registration P2210 or squadron code FT-L in the RAF.

And, of course, this blog post wouldn't be complete without a video of the Iron Maiden's Aces High song:

National Spitfire Monument

Southampton being the 'home of the Spitfire', there are ambitious plans for creating a National Spitfire Monument in the city, visible from afar.

The centrepiece of the monument is a 1.5 scale model of a Spitfire, soaring into the sky.

Very recently, the first tangible evidence of 'work in progress' on the monument was displayed in public, at Southampton Airport to be precise: a 1/40 scale model of the final monument.

Needless to say that I quickly popped into the departure area of the airport ....

The base will feature roundels of all air forces that flew Spitfires.

It will look absolutely fantastic once the actual monument is in place; can't wait to see it!!

Spit in civil service

Nearly all my Spitfire models are diecast models. The one exception is the model of a Spitfire 'Floatplane', which is a plastic kit, but which I got off eBay fully built.

From there, it's one small step to looking at plastic kits of Spitfires, see if I can find Spitfire versions that are not available as diecast models, and then build them from scratch, right?

So here's the first one: a model of a Mk IX Spitfire with civil livery.

And here is the completed model:

In addition to what's stated on the box, here is more on the history of the airplane.

It was fun to go back to building model kits again, something I used to do quite a lot many many years ago. There will no doubt be more!