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!
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, ...
... 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.
