Queries on US based Spitfires

[PeterA]

...Collings also now have the Spitfire Mk.XVI TE356 (ex-Evergreen Museum) which of course will need a good deal of work to fly again.

Do we know where TE356 is currently located?

PeterA

[JohnTerrell]

John, the Collings Foundation one is a Mk.IX and not a Mk.V.

Ben

Sorry, Ben, I should have gotten that typed correctly (I guess I was just thinking about its early features).

Peter, TE356 still remains at the Evergreen Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, for the time being (at least as of a month ago, it was pictured still there).

[Dave Hadfield]

We have 2 of course: a flying Mk XVI and a Mk IX that will fly this summer.

http://www.vintagewings.ca/en-ca/home.aspx

Dave,

My understanding is that SL721, your 'flying Mk XVI', requires quite a lot of TLC to get it back in the air.

PeterA

That was my understanding as well and that the aircraft is currently for sale

No, not at all. We stole the prop off the XVI and put it on the IX for the first engine runs last summer. And we are having another prop built up out of our extra parts -- should be ready in the spring. And the XVI has most of it's panels and plates and fairings removed -- but that's no big deal.

The XVI is REALLY handy during the restoration of the IX. They are parked side-by-side. The guys can instantly see what-was-what on the XVI, and transfer that to the IX. Right now the IX is having the cowlings and wing-root fairings built. This is very time-consuming of course, because much of it is endless fitting and English-wheel work, but the result appears to be superb.

Ken W., the man doing the work, is an artist.

Anyway, we'll market the XVI once the IX is flying (after this summer) because we don't need 2. But it will be sold as a flying aircraft.

Dave

[pjpahs]

Sm 969, which was Beasley's ,I was at the Reading WW2 weekend a few years ago and it was there , or I think it was his, and it took off after a P51 finished its routine. The difference in sound between the Griffon and Merlin was obvious. The Griffon Spit really outshined the Merlin Mustang. I know it wasn't a winner take all show but the Spit was impressive. 149 + thousand Merlins built and 8+ thousand Griffons built per WIKI.

[Rick65]

Can anyone update on the situation with repairs to Bill Greenwood's Mk TIX TE308 / N308WK?

[Pogo]

Yes, I have been wondering about the status of both the Greenwood, and LSFM, Spits. Anyone?

[Lon Moer]

TE 384

51 Factory

[Jason]

geek Sorry, But did I missed the Lone Star Flight Museum's Mk. XVI ( Converted to High Back, ) that was caught in the Hurricane's High water ? again, so sorry if I missed that here!

This is interesting. From the basic search I have just done, TE392 was a gate guardian basically it's whole life until 1984 when it was recovered. It would seem the conversion to high-back was carried out in United States in the late nineties? I would have thought that the airframe would have been largely intact & original until it's restoration to flight, so why would it have been converted to high-back?

Was it just because high-back Spitfires look more like Spitfires..... so to speak?

And when that "restoration" was carried out on what I am presuming was an original British airframe.... how much American sheetmetal, hardware, rivets & fittings were incorporated?

Was this the done thing back in the day & if so, were any other Spitfires "converted"?

Just interested to know if anyone can shed any light on it?

Jason

[Speeddemon651]

Being based at KESN, (Easton, MD). I can confirm Mr Blair's Spitfires are kept airworthy.

[Triplane102]

geek Sorry, But did I missed the Lone Star Flight Museum's Mk. XVI ( Converted to High Back, ) that was caught in the Hurricane's High water ? again, so sorry if I missed that here!

This is interesting. From the basic search I have just done, TE392 was a gate guardian basically it's whole life until 1984 when it was recovered. It would seem the conversion to high-back was carried out in United States in the late nineties? I would have thought that the airframe would have been largely intact & original until it's restoration to flight, so why would it have been converted to high-back?

Was it just because high-back Spitfires look more like Spitfires..... so to speak?

And when that "restoration" was carried out on what I am presuming was an original British airframe.... how much American sheetmetal, hardware, rivets & fittings were incorporated?

Was this the done thing back in the day & if so, were any other Spitfires "converted"?

Just interested to know if anyone can shed any light on it?

Jason

I DO Know it was restored in Florida, before LSFM received it !

[PeterA]

This is interesting. From the basic search I have just done, TE392 was a gate guardian basically it's whole life until 1984 when it was recovered. It would seem the conversion to high-back was carried out in United States in the late nineties? I would have thought that the airframe would have been largely intact & original until it's restoration to flight, so why would it have been converted to high-back?

Jason

The high back conversion was undertaken in the UK during 1989.



"...Following Doug Arnold’s death in 1992, TE392 together with BR601 was shipped to the USA and placed in store. In March 1994 it was reported as sold to Mike Araldi on behalf of Jet Cap Aviation and shipped to Harry Stenger’s facility at Bartow, Florida, where the restoration work continued to airworthy condition."


PeterA