Posted on 04/09/2017 5:29:47 PM PDT by DFG
A spitfire shot down over France in 1944 has flown for the first time since the Second World War after a £3 million restoration. The NH341 took part in 27 combat missions between June and July 1944 and was flown by nine pilots in the Royal Canadian Air Force's 411 (Grizzly Bear) squadron. Pilot John Romain flew the historic aircraft over Duxford, Cambridge, after a 30-month restoration project, which was declared a 'huge success'.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Kewl
Two seater?
One of the iconic planes of wwII. Looks like a trainer.
The answer is contained in the story. People pay for rides.
Spitfire NH341 was built at Castle Bromwich as a Spitfire Low Level Fighter (LFIXE)
The restorers converted it to a two-seat T9 trainer...why the hell why would you do that with a combat veteran airframe ?!?!
To get paying passengers to defray costs.
Any experts know what model it was originally? Plenty of lack of detail in the story.
It looks like it was modified into a post-war TR9 design.
Lots of warbirds were converted into two seaters. Makes it a lot easier to share the experience with others... including the wife who may not entirely approve of such a purchase that she can't share.
It’s surprising that dropping 3 million pounds on a small plane will let it fly....defies the laws of physics...
I wonder how much of this one is original. Everything except the wings, fuselage, tail, engine, landing gear and accessories?
No way I’d fly in an aircraft that’s even older than I am
Yes, the wife liked flying, but the Aeronca Champ with front to back seating was a no go. 182, much better
Like why didn’t they just build a whole new replica?
I have no shot of getting wifey into the SNJ.. but she likes the Harley:)
I once knew a guy who worked for an aircraft restoration company. As I understood it, in the case of valuable warbirds, they might declare a bakelite knob salvageable and manufacture an entire aircraft around the knob and market the finished product as a restored warbird along with accompanying price premium.
The data plate is original.
You can do that if you have the “Data Plate”.
All other parts are replaceable.
When an older plane crashes, make sure you save that, at the minimum.
I once knew a guy who worked for an aircraft restoration company. As I understood it, in the case of valuable warbirds, they might retrieve what they could from a jungle, bog,etc, examine the pieces and declare a bakelite knob salvageable. They had drawings for everything and would manufacture an entire aircraft around the knob and market the finished product as a restored warbird along with accompanying price premium.
That may have been a bit of an exaggeration on his part... or not.
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