Damaged by Bf109's and forced landed near Calais on 25-04-40 by
Peter Cazanove of 92 Squadron.

P9374 spent the next 60 years buried in the those Calais sands until she surfaced
in 2000 on the day that Peter Cazanove finally left us for the great
92 Squadron re-union beyond the Pearly Gates.

It's taken 10 years my friends,but she's nearly the world's oldest airworthy Spit.
She has as many of her original components as is possible,for example,all of the
engine's serviceable internals have been re-built into a new Merlin III crankcase.

She has a hand pumped undercarriage(no engine pump on her)installed.

Mark,
unfortunately I cannot get the link to connect....
Keith

Mark

The links are gif can you get em in JPG?

Leif

Sorry chaps,pictures now attached.

It was worth the wait old chum.....that is totally gorgeous

Leif

LeifH wrote:


Isn't she a doozy.

The firm that own her(Spitfire Mk1 Ltd,or something like that)have restored two
more.

One is Al Deere's that he put down in France toward the end of the
Battle of Dunkirk.
It's not KL*B/Kiwi either,but KL*A IIRC,edgeler knows.

T'other,it's rumoured,is another ex-92 Sqn kite,either Paul Klipsch's
or Pat Learmond's.

The thing is though,Paul Klipsch's went in vertically at a hell of a speed
and made a big hole(Klipsch had died in the cockpit,killed by the 109's that shot him down).
That is the so called "Time Team Spitfire" because it was recovered a few years ago
by the Time Team tv series people.

Pat Learmond's exploded in a ball of fire after being hit by 109's(Bob Tuck shot down
the 109 that shot Pat down),he being one of 92's early casualties in the Battle of Dunkirk.
Peter Cazenove found the wreckage of Pat's aircraft on the same beach he put P9374
down on.

There wasn't a lot of it left apparently.

So if it is either of those two,"providence" is going to be very thin indeed!!!

Mark

The Deere Spit will be KL-B, KL-A was the Spit that collided with him in November 1940 when 54 Sqn.were operating as a B class (training squadron) from Catterick in North Yorkshire, I believe KL-A is owned by Peter Monk who owns Spit HFIXe TA308 at Biggin.
Sorry to correct you Miggers old boy but Sgt. Klipsch was shot down by a Bf 110c.

Sibling rivalary
Do you know how refreshing it is to have such mine's of information here at the Pond...
Thank you gents all

Leif

Now to see if they can keep from cooking the engine....

LeifH wrote:


The worst bit is he's right,it was a 110

I'll get his old man(or his Mrs) to biff his ear'oles for me

Mark