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WARBIRD & CLASSIC REPORT • WARBIRD & CLASSIC REPORT • WARBIRD & CLASSIC REPORT • WARBIRD & CLASSIC REPORT • WARBIRD & CLASSIC REPORT • WARBIRD & CLASSIC REPORT
ANOTHER SPITFIRE NEARS
FLIGHT
At Air Leasing Ltd. In Sywell, England, Supermarine Spitfire PR Mk. XIV
RM927 is nearing the end of a lengthy restoration. The Griffon-powered fighter
flew as G9*X with No. 430 (Canadian) Squadron based at Eindhoven in The
Netherlands. With the end of the war, it was sold to the Belgian Air Force and
flew as SG-25 with the code 3R*D. When it was withdrawn from use, the wings
were cut off and it was put on display at Ostend, Belgium. In 1967, the Spitfire
was sold to a buyer in England but headed to the Victory Air Museum in Illinois
in 1969. It went into storage but in 1982 limited restoration work started.
However, in 1995 it was shipped back to the UK and several attempts were made
at restoring the aircraft. In 2009, it was registered G-JNMA but by February 2021
it had become G-SXIV for a new French owner and that is when it was trucked
to Sywell for completion. This is basically an original airframe and not what is
often called a “data plate rebuild” where everything is new except for the data
plate and quite honestly that is usually also new. The plane has been painted in a
historically correct scheme as aircraft X with No. 430 Squadron.Fitted with a Rolls-Royce Griffon engine and five-blade Rotol propeller,
Spitfire RM927 should fly in the near future.MITCHELL
TRIBUTE
PROJECT
On 23 April, a
rare eight-gun nose
from a North American
B-25 that is currently
undergoing restoration
made its first public
appearance, reports
Nicholas A. Veronico.
The nose was part
of the Armed Forces
Celebration sponsored
by a local Kansas City
veterans organization.
Also based in Kansas
City, the B-25 History
Project is an historical
organization dedicated to
preserving and honoring
the history of the B-
and the men and women
that built, flew and
maintained them. Aero
Trader did a magnificent
job with the eight-gun
nose in Betty’s Dream and this is only the second time such a restoration
has been attempted. It will be as historically accurate as possible as well as
accessible for viewing at eye-level. For more information on the project, go to
http://www.B-25History.org.The gun nose under restoration.(continued on page 86)