FlyPast – August 2018

62 FLYPAST August 2018

MH434

SPITFIRE IX MH434: A BRIEF HISTORY

Aug 7, 1943 Built at the Vickers-managed Castle Bromwich
Aircraft Factory, Birmingham. Maiden fl ight by chief
test pilot Alex Henshaw.

Aug 13, 1943 Delivered to 222 (Natal) Squadron at Hornchurch,
Essex, by Air Transport Auxiliary ferry pilot Diana
Banarto. It was given the squadron codes ‘ZD-B’ – the
colours it wears again today.

Aug-Sep, 1943 Flown by, among others, South African Flt Lt Henry
Lardner-Burke DFC. While piloting MH434 he achieved
his fi nal victories: a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and another,
damaged (August 27); a Fw 190 (September 5); a
Messerschmitt Bf 109G shared (with Fg Off Otto Smik
of 222, September 8), all over France. Lardner-Burke
fi nished with a total of 7.5 destroyed and 3 damaged.

Briefl y transferred to the Belgian-manned 350

Squadron, also at Hornchurch.

Nov 9, 1943 Returned to 222 Squadron by this date, enabling Flt
Sgt Alfred ‘Bill’ Burge to become acquainted with it.

Feb 5, 1945 Issued to 9 Maintenance Unit, Cosford, Shropshire,
for storage.

Jul 27, 1947 Transferred to the Royal Netherlands Air Force, as
H-105 and, from July 1948, H-68. Shipped to Java,
Dutch East Indies.

Dec 22, 1947 Issued to 322 Squadron, based at Semarang. Used
in the ground-attack role against nationalist forces
seeking independence from the Netherlands. Unit
disbanded September 1949 and MH434 shipped to
the Netherlands in Jan 1950.

Mar 1953 Sold to the Belgian Air Force, overhauled by Fokker

as B-13. Served with the Advanced Pilot School at

Koksijde as SM-41 and later at Brustem.

Mar 26, 1956 Acquired by civil contractor Compagnie Génerale
d’Exploitation Aérienne (COGEA), Koksijde. Registered
as OO-ARA.

Jun 29, 1963 Ferried from Belgium to the UK, having been
acquired by airline pilot Tim Davies. Registered as
G-ASJV (July 3), based at Elstree, Herts.

Nov 29, 1967 Acquired by Spitfi re Productions Ltd for use in the

fi lm Battle of Britain, registered to T G ‘Hamish’

Mahaddie, the fi lm’s chief technical advisor.

Feb 1969 Acquired by Adrian Christopher Swire, based initially
at Leavesden, Herts. For a while, the Spitfi re carried
the codes ‘AC-S’, Adrian’s initials.

Apr 1983 Sold at auction and acquired by Ray Hanna, who had
been fl ying it since February 21, 1970. Operated by
the Old Flying Machine Company, Duxford, ever since.

COGEA’s OO-ARA – Mk.IX MH434 – at Koksijde, Belgium, in 1958.
PETER GREEN COLECTION

B-for-Baker – colours that it was

returned to in the early 1980s.

“After that we were sent to

various localities to co-operate with

the British army, using a variety

of very aged Spitfires. [In turn,

222 was stationed at Woodvale,

Lancs, in December, as well as

Catterick, Yorks and Acklington,

Northumberland, both in

February 1944.]

“Just prior to the Normandy

invasion, on most occasions Flt

Lt Ernie Broad DFC, the ‘A’ Flight

commander, led 222 and, as his

deputy, I led his flight. On a dozen

occasions, I was involved in dive-

bombing the ‘buzz-bomb’ [V-1] sites

Spitfi re ‘ZD-B’ with cockpit

access door open.

The Spitfi re is operated by Old Flying Machine

Company and has been a ‘regular’ on the UK

airshow scene for decades.