Aeroplane – June 2018

T

he historic aircraft scene

without Supermarine Spitfi re

IX MH434 is unthinkable.

This illustrious and highly

original combat veteran is imbued

with a provenance and heritage few

other warbirds can match, and one

that stems not only from its active

service but its subsequent existence,

too. There was its role in the Battle of

Britain fi lm, there was its time with

Sir Adrian Swire and the association

made with great display pilots such as

Ray Hanna and Neil Williams, and

there is its 35-year — and counting

— ownership by the Old Flying

Machine Company, MH434 still

being fl own very much in the Hanna

spirit. Now in its 75th anniversary

year, the machine is truly cherished,

and rightly so.

But none of that might have

happened without Tim Davies. Then

a 25-year-old pilot with nothing

nearly so powerful as a Spitfi re listed

TIM

DAVIES

meets

in his logbook, he acquired the fi ghter

in 1963 and brought it back to the

UK for the fi rst time since 1947. It

became one of Britain’s fi rst privately

owned airworthy warbirds, not that

the term was in use then. For four

years, painted in a civilian scheme as

G-ASJV, MH434 was its new owner’s

personal mount. He fl ew it primarily

for pleasure, but also at displays

and for a movie, foreshadowing the

aircraft’s future career. And after he

sold ’JV, Davies’ association with

Spitfi res was far from over.

Both Tim’s father and uncle fl ew in

the Battle of Britain. His father, Sqn

Ldr J. A. Davies, became the British

commanding offi cer of No 308

(Polish) Squadron, but lost his life

during a training fl ight on 16 October

1940 when his Hurricane I hit a

barrage balloon cable. Tim was two

years old at the time, but knowing

what happened far from put him off

aviation. “My fi rst school was near

WORDS: BEN DUNNELL

In the early 1960s,

privately owned, airworthy

Spitfi res were practically

unknown — but then a

25-year-old private pilot

decided to buy one,

and brought back to

the UK an example that

became legendary

74 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com

The owner/pilot climbs

into his new mount. The

badge below the Spitfi re’s

windscreen is that of No

222 (Natal) Squadron,

with which MH434 fl ew in

wartime. RICHARD T. RIDING

74-80_AM_AeroMeets_July18_cc C.indd 74 04/06/2018 12:27