After watching the Spitfire that landed here at Worcester airport the other day I wanted to learn more about it. What I found out was truly amazing.
Supermarine Spitfire MK.IX tail number BR601 first flew in June 16, 1942. It was the sixth conversion from a model M.V into a MK.IX. During its history it flew 116 combat missions and was piloted by two aces. These were Australian ace Tony Gaze who had 12.5 victories and also Colin Grey from New Zealand who had 27.5 victories.
So what I saw landing the other day was a true piece of history in front of me.
For more on BR601 and it's long distinguished history please see the Collin's foundation website. Here is a link with much more details:
http://www.collingsfoundation.org/aircrafts/supermarine-spitfire-mk-ix/
And if you are in the area please come to the Worcester airport on September 22 - 24, 2017 to see many of these restored aircraft fly once again.
Lovely post but Tony Gaze was Australian - not Austrian.
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing this out. Auto correct makes a mockery of my typing. Fixed it in the text.
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