Last night as I was packing up my briefcase for some work at home, I heard the roar of a Merlin engine overhead. By the time I had packed up the car, shut the office for the night, and walked round to the airfield to see what (if anything) had landed, there was nothing to be seen.Then I was told by a volunteer at the Sywell Aerodrome Museum that I had been correct and that a Spitfire has landed and was already safely in the hanger for the night.
On my return in the morning Spitfire ML407 was out of its hanger and on the airfield, soon to be in the air at a corporate event at Sywell. I was able to snatch a few moments during the day to bring you a few photos of the daily activity. I hope you like them.
Some of you will have noticed that this is the second Two Seat Spitfire to have visited Sywell recently. Please look back at Newsletter “HALT who goes there !” from a few weeks back and make comparisons. All previous Newsletters can be viewed on the website or by clicking the link here.
The Grace Spitfire ML407 was originally built at Castle Bromwich in early 1944 as a Mark IX single seat fighter and served in the front line of battle throughout the last twelve months of World War II with six different allied Squadrons of the RAF’s 2nd Tactical Air Force. ML407 flew a total of 176 operational combat sorties with a total 319 combat hours. ML407 was delivered to 485 New Zealand Squadron on the 29th April 1944 by Jackie Moggridge, one of the top lady pilots of the Air Transport Auxilllary (ATA), where it became the ‘mount’ of Flying Officer Johnnie Houlton DFC who was accredited, whilst flying ML407, with the first enemy aircraft shot down over the Normandy beachhead on 6th June D-Day.
In December 1944 ML407 was transferred to 341 Free French Squadron to Sergeant Jean Dabos. It then moved on through various Allied Squadrons – 308 (Polish) Squadron, 349 (Belgian) Squadron, 345 (Free French) Squadron, 332 (Norwegian) Squadron and back to 485 (New Zealand) Squadron at the cessation of hostilities. ML407 then went into a Maintenance Unit where it remained until being selected by Vickers-Armstrongs at Eastleigh, Southampton for conversion in 1950 to the two seat configuration for the Irish Air Corps as an advanced trainer. ML407 changed to 162 and flew to Baldonnel. Flying a further 762 with the IAC the aircraft was put into storage and offered for sale in 1968. Sir William Roberts eventually bought the aircraft for his museum in Strathallan
Design Engineer Nick Grace, having always wanted to fly a Spitfire, acquired ML407 in late 1979 from the Strathallan Museum and spent five years meticulously restoring the Spitfire to flying condition in its two seat configuration incorporating what is known as the ‘Grace in line Canopy Conversion’ which Nick designed to remove the bulbous rear canopy to a more streamlined version to keep the original line of the Spitfire intact. Nick completed this incredible project in early 1985 and on the 16th April the Grace Spitfire flew again with Nick’s capable hands at the controls and Carolyn in the rear cockpit.
Nick Grace went on to fly the Spitfire at many Airshows throughout the UK and Europe. A cruel twist of fate occurred when Nick was tragically killed in a car accident in 1988 leaving his widow Carolyn and their two children Olivia aged 5 and Richard aged 4. Carolyn knew there needed to be a Grace flying ML407 and so took on the immense task of learning to fly the Spitfire.
Carolyn went solo in ML407 in 1990 and the Spitfire ML407 became known as the Grace Spitfire in tribute to and in memory of Nick Grace. Carolyn attained her display authorisation in the Grace Spitfire in 1991 and carried on to add an Aerobatic and Formation qualification over the next two years. She has been displaying the Grace Spitfire for more than 22 years.
The Grace Spitfire is based at Bentwaters in Suffolk and during the summer months can be found at its other base at Duxford in Cambridgeshire and is maintained by its own Team of Engineers including Richard Grace who has been working on the Grace Spitfire since he was 14.
It was the intention of Nick Grace for his Spitfire, now the Grace Spitfire, to carry on for generations to come and with his untimely death Carolyn took up the gauntlet of keeping this aircraft flying and now the next generation – being Richard Grace is not only maintaining the aircraft but is flying the aircraft just as his late father had done.
Keeping the Grace Spitfire flying is an incredibly daunting challenge financially and it was the idea of Olivia Grace aged 14 at the time, to start the Grace Spitfire Supporters Group in late 1997. To this date the Group has continued to thrive and is unique in that it supports the one Spitfire. The large annual costs are helped to be met by the Grace Spitfire Supporters Group and the fund raising for the spare Merlin Engine rebuild ensures we will always have a serviceable engine for ML407 but without the generosity of JLT Insurance Brokers who sponsor the entire insurance programme for the Grace Spitfire the aircraft would not fly.
Above is a shot of Vulcan XH558 in formation with our resident display team… The Blades on Monday after the R.I.A.T weekend airshow. The Vulcan not only displayed overhead on arrival, but after the flypast formation above, returned to display yet again. Unfortunately I missed much of the second display on its return and I am indebted to Mr. Richard Howells who kindly emailed me the picture below of the Vulcan flying over the Flying Tigers Office.
MODEL NEWS
As many of you will already know the Hobbymaster Vigilante HA4701 is now a worldwide sell out and is no longer available to Pre-order. Those of you that have already pre-ordered your models with me WILL receive your models, but there are no more available and it is now SOLD OUT.
I am also told by Hobbymaster that the second Vigilante model HA4702 is already close to sell out worldwide and that very few will be coming into the UK as they are simply not available in sufficient quantities. If you have missed out on the first model I would strongly advise you to Pre-order this model with Flying Tigers as soon as possible as I will close the order book on this soon. Again only limited quantities will make it to the UK. Please click on the image below and it will take you straight to the model page on the website.
I have added the following Weekend Special Deals to the site and it will be on a first come first served basis. Please click on the images below to see what fantastic prices are available this weekend. The offer closes midnight Monday the 10th August 2015.
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Once again thank you all for taking time to read this Newsletter and I hope you have a great weekend.
Richard.
Flying Tigers.
