New Spitfire

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By: xtangomike - 9th April 2012 at 09:46

Hmmm.....this is a new one, anyone got some history or details ?

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=60&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=detailnosummary&fullregmark=TCHZ

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By: Anonymous - 9th April 2012 at 10:18 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

For those who can access it, see my article in "After The Battle Magazine" number 55 from 1987.

A real surprise to see this appear on the register!

The aircraft was recovered by the Hawkinge Aeronautical Trust (Kent Battle of Britain Museum) in 1982.

This Spitfire was lost on 16 April 1941 with Plt Off Mierzwa (303 Sqn) killed. It was shot down over Dungeness and dived into the shingle beach by The High Light (Dungeness lighthouse) and a small memorial marks the crash site.

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By: DCK - 9th April 2012 at 10:40 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

The more the merrier! Can't have enough Spits!

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By: Moggy C - 9th April 2012 at 11:01 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

That's not what Goering thought ;)

Moggy

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By: trumper - 9th April 2012 at 11:19 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

:) will it be at *******:)

How much of it remains,is there enough for a genuine rebuild.

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By: Bruce - 9th April 2012 at 11:30 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

As much as many others I'm sure!

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By: bms44 - 9th April 2012 at 11:46 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

That's not what Goering thought ;)

Moggy

'Dolfo' Galland chose to disagree with Hermann though, Moggy...:)

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By: jeepman - 9th April 2012 at 11:49 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Looking at the registration, I wonder whether it will have a blue stable-mate

By: Anonymous - 9th April 2012 at 12:44 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Several have requested details from my 1987 article (written in 1986) relative to the loss of P7819 at Dungeness. It is as follows:

"....As the Messerschmitts had come down in the attack the very first to go were 303’s weavers, Pilot Officers Waskiewicz and Mierzwa. Hit from behind, both took terrific punishment from the Messerschmitt’s 20mm cannon and 7.92mm machine guns. They probably never knew what hit them, and never had a chance to shout a warning. Waskiewicz plunged into the sea, no doubt dead over his controls, a momentary plume of spray and slick of oil being his only grave marker. Fractionally later and Mierzwa followed the same way, his Spitfire (P7819) roaring with awful ferocity into the pebble beach at Dungeness and shaking even the foundations of the solid and immovable lighthouse just yards away. It was some time before those on the ground could approach the blazing wreckage, although ‘wreckage’ is probably an incorrect term to describe the scene which met the gaze of those nearby. Almost nothing remained to show that an aeroplane had crashed here; the terrible inferno had sent exploding ammunition flying in all directions together with razor sharp flakes of flint from the pebbles which were shattering in the intense heat. When the blaze had died down, a small heap of white ash and molten aluminium lay around a shallow and blackened depression in the beach, the scorched pebbles having fallen back into the crater which had been viciously carved by the crash. When the stomach-churning task of picking through the wreckage had finished, the pitiful remains were taken away for burial by his brother Poles at Northwood. By some miracle, Boguslav Mierzwa’s identification had survived the crash."

The excavation at the crash site took place, I believe, in 1982. I do not know the detail of what was recovered save to say that the CBAF constructor's data plate from the cockpit was found.

Photo here of the on-site memorial:

http://www.urban75.org/photos/kent/dungeness.html

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By: xtangomike - 9th April 2012 at 13:05 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Pilots of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron RAF with one of their Hawker Hurricanes, October 1940.

A group of pilots of No 303 Polish Fighter Squadron RAF walking toward the camera from a Hawker Hurricane after, purportedly, returning from a fighter sortie. Left to right, in the front row are; Pilot Officer Mirosław Ferić, Flight Lieutenant John A Kent (Commander of 'A' Flight), Flying Officer Bogdan Grzeszczak, Pilot Officer Jerzy Radomski, Pilot Officer Witold Łokuciewski, Pilot Officer Bogusław Mierzwa (obscured by Łokuciewski), Flying Officer Zdzisław Henneberg, Sergeant Jan Rogowski and Sergeant Eugeniusz Szaposznikow. In the centre, to the rear of this group, wearing helmet and goggles is Flying Officer Jan Zumbach.

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By: PanzerJohn - 9th April 2012 at 13:27 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

So they got the data plate, half way there, bolt a pair of wings onto it with a cockpit and few other bits, and bob's yer uncle, Legends beckons!

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By: knifeedgeturn - 9th April 2012 at 13:43 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

"The excavation at the crash site took place, I believe, in 1982. I do not know the detail of what was recovered save to say that the CBAF constructor's data plate from the cockpit was found."

See my signature below.....

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By: xtangomike - 9th April 2012 at 13:54 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Perhaps they were at the auction....!!!!!?????

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By: Anonymous - 9th April 2012 at 14:06 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

"The excavation at the crash site took place, I believe, in 1982. I do not know the detail of what was recovered save to say that the CBAF constructor's data plate from the cockpit was found."

See my signature below.....

Page 49 of my article on The Dungeness Spitfire (ATB Magazine No 55, 1987) and you will find a photograph of the said data plate.

By: Anonymous - 9th April 2012 at 16:09 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

....which now (possibly) lies 850 yards SW of Dungeness Point.

Get your diving gear out, but look out for the nuclear power station cooling intake or outfall!

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By: paulmcmillan - 10th April 2012 at 08:50 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

....which now (possibly) lies 850 yards SW of Dungeness Point.

Get your diving gear out, but look out for the nuclear power station cooling intake or outfall!

Has that particular Spitfire got a "Dungeness B" Wing?

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By: GrahamF - 10th April 2012 at 11:31 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

:) will it be at *******:)

How much of it remains,is there enough for a genuine rebuild.

Quite a lot, they managed to recover a cigarette butt from the bottom of the cockpit which reputedly fell from the lips of the chap at Supermarine who fitted the wings.
It will be encapsulated in resin and bolted to the inside of the cockpit to insure
originality with the real aircraft.

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By: CeBro - 10th April 2012 at 17:42 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Come on chaps,

Step back in reality, this is how this works for the CAA. Accept it or seek
a new pastime to enjoy. You don't have to like it, but it doesn't
help repeating this over and over again. Remember, it's the Spitfire forum, or was it the Lancaster forum,.......;)

Keep them coming, in droves please.
Cees

By: Anonymous - 11th April 2012 at 09:35 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

I agree. Never enough new projects!

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By: Malcolm McKay - 11th April 2012 at 11:43 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

I'm waiting for the first restoration of a Spitfire based on a pencil rubbing of a real data plate taken from a Spitfire that took part in the Battle of Britain that was subsequently shot down and converted to aluminium ingots which later became a fine set of kitchen saucepans after going through separate lives as a Lancaster, a toaster, a Vulcan then finally finding fame after being used by Nigella Lawson.

Now that won't be a data plate special that will be a hot plate special :D