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Spitfire T IX, PT462

The Aircraft Restoration Company's 2 seater Spitfire T IX, PT462, G-CTIX, was active for passenger flights at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford on Saturday 13 April 2023, here seen on one of its first outings of the day. Spitfire PT462 was part of a batch ordered on 17th July 1943 and built at Castle Bromwich as an HF IXe and powered by a Merlin 70 engine. Delivered to 39 Maintenance Unit (MU) at Colerne, Wiltshire on 21 July 1944, it was soon moved to 215 MU at Dumfries, Scotland on 31July for shipping overseas. It was transported on board the SS Silversandal on 9 August and arrived for the Mediterranean Allied Air Force on 23 August. Then issued to 4 Squadron, South African Air Force on 19 November, coded “KJ-Z”, it was based initially at Bellaria, on the Italian Adriatic coast, before moving to Forli in December. PT462 returned to the RAF on 5 January 1945 and may have seen further service with 73 and 326 Squadrons, but by April 1945 it was being operated by 253 Squadron, coded 'SW-A'. The Squadron spent time in Yugoslavia, Italy and Austria before disbanding on 16 May 1947. PT462 was then stored at Treviso before being sold to the Italian Air Force on 26 June 1947 and given Italian serial number MM4100 when serving with 5 Stormo based at Orio al Serio, near Bergamo. Later sold to the Israeli Air Force (IAF), it was flown out to the Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) plant at Lydda in April 1952. It was given the identity of 20-67 and carried the call sign code '67' on its fuselage side and served with IAF, 105 Squadron at Ramut David Air Force Base. The Israelis retired their last 16 Spitfires in 1956 and 20-67 was ferried to IAI Lod for storage bearing the civilian registration 4X-FOM. The IAF later donated a number of airframes to various Kibbutz for display and 20-67 was given to Kibbutz Kfar-Gaza. In 1976 the now derelict airframe was discovered with its faded 4 Squadron markings of 'KJ-Z' showing through its dilapidated paintwork. After a number of years the remains of the Spitfire were buried at the municipal rubbish dump. Duxford based collector Robs Lamplough traced and recovered it to his storage facility at Fowlmere, Cambridge on 10 May 1983. It consisted of the propeller hub, engine and front fuselage section to just aft of the cockpit. There were no wings, aft fuselage or tail section. The remains were sold to Spitfire collector Charles Church and moved to his workshop in Hampshire in July 1984, where a restoration to flying condition was started. Under Chief Engineer Dick Melton, the aeroplane was rebuilt into a two seat Spitfire and utilised the wings from another ex-Israeli Spitfire, TE517. The wings were rebuilt to PRXI configuration and incorporated that specific marks large leading edge fuel tank, significantly increasing the available fuel tank capacity and giving increased range of operation as a result. The low two seat canopy modification pioneered by Nick Grace and Dick Melton was incorporated, giving the overall profile a more streamlined shape than the original Vickers-Supermarine factory built two-seat canopy arrangement. A new tail section was constructed by Air Repair at Bicester and an overhauled Rolls Royce Merlin 66 came from Aviation Jersey Ltd. The rebuilt Spitfire was registered as G-CTIX and first flown by Shuttleworth Collection Chief Pilot, John Lewis on 25 July 1987. Once test flying was finished it was painted in an unusual green and Blue camouflage scheme. During ground testing a catastrophic internal engine failure occurred and a replacement Packard Merlin 224 was fitted which is still on the aircraft. Following the death of Charles Church in 1989 the Spitfire was sold by his estate and moved to Florida in 1994, where it became N462JC with Mike Araldi’s Jet Cap Aviation at Bartow. During this ownership the current paint-scheme was applied to represent its time as 'SW-A' with 253 Squadron. Jet Cap Aviation later changed its plans and the Spitfire was sold in February 1998 to Anthony Hodgson of Towyn, Wales, reverting to its British registration of G-CTIX. John Romain and John “Smudge” Smith of The Aircraft Restoration Company (ARCo) joined Anthony Hodgson, his brother Jeff and his engineer Dave Budden and travelled to Bartow to dismantle PT462 for shipping back to Duxford where it arrived on 30 April 1998. After re-assembly and certification the Spitfire returned to the air on 5 August 1998 in the hands of John Romain. Once checked out in September of the same year, Anthony Hodgson based his Spitfire at his private strip in North Wales where he continued to fly and display it at a variety of shows. The Aircraft Restoration Company acquired the aircraft on 9 October 2017 and it is now part of their fleet based at Duxford Airfield, Cambridgeshire. Filmed at IWM Duxford on 29/9/21 - Pilot - Stuart Goldspink. This Video and Audio content is Copyright © 2024 StephenKeeler (HightFlight/SkyHighFlightTV) All Rights Reserved