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ISSUE
22 - July 2008
Over 7,000 Total Ads Listed
1,000 NEW Ads Per Week
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| AN ORIGINAL SPITFIRE |
By Kevin Moore, Contributing Editor, Photographer & Poet
Roslin, Ontario , Canada
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| Sitting proud in the Vintage Wings hangar,
Gatineau, Quebec |
Spitfire! The unmistakable elliptical wings. The sound
of the Rolls-Royce Merlin that sends shivers up the backs
of young and old alike. Beauty. Grace. Style. Who hasn’t
dreamed of taking flight in a WWII vintage fighter of some
kind? Whether it’s a P-51 Mustang; a Hawker Hurricane;
an F1-G Corsair, or the venerable Spitfire.
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| The Vintage Wings
Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVIe has a Rolls-Royce Merlin 266
V12 engine that pumps out 1750 horsepower and offers the
Spitfire Mk XVI a top speed of 416mph. |
Aviation museum Vintage Wings of
Canada, operating out of Gatineau, Quebec, owns, what is
thought to be, the most wholly original flying Supermarine
Spitfire in the world. Though this Mark XVIe Spitfire was
built too late to see action during WWII, it served post-war
as the personal use aircraft of RAF Air Chief Marshall
Sir James Robb.
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| Supermarine Spitfire
Mk XVI. Note the narrow door width and the wing-mounted Hispano
Canon, left. Compared to fighter aircraft of today, the relative
simplicity of the cockpit and the instrument panel. |
In the 1950’s this aircraft was destined for scrap
but was saved and spent the next decade as a ground display
aircraft for various people/businesses’ until it
was sold to a gentleman in the USA in the mid 60’s.
After less than a decade in the States, it was purchased
by another UK owner and made its way back to England. It
was sold 4 years later, in 1977, and the Spitfire found
herself making her way back across the pond to the USA
yet again.
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| Vintage Wings of Canada P-51 Mustang Mk
IV with its sister ship, Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVIe |
In 2000, the aircraft was purchased
by Mr. Michael Potter and now finds its home in Gatineau,
QB with Vintage Wings of Canada. The airplane is painted
in the livery of 421 Sqn, Royal Canadian Air Force including “… the
McColl-Frontenac Oil Company logo, a ‘Red Indian’ head
motif.” The “Red Indian” was painted
on all 421 Sqn aircraft as McColl-Frontenac were what
was known as the “corporate patrons” of the
squadron.
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| The “Red Indian” head which
was painted on all aircraft of 421 Squadron, RCAF |
Owner Michael Potter and NRC (National
Research Council of Canada) test pilot and volunteer, Rob
Erdos, pilot the Spitfire. It can be seen at various air
shows and displays in Ontario, Quebec, and in upper New
York State. See www.vintagewings.ca for more information
on this beautiful Mk XVIe Spitfire as well as the museum
which includes other aircraft such as a P-51 Mustang Mk
IV, Hawker Hurricane Mk IV, FG-1D Corsair, Beech Staggerwing,
Fairy Swordfish, Westland Lysander, DeHavilland Fox Moth,
and more. |
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| Awaiting its pilot, nose pointed toward
the sky where the Spitfire longs to be – in its element |
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| On start up preparing for the first flights
of the June 7, 2008 Vintage Wings Open House. Note the smoke
from the engine exhaust stacks along the nose |
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| The Vintage Wings
P-51 Mustang Mk IV and Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVIe in formation
for a fly-past |
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A Pilot's
Dream
A poem by Kevin W. Moore
On the ground the nose raised
high
waiting for the word to fly
Spinner gleams in the morning light
beauty and grace she’s such a sight
Four blades of prop to cut the air
and climb to heights no others dare
Twelve cylinders they call Rolls-Royce
a well known sound of aircraft voice
The wings so sleek, the tail defined
there really is no other kind
She fires up, the engine roars
and echoes over quiet moors
Chalks away, the throttle half
she was the best in England’s RAF
Off the ground she climbs so quick
one hand on throttle, the other on stick
12,000 feet she climbs so high
and reaches out to touch the sky
So sharp and clean in her I sit
This most graceful bird they call the Spit |
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