Spitfire BM597-317 'City of Wilno' (Polish) Squadron, RAF Woodvale 1942 - Duxford Flying Finale 2022
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- čas přidán 21. 10. 2022
- Clive Denney flying the Historic Aircraft Collection's Spitfire Mk.Vb, BM597, G-MKVB, at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford during the Duxford Flying Finale 2022.
Spitfire BM597 wears the colour scheme that it would have had whilst serving with Royal Air Force (RAF) 317 'City of Wilno' (Polish) Squadron during 1942, while the squadron was mainly based at RAF Woodvale.
A combat veteran, Spitfire BM597 is one of 1000 aircraft built at Castle Bromwich against contract B981687/39 and was delivered to No.37 Maintenance Unit (MU), Burtenwood, on 26 April 1942, before being assigned to 315 'City of Dęblin' (Polish) Squadron on 7th May and then on to 317 'City of Wilno' (Polish) Squadron on 5 September 1942. Both of these squadrons were based at RAF Woodvale.
On 13th February 1943, BM597 suffered category B damage when Flying Officer Birtus lost brake pressure while taxiing and the aircraft overturned. It was sent for repair on 28th February and was ready again on 2nd June at 33 MU, RAF Lyneham. On 26th June it went to De Havilland Vickers Supermarine for fuel system, elevator and rudder modifications, wing stiffening, fitting of IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) Mark III electronic equipment and the fitting of a bomb carrier.
It went to 39 MU, RAF Colerne on 23rd November before moving to 222 MU, RAF High Ercall (a Packing Depot) on 4th January 1944 and then back to 39 MU on 14th April. It was stored at RAF Colerne for almost a year until it was issued to 58 Operational Training Unit (OTU) on 2nd April 1945, its last operational unit from which it was retired on 16th October 1945. It was then transferred to instructional airframe status as 5713M at 4 School of Technical Training at RAF St Athan.
Later BM597 was assigned as gate guardian to RAF Hednesford (1950-1955), RAF Bridgenorth (1955-1960) and RAF Church Fenton (1960-1989). On 23rd January 1967 it was sent from RAF Henlow to Pinewood film studios, where it was used as the master for the moulds that were made to cast fibre glass replica Spitfires to be used in the film 'Battle of Britain'. It remained at Pinewood Studios until August 1968 when it was returned to RAF Henlow and finally in 1969 to RAF Church Fenton.
Tim Routsis, the founder of Historic Flying, recovered the aircraft in 1989 as part of a deal with the RAF and sold it to the Historic Aircraft Collection (HAC) in 1993. Historic Flying undertook the complete restoration to original specification and BM597 flew now in the colours of 317 Squadron, although in an earlier camouflage paint scheme.
The HAC team contacted a number of Polish veterans who flew BM597 whilst in service with the RAF's Polish 315 Squadron (wearing codes PK-C) and Polish 317 Squadron (wearing codes JH-C).
Squadron Leader Ludwik Martel and Squadron Leader Tadeuz Anderz were reunited with the aircraft at the Old Hay Charity Fly-in in July 2000. Squadron Leader Franciszek Kornicki, was reunited with BM597 and sat in his former cockpit at Chailey in 2004.
Their signatures can now be found on the inside of the cockpit door.
From squadron records, other pilots who flew the aircraft were Sergeant (Sgt) Slonski, Pilot Officer (P/O) Widziszewski, P/O B. Semmerling, Flying Officer (F/O) H. Wyrozemski, Flight Sergeant (F/S) J. Adamiak, P/O S. Blok, P/O J Zbrozek, Sgt Alexsander Chudek, Flight Lieutenant (F/LT) Waleriaw Jasiowowski and F/LT W.J. Zajac. F/LT Zajac flew BM597 on several occasions including acceptance checks and tests when BM597 was assigned to 315 Squadron in May 1942.
In September 2005 Spitfire BM597 became the first Spitfire to return to the Mediterranean island of Malta since the filming of Malta Story in 1952. It flew there together with Hurricane "Z5140" as part of the Merlins Over Malta project.
On 1st July 2022 BM597 returned to its IWM Duxford base after a period of servicing and repainting by Clive Denney and the Vintage Fabrics team at Audley End Airfield. It has been fully returned to the wartime paint scheme that it had with 317 Squadron.
Spitfire BM597 can usually be found in Hangar 3 at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford.
Spitfire Vb Specifications:-
Wing Span : 36ft 10in (11.23 m)
Length : 29ft 11in (9.12 m)
Height : 11ft 5in (3.48 m)
Power-plant : 1,440 h.p. Rolls Royce Merlin 45
Weight : 6,700 lbs. (3,039kg) empty.
Maximum Speed :370 mph. (595km/h) at 19,500 ft (5943m)
Service Ceiling :36,500 ft. (11,125m)
Range :470 miles (756km) or 1135 miles (1826km) with overload tanks.
Armament :2 x 20mm Hispano cannons and
4 x 0.303 Vickers machine guns.
Bombs with wing bomb carriers fitted - 2x250lb or 1 x 500lb with centre bomb carrier.
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This might be my favourite thing on CZcams. As a Pole, BM597 has a special place in my heart. I first met her at RIAT 2015. Sadly on that occasion she was parked on the sidelines, but I got to take a picture of her up close and talk to the ground crew. Two years later I had the pleasure of seeing her perform at Flying Legends in Duxford. What a majestic piece of history. Spectacular work as always, thank you.
Thank you. The Historic Aircraft Collection are very closely affiliated with Poland and have many dedications to the Polish Squadrons and brave airmen who were based at and fought from RAF Duxford and other bases and close links with the Laguna's Spitfire Legacy organisation - lagunasspitfirelegacy.org Their Hurricane is also dedicated to the Polish squadrons and I believe that there is a memorial on the airfield dedicated to Polish Airmen and Squadrons. Hopefully I can show you here some more memories of the aircraft that your countrymen flew and the bravery and sacrifices that they made in the cause of freedom between 1939 and 1945. I salute our Polish friends.
I'm pretty sure that the specifications in the complete text above are incorrect. The overall length of a Spitfire V should be 29' 6" I think
Thanks Edward, I'll double check as I cut/pasted it from somewhere else!
Edward - Very well spotted and thank you again - the figures there are the same as for the wing span. I've corrected them to 29'11" which is the figure given in the references I've checked. I'll also check the other dimensions and performance stats.
Nice to see a Mk V putting on a spirited display like this, are aeroplanes now flying to a new height restrictions ? Chris B.
I'm not sure. This display was certainly higher and more distant than the Hurricane which displayed immediately before. Perhaps the Spitfire pilot wasn't cleared to fly lower or closer, although he's a more experienced display pilot than the Hurricane pilot, who was doing his 2nd public display. Or perhaps the Hurricane seemed closer because it's slower and slightly larger than the Spitfire?
@@HighFlight Clive Denney tends to perform more gentle displays at a slightly greater height - at the end of the day, he's been flying these planes for 30 years so it's his call how high he goes! Especially following Shoreham, I believe many pilots are less confident about descending below 500 feet, and that goes down to the individual preference of whoever is in the "hot seat".
@@Gaizhun Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. Better safety margins.
@@HighFlight absolutely. I spoke to Clive about it once and he made a good point "the crowd are just as likely to watch a spitfire fly past if it loops at 50 feet, or does a flypast at 500". After all, it is a spitfire...
@@Gaizhun A very wise observation!