Supermarine Spitfire Vb (BM597)  [@ RAF Duxford]

Built at Castle Bromwich in early 1942, Spitfire F VB BM597 was delivered to No 37 Maintenance Unit (MU) at Burtonwood, in Cheshire, on 26 April that same year. Its entire frontline service was spent with Polish units, the fighter joining No 315 Sqn at Woodvale, on Merseyside, on 7 May 1942, and then transferring to No 317 Sqn (again at Woodvale) four months later. Primarily used on defensive shipping patrols, the Spitfire was flown by more than 27 pilots during its nine months in Fighter Command.

BM597’s operational career came to an abrupt halt on 13 February 1943 when it suffered Category B damage. Repaired, the fighter then spent time in storage with Nos 39 and 222 MUs at Colerne and High Ercall, respectively. It remained at the latter site, in Shropshire, from January 1944 until early the following year, when it was transferred to No 58 Operational Training Unit. Grounded in October 1945, BM597 was then reclassified as ground instructional airframe 5713M and issued to No 4 School of Technical Training (SoTT) at St Athan.

A survivor of the wholesale scrapping of war-weary combat aircraft in the late 1940s, the Spitfire ended up serving as a gate guardian at a variety of RAF establishments throughout the 1950s and 1960s. These included Hednesford, Bridgnorth, Linton-on-Ouse and Church Fenton. In 1967 the fighter was transported to Harlow for the filming of the motion picture the "Battle of Britain", but instead of enjoying a flying role, it was sent to Pinewood Studios to serve as a master for the glassfibre moulds made by Spitfire Productions for the replica aircraft produced for the film. BM597 then returned to gate guard duties until acquired by Historic Flying Ltd (HFL) in 1988 in a deal that saw a large number of Spitfires sold by the Ministry of Defence to the Essex-based company.

Stored at HFL’s Audley End premises for five years, BM597 was purchased in 1994 by the Historic Aircraft Collection (HAC). The latter commissioned HFL to restore the Spitfire, and by the summer of 1997 the refurbished airframe had been paired up with a Merlin 35 engine from a Boulton Paul Balliol. Painted in an authentic scheme replicating its appearance with No 317 Sqn in the autumn of 1942, this aircraft completed its first post-restoration flight on 19 July 1997.