Unique survivor

Air Classics, Jun 2000 by O'Leary, Michael

FROM SERVING AS A MILITARY TEST BED, CLEVELAND AIR RACER, AND ABANDONED WRECK, THIS SUPERMARINE MK. XIV SPITFIRE HAS SURVIVED MANY ADVERSITIES TO FLY ONCE AGAIN

AS THE CAMERA PLANE ORBITED THE VAST EXPANSE OF DESERT NORTH OF MOJAVE AIRPORT, I HAD SOME TIME TO CONTEMPLATE WHILE WAITING FOR OUR SUBJECT AIRCRAFT. IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT THE MAJORITY OF OUR SURVIVING WARBIRDS HAVE VERY INTERESTING HISTORIES-THE STORIES OF JUST AVOIDING THE SCRAPPER ARE OF EXTREME INTEREST. HOWEVER, THE PLANE FOR WHICH WE WERE WAITING CERTAINLY HAS MORE THAN ITS FAIR SHARE OF UNUSUAL TALES.

The Supermarine Spitfire was the right aircraft at the right time helping, along with its stablemate the Hawker Hurricane, to ward off Hitler's planned invasion of the British Isles. The Spitfire went through a bewildering series of variants along with its excellent powerplant, the Rolls-Royce Merlin. However, as it became evident that more power was needed to combat the Luftwaffe's newer variants of the Fw 190 and Bf 109, a decision was made to adopt the airframe to carry the mighty Rolls-Royce Griffon (36.75 liters). The engine was based on the earlier R series of racing engines that powered the Schneider Trophy racers. The engine was tested in a series of earlier mark Spitfires and proved to be successful.

By 1942, the Luftwaffe was making hit-and-run attacks on Britain with low-flying 190s and 109s.

Coming in under radar and at max speed, the aircraft were difficult to intercept and the Griffon Spitfire was rushed into production. The new version was the Spitfire XII and production began in mid-1942 and entered service in November of that year as the RAF's new low-level interceptor. At low-level, the aircraft's performance was unmatched but only 100 examples were produced.

The next logical step was to fit the Griffon 65 with a two-stage supercharger for better high altitude performance. The combination proved effective and the performance increase over the Merlin-powered Mk. IX and singlestage Griffon-powered Mk. XII was huge. Going into production in the autumn of 1943, three RAF squadrons were fully operational with the Mk. XIV in June 1944 when the Germans launched their deadly V-is on London. On 13 June, the Germans began launching V-is and over 2500 had been fired at London by the end of the month. The Mk. XIV pilots became adept at chasing the low-flying V-is and either shooting them down or tipping them with a wingtip, causing the robot bomb's guidance system to tumble. The Mk. XIV was a successful aircraft but it was also an interim step since newer Griffon-powered variants were introduced into production with refinements like large tail surfaces to counter the engine's greater power.

By now, it is no surprise that we were waiting for a Supermarine Mk. XIV Spitfire. "Gotcha in sight," said Bruce Lockwood as he came diving out of the sky, passing under the Bonanza, and pulling up ahead of us while doing a very smooth roll. This particular aircraft is a real survivor and how it got to this point in the California sky on 27 March 2000 is an intriguing story.

Spitfire FR Mk. XIVE (the FR stood for fighter-reconnaissance, the E stood for the E-type wing armament) TZ138 was ordered with Contract No. 898038539 dated 23 February 1945. The aircraft was built at Aldermanston and was sent, upon completion, to the Rolls-Royce facility at Hucknall where it was prepared for cold weather testing and shipped to Canada.

TZ138 arrived in Edmonton after a train journey from the port of arrival on 20 December 1945. The plane was unloaded, along with numerous spares, and assembled by the 24th. On 25 January, a test flight was undertaken by Fit, Lt. Laubman. As can be seen in our sidebar, the aircraft underwent various forms of cold weather testing in company of several other types of aircraft. Also, as can be seen, TZ138 was not flown overly much,

One interesting incident with TZ138 occurred when the decision was made to send the aircraft to Fort Churchill in northern Manitoba for further cold weather testing. Since the flight from RCAF Namao to Fort Churchill was 1000 miles, it was necessary for the plane to land for fuel at The Pas where there was a small strip. On the return journey, the plane landed at The Pas to once again refuel. It was being flown by RCAF Squadron Leader Bordeaux and apparently swung on landing, hitting a snow bank, The tips of the five-blade Rotol propeller were neatly removed in the incident.

Royal Canadian Navy pilot Mike Hayward and his crew chief along with two mechanics were left in charge of getting the propeller changed. They were flown into The Pas aboard a USAF C-47. Fortunately, there was a heated hangar and the new prop was hung in about an hour. However, there was no snow removal equipment on the field and there was lots of snow. Mike tried to taxi the aircraft very slowly over what seemed to be the shallowest areas of snow but got only about 50 yards before the aircraft started going up on its nose. Not wanting the prop to be ruined, he chopped the power, and the aircraft went back on its tail.