P9374 - Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia - www.militaryplanes.co.uk

P9374

P9374 - Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia, Duxford 2014 ©Nigel Key

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In May 1940, flown by Flight Officer Peter Cazenove 92 Squadron, P9374 (marked as GR-J) was shot down and managed to belly flop onto the beach at Calais, France.

The pilot escaped unhurt and joined up with a British regiment at Calais. In an unsuccessful attempt to fight off the Germans, he was captured and taken to a series of Prisoner Of War camps including Stalag Luft III where he helped to organise the Great Escape.

Unfortunately, he was too big to use a tunnel to escape but was released after the war was over.

P9374 sank into the sands of Calais soon after it had crash-landed and remained there until 40 years later the Spitfire emerged from the sand due to strong tides.

It was torn apart by souvenir hunters and during a salvage operation bringing it to the surface. It was cleaned up and went to the Musee de l'Air in Paris in 1980 and stored until 1996.

Billionaire American gold-trader Tom Kaplan and Simon Marsh bought P9374 from the museum and kept it stored pending restoration on the Isle of Wight until 2006.

The aircraft was restored by the Aircraft Restoration Company at Duxford, UK. It was registered as G-MKIA and made its first post-restoration flight at Duxford on 30th August 2011.

P9374 was sold at Christie's, in London on Thursday 9 July 2015 for Ł3.1M. It remained in the UK until its last flight in April 2017 when it will then be dismantled and moved to her new home on the other side of the pond.

SPECIFICATION (Mk Ia)

Length - 29ft 11in (9.12m)

Wingspan - 36ft 10in (11.23m)

Height - 11ft 5in (3.48m)

Engine - Rolls Royce Merlin III

Power - 1,030 Hp

Max. Speed - 363 mph (583km/h)

Range - 575 mile (925 km)

ARMAMENT

Machine Guns - 8 x 0.303" Browning