Connie Edwards Spitfire to Australia

AussieMan

AussieMan

SOH Staff .."Bartender"
Just picked up my latest edition of Classic Wings Downunder and was pleasantly surprised to read that Spitfire Mk. IX, MH415 which was part of the Battle of Britain collection owned by Connie Edwards in Texas apparently has been purchased by an Australian interest and is on its way to Australia.

It is to be restored to airworthy condition by Pays Air Services at Scone, NSW. It has an interesting service history. Flew with the RAF from 1943 and in 1947 was sold to the Netherlands and served in the Dutch East Indies and was sold to the Belgian Air Force in 1953 and was retired in 1956.

That was not the end of the story. In 1961 it flew during the filming of "The Longest Day" and again flew 125 hours during the filming of "Battle of Britain" and in 1969 was shipped to Texas and registered N415MH and flew until 1973 when it was placed in storage at Connie Edwards' ranch.
 
I had read of this sometime back as well, and it will be a fantastic project for them (I know some warbird restoration guys, with Spitfire experience, who expressed that they would have loved to have worked on restoring the aircraft, since unlike so many others, it is all still there). Although not a WWII time capsule, per-say, it is a very rare warbird in this day in age - being complete/all there, and having never been restored (only lightly modified) since original wartime use. Very, very little sign of any corrosion either - largely due to the fact that it has been based in a desert climate since the early 70's.

Earlier this past week, the aircraft was disassembled and trucked out from Connie Edwards' place (still sporting the same paint it has worn since the early 70's):





 
Some interior shots - never stripped-down/restored, and only lightly modified since original wartime use (60's era avionics installed). I wonder what it would all look like with just a good washing(!). I know that by keeping the aircraft with all of the dust, dirt, and grime on it, it helped to perpetuate the image that it was a "barn find", which it was being advertised as.





 
Thanks for that information John. A lot of Aussies think that it has already arrived here.
 
It was also just announced yesterday, that the sale of all of the Connie Edwards Buchons have finally been finalized. In the coming weeks, all of the Buchons will be disassembled, containerized, and shipped out to various restoration shops all over the world - the UK, Switzerland, Australia, and the US. I believe the total is something like 14 airframes. One of the Buchons is heading to Australia together with the Spitfire - to the same restoration shop.
 
That is great news John. Will be nice to see an enemy fighter in the skies. Will make it worth a trip to Temora when it is flying.

EDIT: Just posted to the ORBX Forum. We also have an FW-190 about to take to the air as well.
 
Sorry to see so many of these aircraft leave the U.S., but happy to hear that they will be restored and at least some to airworthy condition.
 
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