One Of Our Aircraft Is Moving

SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE II (FSM) ‘N3317/BO-U’/BAPC 71

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The aircraft will shortly be on the move south to a new home.

The Spitfire aircraft is a replica currently at the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum and will shortly be moved to the Kent Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge. The Spitfire replica was one of the first aircraft to be acquired by the Flixton museum.

The aircraft was built in 1968 to appear in the “Battle of Britain” film; it seems fitting, therefore, that it should now be on its way to the Battle of Britain Museum located in Kent.

At the moment, the aircraft is displayed in the main hanger (as shown in the picture above). However, when acquired, it was initially displayed outside the museum, as can be seen from an old postcard from that time (bottom left in the field behind the Buck Inn).

Like most aircraft exhibits at Flixton, it is displayed with an information board alongside it. The Information Board gives a little of its background and how it came to be at the museum. This being:

“This wood and fibreglass Spitfire replica is showing signs of its age but when built to appear in the iconic 1968 film “The Battle of Britain” it had a life expectancy of only a few months. In the film, it wore the serial N3317 and squadron code BO-U; however, the serial belonged to a Boulton Paul Defiant I, and the squadron code was never actually worn by any unit in the RAF.

Built at Pinewood Studios, replica Spitfires, Hurricanes and Messerschmitts were intended as static dressing on airfields during filming and nearly all were destroyed in action shots. A few survived and these have mostly found their way to the Kent Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge. This example came to us in 1974 in need of repair, and was an external exhibit for many years, which contributed to its suffering. It has worn several identities over the years. The lastest was “Nuflier” -P8140 of 74 Squadron, a Norwich Union presentation aircraft.

Whilst not a genuine aeroplane, we feel it has earned its place on display in recognition of the major contribution made by the Battle of Britain film to aircraft preservation in the UK. Along with “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines” and “The Blue Max”, the current preservation scene owes much to these film productions for kickstarting a country-wide interest in preserving our rich aviation history, in many regional museums and not just the few “nationals”. Thanks to small museums such as ours and their volunteers, so much more has been saved and is on view to the public than could otherwise have been achieved by “the few”; it continues to this day.”

We are sorry to see the Spitfire go; however, the reason for the move is twofold.

Firstly, as can be seen from above, the aircraft is in poor condition, and we at Flixton do not have the skills to renovate the aircraft. The Kent Museum have those skills and knowledge and have agreed to renovate the aircraft and add it to their collection, where it will join other survivors from the Battle of Britain film (see below).
Secondly, it will make space for other exhibits to be displayed. We will give more details on what is to be displayed in this space in future blog postings.

The Spitfire is due to go in October, and currently, Flixton are moving other exhibits out of the way so that Hawkinge can collect the aircraft. Despite being sorry to see it go, we are pleased to see it being relocated to this new home where it will be looked after and eventually displayed in an appropriate setting, still able to be visited and seen by the public.

Once at its new home, it will join some other companions, as the Kent Battle of Britain Museum has acquired other Battle of Britain Film replicas along the way. They now have two Hurricanes, two Spitfires (three with the one now joining) and three Messerschmitt Bf 109E’s (formerly Buchons). The first three were acquired straight after the film, three from the Torbay Aircraft Museum and one of the Messerschmitt’s from John Barclay at the Midlands Aircraft Museum at Coventry.

We will bring you more news as the moves takes place. Watch our Social Media pages and blog site for more information nearer the time.

Some useful links associated with this article:

Kent Battle of Britain Museum website:

http://www.kbobm.org/

Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum website:

https://aviationmuseum.net/

Update Part I

Since writing the blog above, I have been sent some photos taken by the Kent Battle of Britain Museum when they visited the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum some time ago (Spitfire Replica Kent 01 thru 03). I have included these for interest along with some photos taken on Wednesday this week prior to the various other exhibits surrounding the Spitfire being moved. These photos also show some of the deterioration in the aircraft that needs to be repaired and restored, which we are unfortunately not able to do (Spitfire Replica FSM 02 thru 03).

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(Photos) Spitfire Replica (click to enlarge)

Update Part II

The aircraft has now been moved to the Kent Museum (11th Oct 2021) and the final part of this move can be seen in the blog “One Of Our Aircraft is Moving Pt II” This blog can be seen by clicking on the button below:

Go ToBlog Part II

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