WIX Archives
Re: IAF restores Spitfire dug up from Ambala
Posted by John S on Mon Aug 04, 2003 03:34:41 AM
In reply top IAF restores Spitfire dug up from Ambala posted by Jagan on Mon Aug 04, 2003 03:19:24 AM
: remember the flurry of posts i made on news reports diggin
: g up a spitfire at ambala?
:
: Here is a followup as to what happened to it:
: ---------------------
:
: IAF restores vintage Spitfire
: Vishal Thapar
: (Ambala, August 1)
: ----------------------------------------------------------
: ----------------------
:
: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has recovered a vintage Spitfir
: e aircraft buried in a river bed near Mullana village of A
: mbala.
: The British-made Spitfire symbolised airborne dogfights du
: ring World War-II. The most famous aircraft of its class,
: it enabled the successful defence of Britain in 1941. It's
: now a prized museum piece.
:
: A villager discovered the wreckage of the Royal Indian Air
: Force Spitfire in January. It has since been removed and
: reconstructed by the IAF.
:
: "Scrutiny of records on the basis of the identification nu
: mber ? MV 459 ? found on the wreckage revealed that this f
: ighter aircraft belly-landed in the dry river bed on May 2
: 3, 1947," a senior IAF officer posted at the Ambala base s
: aid. The pilot, Pilot Officer A.D. Cruz, survived the cras
: h, records show.
:
: The plane, which arrived at Bombay on December 8, 1944, wa
: s part of the No. 8 RF unit operating under the South East
: Asia Air Command of the Royal Indian Air Force.
:
: Wing Commander P.K. Srivastava, an aircraft repair and sal
: vage expert who supervised the reconstruction, said the re
: ference point for the complex effort was the Spitfire in t
: he IAF's Palam Museum.
:
: "Our work was guided by photographs, measurements of dimen
: sions and curvatures obtained from the Palam exhibit," he
: said.
:
: A team under the Wing Commander rebuilt a 31-foot fuselage
: , as in the original, around the five-foot remnant recover
: ed from the river bed. The cockpit, fuselage and tail port
: ions were found lying scattered in the bed.
:
: The reconstruction took four months. "The most difficult p
: art involved rebuilding the front fuselage, cockpit canopy
: and the propeller," Wing Commander Srivastava said.
:
: Defence Minister George Fernandes saw the Spitfire on Frid
: ay and commended the reconstruction effort.
:
Jagan,
Have you seen any piccies of her yet ?
I am very curious to see what she looks like
Regards,
John