“Spitfire now airborne.” Sends chills down one’s spine just thinking of what those words mean, the history behind this plane. Such an iconic warbird and beautiful as no other.
Brilliant, just brilliant. When a blue T9 flew over my house in Southampton in the mid 1950's and I leapt on my pushbike and cycled up to Eastleigh Aerodrome to see my beloved Spitfire, I have NEVER lost that love, over the last 60 sixty years..
I was a combat engineer wih the 1st Air Cavalry in Vietnam 67-68 on the DMZ and A Shau Valley. I saw many bird dogs and Cayuse helicopters and was amazed at the nerve of the pilots flying low and slow. God bless all that have served. viewed in San Diego, California USA
What an awesome video. I have been a WW II aviation nut for as long as I can remember. I started building model airplanes when I was 7 or 8. The pinnacle of my aviation experience is that I did some VERY VERY BASIC work on a P-51 in San Diego named Pegasus owned by Bill Speer. I helped him buck some rivets on a landing gear door. I was so excited. You all have the dream job. Viewed in San Diego, California USA by a Vietnam combat vet.
The Fokker DXXl was a true family project that started 40 years ago. It seems that the family that plays and flys together is the family that stays together. Your workmanship and ingenuity were well displayed in the Fokker. ❤❤
During the Vietnam conflict in 1966 I was stationed at Saigon airport on the military side in support of the EC 121Ds as a radar tech. Just adjacent to us was a very large group of Birdogs and the military equivalent of the Beechcraft D 18s. I just wish I had access to all the Birddogs parked there. I take time at any airshow now to give any Birddog a close inspection. Hats off to those who flew those forward spotting missions.
The pride that 322 SQN of the Royal Netherlands Air Force has in its history and the respect that its members afford those who made that history is truly remarkable. You would think that all Air Forces would do this, but it’s often not the case. In my country, many members of one of our front line fighter squadrons had no idea that a memorial to their Second World War members even existed on the base. Lest we forget. 2:12:57
August 1990 while in-root to Saudi Arabia via Utapau Royal Thai Air Base with the advance party for the 1st Marine Brigade outta Hawaii....we de deplaned the C5A to stretch our legs in a nearby hangar for a couple hours....Note: we were restricted to the Hangar Bay only, I love snooping around old places with allot of history, Utapau was a major combat base for the USAF during the Vietnam war so of course I wanted outta the hangar to look around... I found an unsecured door adjacent to a Head (Bathroom) next thing you know found myself outside in the back of the hangar...as I exited to my surprise, there was to my immediate right...A complete uncovered fuselage of a British Spitfire, sitting on 4x4 blocks!...I looked Left, Right, heck I looked up...and realized she must have been sitting there for ages....grass was growing through gaps in her skin....I went back into the hangar and started asking the Thai Airmen what was her story....NO ONE KNEW A DANG THING about her...they didn't even know what kinda plane it was......fast forward today, I think about her often wondering what ever became of her....I hope she made her way back home to England into the hands of her people and is doing what she was designed and created to do......flying into the blue heavens....with those Rolls-Royce Merlin Engines Humming!
Hey! About the Birddog, most likely that aircraft flew “covey” missions at some time for MACV SOG over Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam. Flown by Air Force pilots with a MACV SOG operator directing fires based off what he would want if he was on the ground. A very simple sentiment that was VERY effective slowing the movement of troops, supplies, and ultimately tanks down the ho chi minh trail. Pat Watkins was one of these “Covey Riders”, callsign “Mandolin” there’s recordings on RUclips of him directing fires and supporting troops on the ground under a dual simultaneous “prairie fire emergency” or troops in Laos under contact with imminent threat of being over run without air support. MACV SOG still to this day holds the highest kill-death ratio in the history of human history. Mostly dedicated to the Birddog and their Covey Riders. Spine chilling stories of 9 man teams finding 10,000 man divisions of NVA, not your regular VC guerrillas. Not to mention this “secret war” was not officially recognized until 25 years later. Cheers from the US!!
In that Bird Dog combat recording, it was interesting to hear the Aussie accent controlling the USAF pilots in on to target. It’s a little known fact that a number of serving RAAF pilots actually flew combat FAC in Vietnam on exchange with USAF. A fairly recently retired RAAF Chief of Air Force actually owns and operates a Bird Dog out of Temora in New South Wales.
I love the Griffon Marks… my favourite is the PR Mk.19… what a sexy and fast way to take aerial photographs… great story telling, thanks a lot. The day I win the lottery, Nick Grace will get a phone call… can you build me one?
My father was with the 39th Reconnaissance Wing in England, Holland and Germany as a airframe mechanic, he aways wanted to be a pilot but at 6'4'' all legs and arms no way he fit in a cockpit, Spit and Typhoons were his favs have pics of him standing beside clip wing Spits but unfortunately not much else.
I've a short story about this plane...sorry for my english i will try my best cause i'm french...First of all RIP Richard and a friendly thinking for his family. I lived copple of years in a town name's La Ferté Alais. One day i was on the parking of the supermarket, it's just under the airfiled of Sallis family...i heard a sound that i've never heard before, turn my head and saw this plane but can't beleive what i saw. I thought i'm wrong, a sptifire at La Ferté Alais without a day show was not possible !!!! I'd just jump into my car and drove right away to the airfield, and what i saw was real, i was stunning, excited and moved...i ask to one engineer based over there if it was a real sptifire, he respond : "yes might, with a griffon" with a big smile. I just want to congratulate your team for this job and to accept to sale this plane to a french pilot ;o) Hope this sptifire will stay at La Ferté Alais for a long long time with his fellows war birds ! MANY THANKS
I love nostalgic warbirds and have all my life. I never have had the means and rare privilege such as Richard. So my next best thing was to collect warbirds as an aero modeler. My warbirds are my favorite such as the Macchi C.205 Veltro, Japanese zero, And my mustang p51. But my dream aircraft is the beautiful spitfire. It is most fun and is quite stable with the elliptical wing. Thank you for this video. I truly love the spitfire and I love that you have the capability to fly these! No, you shouldn't join if you can't take a joke😂!
40:00 i can imagine that you need to fly them often to keep the rust away and sharpness up, but not to often so you start to get "cocky" and get bitten asap by the planes who demand respect 24/7/365.
Beautiful B1RD as they say. The only criticism iI could have is how hard they say it is to uild one. Many unskilled laborers, men and women alike went off to support their countries and byilt aircraft like this for their fighting men. And as a former Air Force Crew Chief who spent many hrs outside in all weather as did the mechanics in the qar fixing these aircraft complaining about working in a warm well lit and non windy hanger is kinda funny. Snow really affects maintenance and repair I can assure you.
24:00 yea i agree for sure, a carbon fibre Mustang is not a real Mustang and so on.. but i am happy people do make new ones from new material cuz there is not that many planes left. i would sell my soul for a BF-109 or a Horten-229 original. but that´s never going to happen so i will do with a new produced one if i can afford it.
The spitfire aren't going up in value. It is the money which is worth 50% less than 10 years ago. Considering that who owns a 2.5m vintage plane knows a thing or two about money isnt surprising that the resale price is already inclusive of the inflation of the currency.
32:30 people say tech is going forward and everything gets cheaper then it comes to parts... i say BS, if we where such techies today why is a Spitfire prop so much more expensive than 80 years ago.. sure inflations and stuff. but still think about it.. its not getting better its getting worse for us in Europe!
DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE POLISH PILOTS OF THE 303 MISSION, WHICH LIBERATED ENGLAND FOR YOU, AND THE ENGLISH ONLY WATCHED AND YOU WERE ASHAMED THAT THE POLES COPE WITH THE AIRCRAFT BETTER, AND CHERCHIL CONGRATULATED US 😢
Why don't THE BELGIANS restore their own Spitfire? It was a BELGIAN Spitfire. Don't they have an Airforce Museum and budget and a great volunteer group? Why did they give up?!
During the war my mother made Spitfire gun barrels. Thanks mum I miss you so much.
“Spitfire now airborne.” Sends chills down one’s spine just thinking of what those words mean, the history behind this plane. Such an iconic warbird and beautiful as no other.
Got that right 👍
Spot on!
Brilliant, just brilliant.
When a blue T9 flew over my house in Southampton in the mid 1950's and I leapt on my pushbike and cycled up to Eastleigh Aerodrome to see my beloved Spitfire, I have NEVER lost that love, over the last 60 sixty years..
I was a combat engineer wih the 1st Air Cavalry in Vietnam 67-68 on the DMZ and A Shau Valley. I saw many bird dogs and Cayuse helicopters and was amazed at the nerve of the pilots flying low and slow. God bless all that have served. viewed in San Diego, California USA
In Australia after the end of the war, I heard you could buy a new Spitfire still in the crate for $100. Makes you cry.
And they threw the left overs off the sides of ships into the ocean.... 😢
It wasn't $100. It was closer to $1000 + in the 1950s, my father told me about it. I remember seeing B 25's for $25000 15 years ago.
@@samparkerSAM My mum paid 900 pounds Sterling for the Spitfire that our family had. It was a former gate guard
RIP Richard Grace. A terrible loss for the warbird community, friends and family
Very very sad new...Was he sick? So Young?
What an awesome video. I have been a WW II aviation nut for as long as I can remember. I started building model airplanes when I was 7 or 8. The pinnacle of my aviation experience is that I did some VERY VERY BASIC work on a P-51 in San Diego named Pegasus owned by Bill Speer. I helped him buck some rivets on a landing gear door. I was so excited. You all have the dream job. Viewed in San Diego, California USA by a Vietnam combat vet.
So nice to see Richard Grace in his element…he’ll be sorely missed for years to come 😢
The Fokker DXXl was a true family project that started 40 years ago. It seems that the family that plays and flys together is the family that stays together. Your workmanship and ingenuity were well displayed in the Fokker. ❤❤
RIP Richard, such a shock to go so young.
Really enjoyed the bird dog--I too came across the accounts of the FACs and others and was fascinated
Thank you for sharing this restoration experience with us. Wonderful to see.
Beautiful bird! I love the little details like the ring at the top of the flight stick. Very much of its time.
Absolutely beautiful! Best rebuild documentary I've seen. Great work by the team at Sywell.
As an ex pilot with Air America, this doco is a welcome addition to my library!
I cannot imagine the amount of an adrenalin in brains of 20this years old fighter pilots flying those birds during the WWII.
Amazing, many jobs extremely well done. I take my hat off to all of you.
During the Vietnam conflict in 1966 I was stationed at Saigon airport on the military side in support of the EC 121Ds as a radar tech. Just adjacent to us was a very large group of Birdogs and the military equivalent of the Beechcraft D 18s. I just wish I had access to all the Birddogs parked there. I take time at any airshow now to give any Birddog a close inspection. Hats off to those who flew those forward spotting missions.
The pride that 322 SQN of the Royal Netherlands Air Force has in its history and the respect that its members afford those who made that history is truly remarkable. You would think that all Air Forces would do this, but it’s often not the case. In my country, many members of one of our front line fighter squadrons had no idea that a memorial to their Second World War members even existed on the base.
Lest we forget. 2:12:57
How sad Richard passed away... such a talented chap and so young
Very sad.
Outstanding Spitfire just Beautiful, as me being a Yankee and love the Mustang but nothing is as Beautiful to see in the Air as The Spitfire.
August 1990 while in-root to Saudi Arabia via Utapau Royal Thai Air Base with the advance party for the 1st Marine Brigade outta Hawaii....we de deplaned the C5A to stretch our legs in a nearby hangar for a couple hours....Note: we were restricted to the Hangar Bay only, I love snooping around old places with allot of history, Utapau was a major combat base for the USAF during the Vietnam war so of course I wanted outta the hangar to look around... I found an unsecured door adjacent to a Head (Bathroom) next thing you know found myself outside in the back of the hangar...as I exited to my surprise, there was to my immediate right...A complete uncovered fuselage of a British Spitfire, sitting on 4x4 blocks!...I looked Left, Right, heck I looked up...and realized she must have been sitting there for ages....grass was growing through gaps in her skin....I went back into the hangar and started asking the Thai Airmen what was her story....NO ONE KNEW A DANG THING about her...they didn't even know what kinda plane it was......fast forward today, I think about her often wondering what ever became of her....I hope she made her way back home to England into the hands of her people and is doing what she was designed and created to do......flying into the blue heavens....with those Rolls-Royce Merlin Engines Humming!
Hey! About the Birddog, most likely that aircraft flew “covey” missions at some time for MACV SOG over Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam. Flown by Air Force pilots with a MACV SOG operator directing fires based off what he would want if he was on the ground. A very simple sentiment that was VERY effective slowing the movement of troops, supplies, and ultimately tanks down the ho chi minh trail. Pat Watkins was one of these “Covey Riders”, callsign “Mandolin” there’s recordings on RUclips of him directing fires and supporting troops on the ground under a dual simultaneous “prairie fire emergency” or troops in Laos under contact with imminent threat of being over run without air support. MACV SOG still to this day holds the highest kill-death ratio in the history of human history. Mostly dedicated to the Birddog and their Covey Riders. Spine chilling stories of 9 man teams finding 10,000 man divisions of NVA, not your regular VC guerrillas. Not to mention this “secret war” was not officially recognized until 25 years later. Cheers from the US!!
Leider ist Richard Grace vor kurzem verstorben. Habe ihn auf der Hahnweide 2019 mit der Buchon gesehen RIP.
Wouahou, i like old war bird. And when i'm in Normandie for D-Day anniversary, i have tears and shivers hearing and seeing them. It's marvelous. 👍
fokker dxx1 beautifull aircraft well done to everyone who build it great great job
Love how defensive the old man is, always the crossed arms thing.
That is a thing of pure Beauty ❤❤❤❤
In that Bird Dog combat recording, it was interesting to hear the Aussie accent controlling the USAF pilots in on to target. It’s a little known fact that a number of serving RAAF pilots actually flew combat FAC in Vietnam on exchange with USAF. A fairly recently retired RAAF Chief of Air Force actually owns and operates a Bird Dog out of Temora in New South Wales.
Beautiful
nah the scrapyard owner is the ultimate legend.
I love the Griffon Marks… my favourite is the PR Mk.19… what a sexy and fast way to take aerial photographs… great story telling, thanks a lot. The day I win the lottery, Nick Grace will get a phone call… can you build me one?
Beatiful reborn of a dutch legendary fighter of WW 2
love the spitfire.and the bird dog.
I did a lot of back-seat flying a Harvard out of hood aerodrome in NZ. It was awesome! I'd love to do it in a spit!
Bravo perfect go ahead
Brilliant!
The turbine version of the bird dog is an impressive Airplane. SM1019 made in Italy.
My father was with the 39th Reconnaissance Wing in England, Holland and Germany as a airframe mechanic, he aways wanted to be a pilot but at 6'4'' all legs and arms no way he fit in a cockpit, Spit and Typhoons were his favs have pics of him standing beside clip wing Spits but unfortunately not much else.
I've a short story about this plane...sorry for my english i will try my best cause i'm french...First of all RIP Richard and a friendly thinking for his family. I lived copple of years in a town name's La Ferté Alais. One day i was on the parking of the supermarket, it's just under the airfiled of Sallis family...i heard a sound that i've never heard before, turn my head and saw this plane but can't beleive what i saw. I thought i'm wrong, a sptifire at La Ferté Alais without a day show was not possible !!!! I'd just jump into my car and drove right away to the airfield, and what i saw was real, i was stunning, excited and moved...i ask to one engineer based over there if it was a real sptifire, he respond : "yes might, with a griffon" with a big smile. I just want to congratulate your team for this job and to accept to sale this plane to a french pilot ;o) Hope this sptifire will stay at La Ferté Alais for a long long time with his fellows war birds ! MANY THANKS
I love nostalgic warbirds and have all my life. I never have had the means and rare privilege such as Richard. So my next best thing was to collect warbirds as an aero modeler. My warbirds are my favorite such as the Macchi C.205 Veltro, Japanese zero, And my mustang p51. But my dream aircraft is the beautiful spitfire. It is most fun and is quite stable with the elliptical wing. Thank you for this video. I truly love the spitfire and I love that you have the capability to fly these! No, you shouldn't join if you can't take a joke😂!
No such thing as a scrap spitfire ,they will fly again 😊😊
After war, spitfire price was under 6000 dollar. Same time they build into BF-109 merlin`s and other for keep them in service.
2:14...... what a shot!
Very good content 👍
The FAC "cassette tape" sounded like it might have been one of the Aussie RAAF/USAF exchange pilots that flew the bird dog 🙂
40:00 i can imagine that you need to fly them often to keep the rust away and sharpness up, but not to often so you start to get "cocky" and get bitten asap by the planes who demand respect 24/7/365.
I believe Charles "Bud " Tingwell was a pilot and flew reconnaissance Spits
Famous actor , decorated pilot.
19:30 "needs to precisely align the leg in the wheel well" brings the HAMMER!! to do the job..
Still a formidable weapon hands down against ANY modern day killer drones 😅
Never truly outdated.
The Bird Dog seems to be leaning to the left when on the ground? is that normal?
How long before the Goodwood revival ?
Young Lee must wake up with a wooden thinking about his coming day!
...insane it would sound if I say that to fly any ww2 era fighter plane fully restored without fuselage panels would be amazing, yes it will 🍺💪🥴🤳
Beautiful B1RD as they say. The only criticism iI could have is how hard they say it is to uild one. Many unskilled laborers, men and women alike went off to support their countries and byilt aircraft like this for their fighting men. And as a former Air Force Crew Chief who spent many hrs outside in all weather as did the mechanics in the qar fixing these aircraft complaining about working in a warm well lit and non windy hanger is kinda funny. Snow really affects maintenance and repair I can assure you.
does this shop have a youtube ??
would have been better to do each aircraft as a separate video
24:00 yea i agree for sure, a carbon fibre Mustang is not a real Mustang and so on.. but i am happy people do make new ones from new material cuz there is not that many planes left.
i would sell my soul for a BF-109 or a Horten-229 original. but that´s never going to happen so i will do with a new produced one if i can afford it.
2:25:30 like flying RC models planes (if you dont cheat with a Gyro) ..
That Gray African parrot for the Dutch mascot, is ironic that it came probably from south Africa, at that time a Dutch colony
why is in documentary about restoration of spitfire some different airplane?
The spitfire aren't going up in value. It is the money which is worth 50% less than 10 years ago. Considering that who owns a 2.5m vintage plane knows a thing or two about money isnt surprising that the resale price is already inclusive of the inflation of the currency.
2:17
32:30 people say tech is going forward and everything gets cheaper then it comes to parts... i say BS, if we where such techies today why is a Spitfire prop so much more expensive than 80 years ago.. sure inflations and stuff. but still think about it.. its not getting better its getting worse for us in Europe!
DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE POLISH PILOTS OF THE 303 MISSION, WHICH LIBERATED ENGLAND FOR YOU, AND THE ENGLISH ONLY WATCHED AND YOU WERE ASHAMED THAT THE POLES COPE WITH THE AIRCRAFT BETTER, AND CHERCHIL CONGRATULATED US 😢
Im making a response to the comment if a if a spitfire is not a spitfire if it's not original i disagree i say if u have a Merlin u got spit fire
Thx belgian government for it's previous state
I Fly RC, and i can see FW190
Why don't THE BELGIANS restore their own Spitfire? It was a BELGIAN Spitfire. Don't they have an Airforce Museum and budget and a great volunteer group? Why did they give up?!
There's one being rebuilt over there, RM764, OO-XIV
The constant faux-trying-to0make-the-deadline narrative gets a bit tiring.
Otherwise wonderful to watch.
What the F this is supposed to be a Spitfire restoration talk about false advertising
Why not keep the correct & Original Markings?