Basically the only way to get that plane back into the air is building most of it from new parts. It`s true for most restaurations nowadays. Even if you find a good looking warbird somewhere in the tundra, there will be lots of corrosion and cracks. There is just no way to use that old metal and have a save airworthy aircraft. People always complain and ask, "but is it original?" Well, yes and no. At one point in time in the future, there won`t be any airworthy "original" warbirds left, just because of what planes have to go through. It`s a high stress, low tolerance environment. You don`t fly if it isn`t safe. Even if you had, lets say, a WWII P51-Mustang that has never stopped beeing airworthy. Even that plane would at one point be more unoriginal than original, just because parts had to be changed. There will be wear and tear and.... there will be crashes, which means new parts instead of old parts. Next time you see a warbird, don`t just ask "but is it original". Ask, "but does it fly?", that`s where the work and money really is, no matter if it`s original or not. Tolles Video Chris!
Exactly. NO 100% original aircraft from 80 years ago flies today. Even if you take and original from the big museums (Smithsonian, IWM, RAFM, etc) to make it safe to fly will require a lot of replacement parts, mainly the rubber and corroded parts.
The nice side-effect of this is, if we have the ability to "basically" make them from scratch... we could also just build brand new ones too. Something I wish people did more of, especially for planes that no longer have any airworthy, or even ANY examples surviving at all.
How great, in my local aviation museum they reasently restored a BF-109 that was saved from a lake 10 ish years ago, not to flying condition, but still
Bodø or Sola in Norway perhaps? Those planes are both restored so they could fly in theory, but they will not fly. But they are in «flying condition» in some ways
That’s good, when restored to flying most of it is thrown away and the history is lost, what flies is a brand new aircraft painted to represent the original
7:25 "A Capitalist, Socialist Russian farmer" rescues remains of PT879, used to make bourgeoisie luxury watches. Admirer: "Is that a REC watch"? Proud bourgeois Soviet: "Nyet comrade! It is a Glorious Soviet Spitfire with a watch in it!"
Heh. Similar joke in the British sitcom, Only Fools and Horses, a character called Trigger, a road-sweeper, got an award for saving the council money, by maintaining the same road-sweepers broom for 20 years. He explains how he managed this monumental task of maintenance by merely replacing the head 17 times, and the handle 14 times over that 20 year period. He has a picture of him holding it though, as proof that it is, indeed, the same broom.
Original or rebuilt who cares it's another flying Spitfire and that's what matters, beautiful aircraft. Just because I had to replace most parts on my racebike after a huge crash doesn't stop it being what model it is!
The RAF phased out the Merlin engine in favour of the more powerful, simpler with far fewer parts, RR Griffon. The Griffon was not installed in the Mustang or Soviet supplied planes. The RR Crecy was to replace both engines eventually. The Crecy was a two-stroke sliding sleeve engine with remarkable power/weight ratio for the time, being tested on a test bed. However dropped as jet engines were the way after 1944/45, for high performance planes.
hey Bismarck, i apologize that this comment isn't related to the video but. could you look into making a video about the B24? or the bombing on the ploesti oil refineries? both are really undercovered topics and I'd love it if you were to discuss them
Or the bombings on Sofia.I'm from Bulgaria and I've red books about the bombings ,that are from the archives and memories of the Bulgarian air force,so if someone has questions,I can probably answer them.
The moment the completed aircraft fired up and took off must have been a indescribably satisfying moment for the team, especially given they started with, what to me looked a flattened pancake of a plane!!
Hey Biz, have you ever looked into the restoration of Hawker Typhoon JP843 that's been going on for a few years? Similar story I think, found abroad in pieces. Returned to the UK for restoration. I don't think there are any air-worthy Typhoons in the world, which is a great shame to me, as it's been my favourite WW2 plane since I was a kid playing the PC game "Operation Overlord" in the mid 90s which is where I first heard about it. You could play as an RAF Mustang, Spitfire or Typhoon. The Typhoon was the best of the 3 at ground attack, which was mostly the point of the game, but it was also pretty good at dogfighting too. It was my first WW2 flying game, and 25 years later I'm still flying it in War Thunder.
In the case of a flyable Typhoon the big problem would likely be the lack of suitable engines around (though the type`s airframe issues might also be a problem). While there are plenty of zero-timed Merlin`s available for Spit`s or Hurricanes I don`t think there are many Napier Sabre`s lying about. At least with the Tempest they have the option to restore a Centaurus engined Mk II but a wartime MK V or even MK VI is probably out of the question.
I'm surprised there isn't a video of Bismarck flying in the Canadian Lancaster, it's available for passenger flights, along with several other WW2 aircraft.
Another cracking video, Chris. We can all nitpick about originality but surely the most important things about this aircraft is the story and the fact that it flies.
Romanian Bf109 pilots met them... Ion Dobran, one of our aces remembered: "Silueta fina, motoare in linie....si fugeau grozav." (Slim silhouette, inline engines...and really fast). From The War Journal of Lt. Dobran (romanian language only so far afaik)
Great video Bismarck. Have been teaching the kids about aspects of history, and how few planes there are remaining. An amazing opportunity to link to a tangible little piece to start a conversation and keep interest in history up. Thanks!
I've already a piece of WW2 aircraft. A V for Victory hand bells with profiles of Churchill, Roosevelt & Stalin made from a shot down Luftwaffe aircraft. Respect to the women who made the Allied war planes
@@daseladi 650€ isn't outrageous. Ever heard of Rolex or Glashuette? What did you expect from a manufacturer, that can sponsor the restauration of a plane. Just compare to Breitling, Tissot etc.
@@Inubis9 Well, I do not need any of these; Rolex, Breitling, etc. I have not been wearing a watch since I started using a smartphone. I do not think anyone really needs a Rolex for anything else, but showing off his money. As far as I am concerned, I expect some practical value from anything I buy. So, I am not prepared to give 650 E for a watch.
Spitfires and a Czech version of the 109 fought each other in the First Arab Israeli War. The Israelis ironically fought in a German derived fighter. The Egyptians flew the Spits. 🇪🇬🇮🇱 WWII warplanes fought in the Korean War (Yak-9, Po-2, IL-2, B-29, A-26, F4U Corsair, C-47 and the P-51 Mustang). C-47 and A-26 fought in Vietnam. The A-26 was used in Bay of Pigs operation.
That's a really neat project, and a cool sponsor! Congratulations! Related to "restoring warbirds and returning them to the sky," do you plan to talk about the Hawker Hurricane that crashed at Duxford in June? There are a lot of difficulties involved in keeping these aircraft in a safe and airworthy condition, including building and maintaining pilot proficiency, and I fear the days of flying warbirds may be numbered.
The Russian planes at low altitude did not have to carry the weight of the high altitude Spitfire IX's two stage supercharger and intercooler. The 'low altitude' LF Mk IX optimisation was tuning the 'horizontal M' two speed supercharger power vs height graph so that the lows of the graph were kept higher than those of the FW 190A's two speed supercharger.
I've always found the "is it original" question a bit silly to be honest. Machines need maintenance and that means replacing parts. You're car isn't "original" unless it's brand new.
Nice video and nice to see collaboration with REC watches. I myself followed the progress of this particular Spitfire restoration since I bought the RJM watch, just as they released them. :)
I like the idea of REC watches but I don't think the execution is brilliant. I can't help thinking that for £1000 you could buy a WWII pilots watch and a decent chunk of an aircraft.
Oh forgive Chris this one ! He produces fantastic videos, and for a young man is sooooo knowledgeable about many, many types of aircraft and aviation history. Andto be bloody fair, his English is 100 times better than my German!
Beautiful beautiful restoration, I have followed this for some time... & a nice coincidental touch that Peter shares the same initials with PT879s registration
Chris - after the COVID stuff is over you should come to America, if you haven’t already, and visit the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier museum. My son’s Boy Scout troop was able to sleep two nights on the ship. You’d love the museum they have there.
While I find those restoration projects absolutely amazing and awe inspiring, especially as aviation sheet metal worker myself, and am all for them I always find it sort of funny to call them a restoration when almost all of the airframe is brand new. FHCAM is currently restoring a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka to flying conditions. I saw a videos of them. They too basically are building a new aircraft.
And FHCAM is closing in on getting their Me 262 (with its upgraded original Junkers Jumo engines) to fly! They've just released a video of the engines being started up cold!
For all of the comments, WW2 theatre description Eg.Western Europe ( France, Western half of Germany,Low Countries) -Western Front Russia and Central European countries- Eastern Front Italy and Mediterranean including Africa- Mediterranean Front Historians use WW2 theatre description not country locations for videos because it's in general easier to research historical documents.
I love dedication, - like these guys, - driven to restore a very special aircraft. I hate the fact that our world is driven by commercials. Can't we find a better way? And no, - I do not use my credit card on the internet. Fooled once and you learn!
You have any idea how difficult it is to restore one of those old warbirds with 100% original parts? It is essentially impossible, many of those parts do not exist any more and have to be rebuilt from scratch. Those old aircraft also have to be brought up to modern aviation safety requirements, which requires further changes and additions else you would not be permitted to fly it. Rathyer than complaining how it is not 'original', that is is a reproduction, why don't you go and educate yourself about the difficulties of restoring one of those aircraft. Look up how difficult it is to get original parts which are no longer made, and themselves may have deteriorated with age and need minor rebuilds. There is not a single 100% original warbird in the sky, period. Not one. So stop being pedantic and just enjoy it for what it is, a rebuilt old Spitfire, with parts from an original that has real historical providence....
Yes. Im very aware of the difficulty. Thats why that is not a restoration. It is simply making a new plane using a few parts from a donor plane to add some histórical value.
I'd say a restoration like the 190 "D" in Washington state {which was taken from Dayton, Ohio, intact, except wrong wings} or "Dottie Mae" {P-47 discovered in Dumar Lake} is very different from something like this. But saying that, it's still fine with me. ANYTHING BUT A P-51. To bad I missed out on the watch. OH, I forgot to ring the bell! Great info on the resto. Thanks!
I think it looks good in Ruski colours but at the same time something does not compute. You see a plane in the scheme of its country of origin and their allies and it clicks. But you see a Finnish Brewster Buffalo, or a Heinkel 111 in RAF colours, an USAAF Zero, even a Coastal Command B17 or one painted for RAF night bombing, and it looks off- like someone is messing with your head.
It`s ironic that neither the Russians or the Germans were willing to acknowledge that the Soviet airforce`s were using Spitfires to the extent they did. Or for that matter how often British or US aircraft operated out of bases in the USSR, as for example the British Hurricane wing that flew out of Archangel during late 1941.
Not so that this is the only one back from russia. PR.IV BP923 , loaned to ORAP 118, is close to restoration completion. I believe BP926 is in New Zealand.
*Get your RJM Collection watch at:* bit.ly/3fiyY3i Enter promo code 'PT879' on checkout for a 40% discount between 25th-26th November 2020, 8pm -11:59pm CET (GMT +1 / Central European Time).
This is random but could you do a video (if possible, no pressure) what happened to pilots who had bailed out and after returning to the airfield or pilots that crashed their plane onto a carrier deck and as such had no plane to fly. I've been thinking about it for a while but I'm not sure whether there's even enough content or information to make a video about it.
The original batch of Spitfires the USSR used, they did not really understand them, not knowing fully in what situations to use them. The British sent 7,000 planes to the USSR in total.
A lot of the original Mk V`s sent to Russia were actually planes that had seen a lot of prior use in North Africa and so were not in the best of condition. So the Russians were less than impressed with what they got. This one though was supplied new, probably through the "Lend-Lease" system and a later variant so hopefully was better received.
Of course, spitfire is a great aircraft, but it didn't take root in USSR, in the main because it wasn't too many of them. But it served well as a high altitude plane, soviet mig 3 fastest aircraft in 1941, that had the same role, wasn't produced to that time, and the rest of the planes were worn out already. Everyone knows about spitfire's positive sides: it's speed and horizontal maneuverability etc, but soviet pilots singled out some of it's minuses. Such as wing armament, soviet pilots get used to machine guns and canons placed in nose of the plane. It dived badly, Alexander Pokryshkin wrote in his memoirs that even LaGG 3 was diving faster than mk V. Five also had the reverse of the ailerons appeared, which imposed certain restrictions on the g-forces and reduced the range of allowable speed evolutions. New generation soviet fighters, such as: Yak 1, Yak 7b, LaGG 3, were faster (lower than 6000m) and had higher rate of climb (lower than 5000m) faster than the spitfire. Also it had problems with landing gear on poor coverage, and could fall on the nose sometimes. All of this doesn't make Spitfire a bad plane, there were just few of them on the Eastern Front.
@@sizzler2462 Look at the devastated condition 1:21 even if they have plenty of original pieces recovered from the crash site, many can't simply be hammered back into shape and be considered air-worthy components; the damage and fatigue to the metallic structures are prime spots for ripping apart during flight. Even a workable aircraft that never crashed will eventually break at the tiniest of places if not given regular hardware refresh (i.e. brand new parts). Just look at the 2011 Reno race accident.
@@aaronseet2738 yes I appreciate that very little of the original aircraft was used but in the video Bismarck stated that hundreds of parts were utilised and the restorer says many parts were repaired refurbished and used every using some of the original gages
That is a limitation of camera technology. Many cameras aren't capable of filming something moving that fast so they end up looking like it is moving backwards. The same also happens when wheels on cars are filmed.
When the only part of a plane that is carried over from pre to post restoration is.. an identification number plate, it is very difficult to pretend it is a restoration. Perhaps more a recreation... Like copying a painting. I totally understand the need to replace stressed and oxydized parts for safety, but something must remain of the old horse... Same for car restorations... ;-)
I have mixed feelings on this... if the goal was to comemorate these Soviet spitfires, maybe keeping it as is, or partially puting it vack together as a static display would have made more sense. Here I have the feeling the historic artifact is gone.
I thought I wasn’t going to be able to follow your channel- a neurological issue has been added to my already lazy ear making it difficult to understand anything but standard Queen’s English, and then not spoken very fast, or from more than a few yards away. I even have a problem with my own provincial tongue when spoken by anybody else but me. But I persevered and am enjoying your work. So many people are just plain idle when it comes to researching a subject like the drivel that is churned out in the name of American history.
@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 might be down to the 120ish papers I had to write for my BA (stands for bugger all). For the first 2 years I lived in the US my (ex)wife had to translate what I was saying. One day she announced she had had it with being a translator and I had to slow my speech by 2/3s and learn to speak an English Americans would understand.
Later production series of the Spitfire Mk IX. The taller tail fin originally came from the Mk VII design, which never replaced the Mk IX, but upgraded parts of the Mk VII did eventually make themselves into later produced Mk IXs. I suggest you read up the story of the Spitfire Mk VII, it's quite an interesting one.
@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 There are many different Mk IX's. As with the Mk V's they were originally stop gap's dealing with a specific threat. Mk V's were mostly converted Mk I and II's and were supposed to be an answer to the German high altitude bombing threat . Mk IX's were originally converted Mk V's and were later build new with improvements from the Mk XVI's like the enlarged tail planes and re-balanced elevators. Their original purpose was dealing with the threat of the new Fw190 A.
I ask myself about these restorations- they seem to be the re-manufacturings in many cases. Maybe 5% of the original parts of this crashed example could have been used; not much more, but then it can be said now - it is an original plane. Well...
Basically the only way to get that plane back into the air is building most of it from new parts. It`s true for most restaurations nowadays. Even if you find a good looking warbird somewhere in the tundra, there will be lots of corrosion and cracks. There is just no way to use that old metal and have a save airworthy aircraft.
People always complain and ask, "but is it original?"
Well, yes and no.
At one point in time in the future, there won`t be any airworthy "original" warbirds left, just because of what planes have to go through.
It`s a high stress, low tolerance environment. You don`t fly if it isn`t safe.
Even if you had, lets say, a WWII P51-Mustang that has never stopped beeing airworthy. Even that plane would at one point be more unoriginal than original, just because parts had to be changed. There will be wear and tear and.... there will be crashes, which means new parts instead of old parts.
Next time you see a warbird, don`t just ask "but is it original". Ask, "but does it fly?", that`s where the work and money really is, no matter if it`s original or not.
Tolles Video Chris!
Exactly. NO 100% original aircraft from 80 years ago flies today. Even if you take and original from the big museums (Smithsonian, IWM, RAFM, etc) to make it safe to fly will require a lot of replacement parts, mainly the rubber and corroded parts.
The nice side-effect of this is, if we have the ability to "basically" make them from scratch... we could also just build brand new ones too. Something I wish people did more of, especially for planes that no longer have any airworthy, or even ANY examples surviving at all.
Unfortunately, not many will see the point that OP is making
@@BleedingUranium well with no examples at all it’s going to be insanely hard. Not everything is in drawings etc.
Yeah. I was going to say, that thing was mashed potatoes. What could they have used? Maybe 2% of that rubble.
How great, in my local aviation museum they reasently restored a BF-109 that was saved from a lake 10 ish years ago, not to flying condition, but still
Which museum is it in ?
Bodø or Sola in Norway perhaps? Those planes are both restored so they could fly in theory, but they will not fly. But they are in «flying condition» in some ways
@@sindeecakes Bodø
That’s good, when restored to flying most of it is thrown away and the history is lost, what flies is a brand new aircraft painted to represent the original
7:25 "A Capitalist, Socialist Russian farmer" rescues remains of PT879, used to make bourgeoisie luxury watches.
Admirer: "Is that a REC watch"?
Proud bourgeois Soviet: "Nyet comrade! It is a Glorious Soviet Spitfire with a watch in it!"
Love that one mate!
BTW: This Spit is perfect example of "Data plate and a set of wheels is all that is needed for a "restoration". XD
Unfortunately that is often the only option.
Just looking at the wreckage makes it clear that this is a fine example of the Ship of Theseus question.
Still gets you a good parking spot at Oshkosh!
The remains looked like they needed a air pump to inflate the Air frame.
Same as classic cars.Give the VIN and the Ownership documents..
"If it casts a shadow, it can be restored."
I like that.
Never heard it before.
Hell if it casts most of a shadow it can be restored.. I know. I’ve been raiding junkyards for years.
“I have here George Washington’s original axe. It was a little beaten up, so I had to replace the handle… and the head.”
Heh. Similar joke in the British sitcom, Only Fools and Horses, a character called Trigger, a road-sweeper, got an award for saving the council money, by maintaining the same road-sweepers broom for 20 years. He explains how he managed this monumental task of maintenance by merely replacing the head 17 times, and the handle 14 times over that 20 year period. He has a picture of him holding it though, as proof that it is, indeed, the same broom.
...... twice.
My last restore was a 1930's Toy Airplane. They are just amazing ✈✈✈
that's a might nice ship you have there, Theseus
@@clar1ty620 I came down here just to make a Trigger's Broom joke :D
This is a wonderful video as always. I loved seeing that remains of the Spitfire being resurrected, and the watch idea is brilliant.
My last restore was a 1930's Toy Airplane. They are just amazing ✈✈✈
Original or rebuilt who cares it's another flying Spitfire and that's what matters, beautiful aircraft.
Just because I had to replace most parts on my racebike after a huge crash doesn't stop it being what model it is!
She's up and running, now. based at North Weald (EGSX) in Essex. I see her flying quite frequently those days.
The RAF phased out the Merlin engine in favour of the more powerful, simpler with far fewer parts, RR Griffon. The Griffon was not installed in the Mustang or Soviet supplied planes. The RR Crecy was to replace both engines eventually. The Crecy was a two-stroke sliding sleeve engine with remarkable power/weight ratio for the time, being tested on a test bed. However dropped as jet engines were the way after 1944/45, for high performance planes.
The Crecy (sic) was a very interesting development. It might have succeeded, but lack of resources in wartime led to slow development, unfortunately.
@@owenshebbeare2999
The jet engine ended the Grecy. It must be said that the existing engines were more than a match for anything German or Japanese.
1:01 if the spitfire served on the eastern front, it did serve in europe. More a recreation than a restoration.
This is kind of a case of lifting the data plate and sliding a new spit under it.
No mention of Lt Semyonov in this video. He was the original pilot of PT879 and luckily he survived the crash!
hey Bismarck, i apologize that this comment isn't related to the video but. could you look into making a video about the B24?
or the bombing on the ploesti oil refineries? both are really undercovered topics and I'd love it if you were to discuss them
Or the bombings on Sofia.I'm from Bulgaria and I've red books about the bombings ,that are from the archives and memories of the Bulgarian air force,so if someone has questions,I can probably answer them.
Am for that..
Or the WB-29 lost in the Kurile Islands.
The moment the completed aircraft fired up and took off must have been a indescribably satisfying moment for the team, especially given they started with, what to me looked a flattened pancake of a plane!!
Incredible to see another iconic aircraft back in the air....thanks Bismarck...
Hey Biz, have you ever looked into the restoration of Hawker Typhoon JP843 that's been going on for a few years? Similar story I think, found abroad in pieces. Returned to the UK for restoration. I don't think there are any air-worthy Typhoons in the world, which is a great shame to me, as it's been my favourite WW2 plane since I was a kid playing the PC game "Operation Overlord" in the mid 90s which is where I first heard about it. You could play as an RAF Mustang, Spitfire or Typhoon. The Typhoon was the best of the 3 at ground attack, which was mostly the point of the game, but it was also pretty good at dogfighting too. It was my first WW2 flying game, and 25 years later I'm still flying it in War Thunder.
Yes, and also RB396!
In the case of a flyable Typhoon the big problem would likely be the lack of suitable engines around (though the type`s airframe issues might also be a problem). While there are plenty of zero-timed Merlin`s available for Spit`s or Hurricanes I don`t think there are many Napier Sabre`s lying about. At least with the Tempest they have the option to restore a Centaurus engined Mk II but a wartime MK V or even MK VI is probably out of the question.
1:26 So they just build a new spitfire
Pretty much most newly restored Spitfires are virtually newly built. Since all the plans exist there's a whole industry for it.
majority of "rebuilding" these days means taking as many parts from the original as you can and putting them into newly build airframe.
Most restaurations are new builds around a serial number/plate
No different than cars. Get a factory plate, and pour money into it. Something that would take my lifetime to afford, but am glad they do it.
I'm surprised there isn't a video of Bismarck flying in the Canadian Lancaster, it's available for passenger flights, along with several other WW2 aircraft.
I would love it if he could come to Canada!
It's in Hamilton, dude.
Hey Bismarck I just wanna say I love your videos. Can't wait to see more on location stuff when covid is over!
Another cracking video, Chris.
We can all nitpick about originality but surely the most important things about this aircraft is the story and the fact that it flies.
Romanian Bf109 pilots met them... Ion Dobran, one of our aces remembered: "Silueta fina, motoare in linie....si fugeau grozav." (Slim silhouette, inline engines...and really fast). From The War Journal of Lt. Dobran (romanian language only so far afaik)
Btw, Wester USSR is a Europe! FYI, Asia starts right after you crosses Ural Mountains.
ship of theseus or Triggers broom if you would, comes to mind.
Great video Bismarck. Have been teaching the kids about aspects of history, and how few planes there are remaining. An amazing opportunity to link to a tangible little piece to start a conversation and keep interest in history up. Thanks!
I've already a piece of WW2 aircraft. A V for Victory hand bells with profiles of Churchill, Roosevelt & Stalin made from a shot down Luftwaffe aircraft. Respect to the women who made the Allied war planes
I'dlove one of those watches, but even at 40% off, it's way beyond my price range. Shame.
I agree
Well, I wouldn't, but anyway, setting an outrageous price and then giving a seemingly massive discount is a bit simple as a trick?
@@daseladi 650€ isn't outrageous. Ever heard of Rolex or Glashuette?
What did you expect from a manufacturer, that can sponsor the restauration of a plane. Just compare to Breitling, Tissot etc.
@@Inubis9 Well, I do not need any of these; Rolex, Breitling, etc. I have not been wearing a watch since I started using a smartphone.
I do not think anyone really needs a Rolex for anything else, but showing off his money. As far as I am concerned, I expect some practical value from anything I buy.
So, I am not prepared to give 650 E for a watch.
Honestly, RUclipsrs forget that most people who watch their content dont have ridiculous amounts of money to spend, especially right now.
Spitfires and a Czech version of the 109 fought each other in the First Arab Israeli War. The Israelis ironically fought in a German derived fighter. The Egyptians flew the Spits. 🇪🇬🇮🇱
WWII warplanes fought in the Korean War (Yak-9, Po-2, IL-2, B-29, A-26, F4U Corsair, C-47 and the P-51 Mustang). C-47 and A-26 fought in Vietnam. The A-26 was used in Bay of Pigs operation.
I love the color correction of the PT 79 footage...
9:34 Hispano-Suiza
And there it was, plane as day
That's a really neat project, and a cool sponsor! Congratulations!
Related to "restoring warbirds and returning them to the sky," do you plan to talk about the Hawker Hurricane that crashed at Duxford in June? There are a lot of difficulties involved in keeping these aircraft in a safe and airworthy condition, including building and maintaining pilot proficiency, and I fear the days of flying warbirds may be numbered.
Thanks! No plans for that specific plane atm but hoping to talk more about restorations in generall in the future :)
Splendid! Happy New Year.
9:32 lol. "This is the Hisuza-Spania cannon."
The Russian planes at low altitude did not have to carry the weight of the high altitude Spitfire IX's two stage supercharger and intercooler.
The 'low altitude' LF Mk IX optimisation was tuning the 'horizontal M' two speed supercharger power vs height graph so that the lows of the graph were kept higher than those of the FW 190A's two speed supercharger.
I've always found the "is it original" question a bit silly to be honest. Machines need maintenance and that means replacing parts. You're car isn't "original" unless it's brand new.
A video on the Tuskegee airmen would be awesome, so long as there’s enough to talk about
That is what American Hot Rodder's call a "Resto-Mod".
Great video!
Nice video and nice to see collaboration with REC watches. I myself followed the progress of this particular Spitfire restoration since I bought the RJM watch, just as they released them. :)
A Mk IX in the Original Soviet Markings, like Macbeth in the Original Klingon .... a good gag.
I like the idea of REC watches but I don't think the execution is brilliant. I can't help thinking that for £1000 you could buy a WWII pilots watch and a decent chunk of an aircraft.
bravo pour cette superbe restauration
"Hisooza-spania". Oh dear.
I've heard SOOOO many people say Hisuiza Spania Jon.😅
Hispano Suiza is just Spanish for Spanish- Swiss right?
Oh forgive Chris this one ! He produces fantastic videos, and for a young man is sooooo knowledgeable about many, many types of aircraft and aviation history. Andto be bloody fair, his English is 100 times better than my German!
The air tank had 1945 air inside. Amazing!
Beautiful beautiful restoration, I have followed this for some time... & a nice coincidental touch that Peter shares the same initials with PT879s registration
Chris - after the COVID stuff is over you should come to America, if you haven’t already, and visit the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier museum. My son’s Boy Scout troop was able to sleep two nights on the ship. You’d love the museum they have there.
While I find those restoration projects absolutely amazing and awe inspiring, especially as aviation sheet metal worker myself, and am all for them I always find it sort of funny to call them a restoration when almost all of the airframe is brand new.
FHCAM is currently restoring a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka to flying conditions. I saw a videos of them. They too basically are building a new aircraft.
And FHCAM is closing in on getting their Me 262 (with its upgraded original Junkers Jumo engines) to fly! They've just released a video of the engines being started up cold!
For all of the comments, WW2 theatre description
Eg.Western Europe ( France, Western half of Germany,Low Countries) -Western Front
Russia and Central European countries- Eastern Front
Italy and Mediterranean including Africa- Mediterranean Front
Historians use WW2 theatre description not country locations for videos because it's in general easier to research historical documents.
Nice to see the Soviet users of the Spitfire being honoured.
Brilliant!. Lest we forget. Any history of the pilot?.
9:32 Hispano-Suiza 😄
Awesome content as always!
I love dedication, - like these guys, - driven to restore a very special aircraft.
I hate the fact that our world is driven by commercials.
Can't we find a better way?
And no, - I do not use my credit card on the internet.
Fooled once and you learn!
Great work Biz. Quality content as ever.
Thanks!
Simply beautiful. Really great to see one from Russia back in flight.
My local museum got an original A6M5 Zero, not in flying condition but still beautiful piece of history
Old Overloon Spit PR XI at 2:05 !
So how much of the airframe was built on the Isle of Wight?
I love listening to British men rambling about how good an aircraft Spitfires are
Just as British as tea, but less known as a stereotype.
That's not a restored plane. That's simply making a new plane.
Yeah sure
Lets 'restore' the plane with the nonexistant 'original' part and hope it flies
You have any idea how difficult it is to restore one of those old warbirds with 100% original parts? It is essentially impossible, many of those parts do not exist any more and have to be rebuilt from scratch. Those old aircraft also have to be brought up to modern aviation safety requirements, which requires further changes and additions else you would not be permitted to fly it.
Rathyer than complaining how it is not 'original', that is is a reproduction, why don't you go and educate yourself about the difficulties of restoring one of those aircraft. Look up how difficult it is to get original parts which are no longer made, and themselves may have deteriorated with age and need minor rebuilds. There is not a single 100% original warbird in the sky, period. Not one.
So stop being pedantic and just enjoy it for what it is, a rebuilt old Spitfire, with parts from an original that has real historical providence....
Yes. Im very aware of the difficulty. Thats why that is not a restoration. It is simply making a new plane using a few parts from a donor plane to add some histórical value.
I'd say a restoration like the 190 "D" in Washington state {which was taken from Dayton, Ohio, intact, except wrong wings} or "Dottie Mae" {P-47 discovered in Dumar Lake} is very different from something like this. But saying that, it's still fine with me. ANYTHING BUT A P-51. To bad I missed out on the watch. OH, I forgot to ring the bell! Great info on the resto. Thanks!
The Hurricane Mark IIA Z2389 at Brooklands was recovered from the former Soviet Union and arrived at the museum in 1997.
What I'd give for a watch with fragments of Marseille's last Bf-109 :(
I think it looks good in Ruski colours but at the same time something does not compute. You see a plane in the scheme of its country of origin and their allies and it clicks. But you see a Finnish Brewster Buffalo, or a Heinkel 111 in RAF colours, an USAAF Zero, even a Coastal Command B17 or one painted for RAF night bombing, and it looks off- like someone is messing with your head.
How about the P-38 flown by an Italian who shot down my great uncle's B-24?
It`s ironic that neither the Russians or the Germans were willing to acknowledge that the Soviet airforce`s were using Spitfires to the extent they did. Or for that matter how often British or US aircraft operated out of bases in the USSR, as for example the British Hurricane wing that flew out of Archangel during late 1941.
My last Restoration I did was a 1930's Airplane!✈✈✈
But its a toy, but very cool!👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Great story. I didn't know the Russian Airforce used the Sptfire actually.
Great project!
For doing that promotion, the least they could do is give you a full sound demonstration of the plane flying.
Not so that this is the only one back from russia. PR.IV BP923 , loaned to ORAP 118, is close to restoration completion. I believe BP926 is in New Zealand.
How did the wing's leading edge D section get flattened, did a steam roller compact it?
I assume it got crushed under either snow/ice/frozen mud over a series of years.
Hisuiza-Spania?
So the LF IX with a low alt tuned engine is slower than the La 7 and Yak 3 variants
Amazing restoration. Another Spitfire will grace the skies again.
I think that watch is a really neat idea. Someday I’ll afford it
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A complete labor of love to bring an old war bird back to life.
Love the camo!
This is random but could you do a video (if possible, no pressure) what happened to pilots who had bailed out and after returning to the airfield or pilots that crashed their plane onto a carrier deck and as such had no plane to fly. I've been thinking about it for a while but I'm not sure whether there's even enough content or information to make a video about it.
The original batch of Spitfires the USSR used, they did not really understand them, not knowing fully in what situations to use them. The British sent 7,000 planes to the USSR in total.
A lot of the original Mk V`s sent to Russia were actually planes that had seen a lot of prior use in North Africa and so were not in the best of condition. So the Russians were less than impressed with what they got. This one though was supplied new, probably through the "Lend-Lease" system and a later variant so hopefully was better received.
I prefer original black and white photos rather than simulations. Just my humble opinion
hasnt a very early mk1a spitfire come back from France?Or doesnt that count as it did take of from The UK?
Is even the data plate original?
Of course, spitfire is a great aircraft, but it didn't take root in USSR, in the main because it wasn't too many of them. But it served well as a high altitude plane, soviet mig 3 fastest aircraft in 1941, that had the same role, wasn't produced to that time, and the rest of the planes were worn out already. Everyone knows about spitfire's positive sides: it's speed and horizontal maneuverability etc, but soviet pilots singled out some of it's minuses. Such as wing armament, soviet pilots get used to machine guns and canons placed in nose of the plane. It dived badly, Alexander Pokryshkin wrote in his memoirs that even LaGG 3 was diving faster than mk V. Five also had the reverse of the ailerons appeared, which imposed certain restrictions on the g-forces and reduced the range of allowable speed evolutions. New generation soviet fighters, such as: Yak 1, Yak 7b, LaGG 3, were faster (lower than 6000m) and had higher rate of climb (lower than 5000m) faster than the spitfire. Also it had problems with landing gear on poor coverage, and could fall on the nose sometimes.
All of this doesn't make Spitfire a bad plane, there were just few of them on the Eastern Front.
Restored? Given that mangled wreck, looks more like they built a near brand-new one.
Did you not watch the video ??
@@sizzler2462 Look at the devastated condition 1:21 even if they have plenty of original pieces recovered from the crash site, many can't simply be hammered back into shape and be considered air-worthy components; the damage and fatigue to the metallic structures are prime spots for ripping apart during flight.
Even a workable aircraft that never crashed will eventually break at the tiniest of places if not given regular hardware refresh (i.e. brand new parts). Just look at the 2011 Reno race accident.
@@aaronseet2738 yes I appreciate that very little of the original aircraft was used but in the video Bismarck stated that hundreds of parts were utilised and the restorer says many parts were repaired refurbished and used every using some of the original gages
Wonderful work. I thank each of these modern day heroes tremendously.
Why does the prop appear to be spinning the wrong direction in some of the video footage? See :36-:39 seconds.
That is a limitation of camera technology. Many cameras aren't capable of filming something moving that fast so they end up looking like it is moving backwards. The same also happens when wheels on cars are filmed.
@@mattyb7183 Thanks!
Grate video
Is that a Packard Built Merlin in PT 879?
He said Mk IX not XVI.
@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 I know what he said.
They would probably have to get approval from America to send the USSR Spitfire Mk XVIs.
@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 Care to explain why you wouldn't be able to put the Packard built version of the Merlin 66 in a Spitfire?
@@martijn9568 What?
All the Spitfire LF Mk XVIs got Packard 266s.
When the only part of a plane that is carried over from pre to post restoration is.. an identification number plate, it is very difficult to pretend it is a restoration. Perhaps more a recreation... Like copying a painting. I totally understand the need to replace stressed and oxydized parts for safety, but something must remain of the old horse... Same for car restorations... ;-)
I have mixed feelings on this... if the goal was to comemorate these Soviet spitfires, maybe keeping it as is, or partially puting it vack together as a static display would have made more sense.
Here I have the feeling the historic artifact is gone.
Wow! How common are spitfires with blue liverys? Pls tell me i wanna know!
Peter had another Spitfire painted blue. it was a photo reckon version brought from Belgium.
Nice replica.
I thought I wasn’t going to be able to follow your channel- a neurological issue has been added to my already lazy ear making it difficult to understand anything but standard Queen’s English, and then not spoken very fast, or from more than a few yards away. I even have a problem with my own provincial tongue when spoken by anybody else but me. But I persevered and am enjoying your work. So many people are just plain idle when it comes to researching a subject like the drivel that is churned out in the name of American history.
He speaks better English than most English people, INNIT?
@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 might be down to the 120ish papers I had to write for my BA (stands for bugger all). For the first 2 years I lived in the US my (ex)wife had to translate what I was saying. One day she announced she had had it with being a translator and I had to slow my speech by 2/3s and learn to speak an English Americans would understand.
I also have a passion for vintage airplanes, but sadly not the money... 🙃 🤣 😵
Those watches were gruesome
Restorers are reaching the point where they can literally build an entire aircraft from scratch, newly manufactured aircraft.
Why does the tail rudder look different to a normal spitfire????
Longer Mk IX engine at the front needed more vertical stabilizer area at the back.
Later production series of the Spitfire Mk IX.
The taller tail fin originally came from the Mk VII design, which never replaced the Mk IX, but upgraded parts of the Mk VII did eventually make themselves into later produced Mk IXs.
I suggest you read up the story of the Spitfire Mk VII, it's quite an interesting one.
@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 There are many different Mk IX's. As with the Mk V's they were originally stop gap's dealing with a specific threat. Mk V's were mostly converted Mk I and II's and were supposed to be an answer to the German high altitude bombing threat . Mk IX's were originally converted Mk V's and were later build new with improvements from the Mk XVI's like the enlarged tail planes and re-balanced elevators. Their original purpose was dealing with the threat of the new Fw190 A.
I volunteered at confederate airforce. They rebuit airplanes. Huh wonder if there still around.
Now the commemorative airforce
@@viking1236 thanks for answering it is appreciated
I ask myself about these restorations- they seem to be the re-manufacturings in many cases. Maybe 5% of the original parts of this crashed example could have been used; not much more, but then it can be said now - it is an original plane. Well...