1:32 Spitfire MkIIa P7350 SET TWO

The oldest flying Spitfire and its later coats

The Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IIa with the fuselage number P7350 is the only airworthy example of the type today that personally took part in the Battle of Britain. According to surviving records it was the fourteenth example of nearly twelve thousand machines built in the dispersed production at Castle Bromwich near Birmingham. The aircraft survived the war, served for a number of years as a ground exhibit and from the late 1960s flies again with the memorial flight, which on 1 January 1969 was renamed the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and which from the spring of 1976 has operated from the Coningsby base.

Four guises of one aircraft

The second installment of the series covers the coats that P7350 wore at public appearances. The codes UO-T recall No. 266 Squadron in the years 1972 to 1977, YT-F refer to No. 65 Squadron from the period 1991 to 1993, RN-S to No. 72 Squadron from the mid-1990s and BA-Y to the air-sea rescue No. 277 Squadron from 1997 to 2000. With each variant goes its own set of fuselage letters, national insignia and small service lettering. What is interesting is that the aircraft wore none of these markings during the war. They are tributes to units whose history the memorial flight recalls, and that is why the schemes changed roughly every few seasons.

The workmanship of the sheet

The artwork is printed on a common carrier film, so the pieces are cut out close to the outline and after soaking slid onto the model. They hold best on a smooth gloss surface, and once dry it is advisable to go over the join with a matte or semi-gloss clear coat. The aircraft kit and the paints do not belong with the sheet.