SAAF Spitfire Restoration - Hangar Milestone

A traditional christening marked a major milestone in the quest to launch a Spitfire back into southern African skies as the project’s new hangar had its roof wetted in style.

The hangar will provide space for the Friends of the SAAF Museum’s Spitfire Restoration Group as they slowly get the museum’s Mk.IX Spitfire back on its feet and eventually back in the air. This is a long term project, but it is one that is gathering momentum after a Covid-induced lull that affected restorations around the world.

Spitfire Restoration Team Leader, Ian Grace, next 5518

Roof Wetting

The first Saturday of the month is traditionally a flying day at the SAAF Museum at Swartkops, just south of Pretoria, with the museum’s various aeroplanes and helicopters taking to the air. July’s flying day was the perfect opportunity for the Spitfire group to gather together a wide range of supporters to mark the completion of the roof for their new engineering hangar.

With project lead Ian Grace proving an appropriate Master of Ceremonies, the project’s supporters sought shelter under the roof as one of the SAAF base’s fire engines provided both a christening and a test of the weather resilience of the new structure - a test it passed with flying colours.

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Arranged by the Officer Commanding of the SAAF Museum, Lt Col Gaelejwe, one of the base's fire-fighting machines christens the new resotoration hangar!

On display under the roof was the fuselage of the museum’s Spitfire, the focus of the project along with its restored bubble canopy and the seat that is about to depart to Cape Town for its own restoration. They were joined by an almost complete ‘Baby Spitfire’ donated by the Knobel family and another three quarter scale replica fuselage. The latter will be used as part of a simulator - that will function as a genuine pilot simulator as well as a fund-raising experience.

5518's restored canopy

Seat - ready to be restored

Baby Spit donated to the project

Also on show were a number of pieces of art, donated by Darryl Legg, Don Bell and Rynier Keet. The latter’s painting formed the centrepiece of a new banner, supplied free of charge by Gecko printing.

Phil Scallan in full- swing

The Chairman of the Friends of the SAAF Museum, Phil Scallan, then gave an overview of the programme before handing back to Ian Grace. As mentioned above, the project is a long-term one and one of the sad side effects of this is not all of those who start out on the journey complete it and Ian started with a moment of remembrance for Major General Des Barker, Colonel Rama Iyer, Colonel Glen Warden and Colonel Butch Bester - all of whom had been early supporters of the project.

The hangar is intended to be the home of the restoration project, with as much work being performed in South Africa as possible - though the group is planning for the final completion to take place in the UK, where there is a thriving industry with experience of getting Spitfires back into the air. As various sub-components are completed and signed off by the CAA they will be placed into quarantine until the whole airframe can be put back together, a process explained by the group’s specialist aeronautical engineer, Robert Cathro.

The hangar’s construction has been made possible through donations from a range of sources, either in cash or materials. For instance, Mr Dawid Laas has donated the materials required for the erection of the walls of the hangar. The restoration group is very aware that donors in South Africa are keen to see where their money is being spent, and this is why the hangar has been constructed in stages.

Gordon Dyne grew up next to the Castle Bromwich factory that produced 5518

Two legends of SA aviation, with Colonel Smit on the right and Derek Hopkins on the left.

Colour was given to the occasion with anecdotes from former Spitfire pilots Gordon Dyne and Colonel Tony Smit. The latter, the second SAAF Museum commander, is now 87 and is still adding to his more than 26,000 hours of flying.

While various contributors were thanked, one that stood out was Performance Centre who have acquired 10 licenses to convert standard 5.0L Mustangs into RTR Spec 5 wide bodies. These will be limited edition, 1 of a kind, hand painted, Airplane replica, V8 supercharged vehicles. The dash plaques are made out of actual pieces of the museum’s Spitfire - ones beyond repair!

Each Mustang's colours will accurately match the livery of a Spitfire flown by a South African ace during WWII. The initial vehicle DB-H, RTR Spitfire Mustang is the first Mustang RTR Spec 5 wide body in the World and its sale has raised considerable funds for the project. Appropriately, this matches the colour scheme the group intends to apply to the restored aircraft - that of Captain Bob Rogers, who later went on to command the SAAF. It is these colours that are reflected on the group’s new banner.

The occasion finished with a group photo followed by food and drink - two things that never fail to impress at South African events!

Zygmunt Slomski was killed while flying Kalahari, donated by Bechuanaland.

The Importance of an African Spitfire

As Colonel Smit alluded to during his speech, it is important that the whole of African history is taught. While Southern Africa maintained a colour bar for pilots during WWII, there were a number of black pilots from West Africa who served with the RAF - and their stories have largely been forgotten. It is also important that the African contribution in the fight against Nazism included people of all races, for instance 10,000 Batswana fought in that conflict - making Bechuanaland (now Botswana) the largest per capita contribution to the war of any African country. Botswana, like many African countries, also raised funds for ‘Presentation’ Spitfires - in its case they were named Bechuana and Kalahari, the latter was flown by Zygmunt Slomski, a Polish pilot, when it was lost over the English Channel.

These stories, along with the fact that Southern Africa trained tens of thousands of Commonwealth pilots during that war, means that a living Spitfire would be a fitting memorial for this region’s contribution to the Second World War. Not to mention a great way of creating excitement for the next generation of pilots.

5518 on a pole at Waterkloof

The Spitfire

Spitfire TE213 was a late model Mark IX with a bubble canopy and a cut down fuselage and was the 5556th Mark IX to come off the production line, in her case this was in the famous Castle Bromwich works, just as the war in Europe came to an end.

Having spent two years in storage, she was sold to the SAAF in July 1947 and was allocated serial 5518. She gave six years of service before being placed in storage the year before the SAAF retired its last Mark IX’s. While many examples went to the breaker’s yard, 5518 was chosen to be a gate guardian at Waterkloof and for 23 years she stood outside the administration block.

5518 as 5513 AX-K

In 1978 she was moved to the SAAF Museum’s storage facility at Lanseria before the decision was made to return 5518 to the air, retaining its status as an SAAF aircraft. Many years of hard work, with a helping hand from Atlas Aviation (now Denel), paid off when she returned to the air in 1995. Engine problems delayed her first public appearance but fittingly she made her debut at the SAAF Museum at Swartkops on April 20th 1996 now painted as 5553. The reason for the change of serial was that good photographic evidence of the period markings of AX-K existed.

5518 after her collision with the concrete boundary wall at Swartkops.

For the next four years Spitfire was the highlight of many airshows, occasionally flying in tandem with privately owned fellow Mark IX TE566. However, disaster struck in April 2000 as the two Spitfires turned back towards the crowd at Zwartkops a puff of smoke from 5518 indicated something was not right. A valiant effort to make a downwind landing followed. Due to the ridge in runway 02 the Spitfire disappeared from view. It did not reappear. But neither did the half expected fireball. In fact, landing short of the runway 5518 had demolished a concrete security barrier before coming to rest with her starboard wing missing, her tail twisted, and severe damage forward of the firewall.

The good news was that the pilot, Lt. Col. Thomas, was only slightly injured. Unfortunately, 5518 was not as lucky and, given the constant financial constraints the SAAF Museum faces, she was put back into storage.

It was always clear that given the finances, and despite the damage, 5518 could be restored but it was also clear that this would be a mammoth undertaking. Ian Grace and Col Tony Smit were two that lobbied strongly for the restoration and in October 2014 permission was given for the Friends of the SAAF Museum to go ahead with what is effectively a full rebuild, initially to ground display standard. The group acquired all the remaining parts of 5518 in mid-2015 and they discovered that hardly any major assembly had escaped significant damage, confirming the need for the rebuild that would now include new ribs, frames, skins, etc.

5518 will reappear under its former glory as DB-H

The team put together a plan to ensure that 5518 will have the opportunity to take to the air once again, and are now making progress as the restoration hangar shows. The group has ensured that while the project may take ten or fifteen years, that their plans meet all regulatory requirements and that a flight-ready African Spitfire will be the outcome.

To follow the progress of this project or to make a donation please see https://spitfire-restoration.co.za/

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