These are the few pictures of my new RC Spitfire Mk. VIII. I am quite proud of my spitfire and fly it regularly.

The RAF took delivery of this Mk. VIII in June 1944. It was quickly tropicalized in England and shipped to Bombay, India in July 1944. Assigned to No.17 Squadron, based at China Bay and Vavyuina, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) It flew many combat missions against the Japanese until June 1945 and often flew as a fighter escort for 28 Squadron, a dive bomber unit equipped with Hawker Hurricanes.

The model is built from Brian Taylors plan and has 83″ (210 cm) wing span. It is powered by a Laser150 turning a 16 by 8 prop. It has air retracts for the main wheels and servo operated retracting tail wheel. It also has working flaps.

The maiden flight on 4th July 2002 went well, but the second flight on 27th was a disaster. At 100ft the spinner came loose which pulled the engine out and took the lower cowl with it . The plane went into a spiral dive, but somehow with 10ft to spare I got the wings level which limited the damage to a broken wing. It has had 9 flights the last was at Castle Howard last Summer.