This kit needs no introduction, as I've built a number of them over the past year(!) in various guises and schemes.
Back in the early 1980s, author Derek Robinson wrote the controversial novel Piece of Cake, depicting the lives of a squadron of RAF Hurricane pilots in the first 12 months of World War 2. Interest was such that the book was adapted into a TV series.
However, a lack of airworthy Hurricanes (only three or four at the time) meant that the TV company had to change to using Spitfires for their flying sequences.
Five aircraft were used for the squadron scenes, including the aircraft leading this group of Spitfires on a filming sortie:
This was a rare Pr.XI aircraft, modified to look more like the Mk.IXs and Mk.Ia that were also being used. The aircraft lost its original wraparound windscreen and the enlarged lower engine cowlings, in favour of a set of fighter-style items in their place. A 1940 camouflage scheme and appropriate roundels helped to complete the illusion.
I once photographed this Spit at Duxford in 2000, at the Battle of Britain 60th anniversary airshow, and to me it looked fantastic. If the RAF had a Spitfire with that engine and those refinements, we wouldn't have had such a long battle!
Sadly, Spitfire PL983 met with a fatal accident in France in 2001, when an engine failure forced the pilot to try and land on an emergency runway. The presence of people on the field meant that the pilot had to avoid civilian casualties on the ground, and unfortunately the Spitfire fell out of the sky and crashed, the airframe being consumed by fire.
The aircraft is, at present, slowly being put together again at Duxford.
So, there you have it.
