SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE Ia

N3200

Spitfire I N3200 (G-CFGJ) is perhaps the most authentic airworthy Spitfire to be seen anywhere in the world, as well as representing such an early mark of this most famous of fighters. The Spitfire I was the first production example of RJ Mitchell’s original design, modified and improved since the prototype made the type’s maiden flight from Eastleigh (now Southampton) Airport on 5th March 1936. Initial Spitfire Is were delivered to squadrons at Duxford from as early as 1938. Being such an early example, this variant lacked several features which were adopted by later models, yet still performed effectively in the initial stages of the Second World War.

N3200 itself was first flown, also from Eastleigh, on 29th November 1939. After spending time with 8 Maintenance Unit at RAF Little Rissington for acceptance checks and preparation for service, the Spitfire was posted to its first operational unit – 19 Squadron at RAF Duxford – on 19th April 1940 where the code ‘QV’ was applied to the fuselage sides. On May 26th 1940, just 5 weeks after it entered service, 19 Squadron commanding officer Sqn Ldr Geoffrey Stephenson was flying N3200 over Northern France on a sortie to protect British troops whilst the evacuation of Dunkirk was ongoing. He shot down a JU-87 Stuka but the Spitfire was then hit in the radiator and had to ditch on Sangatte beach. Stephenson was taken prisoner: after multiple escape attempts, he ended up in the infamous Colditz Castle but survived the war. The aircraft had remained largely complete in the forced landing and period photographs show N3200 became something of a local attraction as numerous German soldiers took turns to pose with the downed Allied aircraft.

The action of the tide and sands led to the Spitfire quickly being completely buried on Sangatte beach. It lay there until 1986 when it was recovered and placed on display at a local museum for several years. In 2000 the aircraft was acquired by Mark One Partners and moved into storage. The recovered airframe arrived at Duxford in 2007 – in 2012 work commenced on restoring the aircraft back to airworthy condition. Alongside another Mark I owned by the group, the Aircraft Restoration Company team embarked on one of the most ambitious Spitfire projects ever. The brief required N3200 to look exactly how it did on its final flight. This required a vast amount of research work to establish exactly what modification state the Spitfire would have been in on 26th May 1940 – the drawings only told part of the story as at this time of the war the aircraft was being continuously modified as lessons were learnt. Unfortunately, the sand and saltwater had been harsh to the aluminium so the team worked hard to extract valuable original parts of the airframe wherever possible. The aircraft was fitted with every single detail fitted to the Mark I Spitfire which had hundreds of variations even from the visually similar Mark V. Major differences included the special Dunlop tyres, undercarriage hand pump, canopy, metal propeller and gear indicators to name just a few.

N3200, now G-CFGJ, made its first post-restoration flight from Duxford in early 2014 in the hands of John Romain. Once test flying was complete, the aircraft began appearing at events throughout that season. In 2015, 75 years since she was shot down, Thomas Kaplan of Mark One Partners donated the aircraft to the Imperial War Museum – with the wish it remained at Duxford in airworthy condition. The handover took place in July 2015 at a ceremony attended by Prince William at Duxford, who signed the inside of the cockpit door to mark the special occasion. The aircraft remains under the ownership of the Imperial War Museum who regularly showcase the aircraft at displays both at Duxford and elsewhere. Its distinctive whistle and black and white underside make it easy to distinguish from any other Spitfire. For N3200 to be based at the airfield it was originally stationed at is hugely important to the country’s national heritage particularly as so closely resembles that initial batch of Spitfires delivered to the RAF. For it to have been restored to flight with the attention to detail that it was truly makes it a one-of-a-kind time capsule.