These photographs of the Spitfire arriving in Thornaby were taken on the 8th March 2007 which was the same day as her one and only, crane assisted flight! Although it was All Fools Day, the 1st April is actually the birthday of the Royal Air Force and 2007 was the 89th Anniversary of its formation in 1918. The RAF Guard Of Honour was provided by RAF Leeming and various air cadet squadrons and veterans organisations from the Teesside area also took part in the parade .
Photographs and details courtesy of David Thompson.
Picture Stockton Archive 
My 1st flight from RAF Thornaby was as a cadet in 987 (Stockton Grammar School) Flight of the ATC. It was summer of 1943 in a Vickers Warwick, originally intended to be a 2 engined bomber but it had then become an air-sea rescue aircraft. Next year we had summer ‘camp’ at RAF Leeming and were taken up in Anson dual control aircraft. A lively Canadian pilot having a break from bombers attacking the Germans in Normandy.
We had spent a lot of time on Link trainers so knew a bit about controls. He took us up to Teesside and gave us turns at the controls navigating by railway lines!
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Memories Fred, my first “err” none flight was at Thornaby, not sure if it was the Airshow 1937 or 38, Dad paid ten shillings 50 pence for me to have a short flight in a De Haviland twin wing passenger plane, it had eight or ten seats. We got in and seated in a bucket seat affair and I was not impressed to discover what must have been a canvass side, it seemed very flexible to a young inquisitive lad.
The engines started and we bumped out for take off, Thornaby was still grass and then a long wait, we bumped back to the start and were told there was an engine fault so got our money back end of first none flight. I think I was glad?
Flew in Dakota’s dropping supplies to the Tanks in the Middle East then flew in Auster spotter aircraft map reading before we started to fly regular runs in and out of Germany.
Stationed with the US Marines in Cyprus we flew every where in Marine Helicopters and at times would have to share cabin space on the big ones with engines rotor blades and even once a truck, with the scout choppers I always knew where the sick bag was. Fun days and I have the pictures.
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Frank, I flew in a Dakota in 1980 on a day trip from Barbados to Tobago. When we arrived at Grantley Adams Airport to set off, the pilot was up a ladder cleaning the windshield with a chamois leather. It was an excellent flight in an unpressurised cabin. We flew at about 5,000 ft or so. When we booked the trip, we were told they were awaiting air worthiness certs. from Seattle for wing root X-ray reports. All was OK so off we went.
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The Avro 504 dated from WWI when it was used as light bomber, but whether they were still building new ones after that war I don’t know. The RAF finished WWI with over 20000 aircraft so there must have been a lot of airframes and engines kicking around.
The cockpit enclosure on the ME109 was not only poor for a look out by the pilot, as Frank Mee points out, but as might be imagined, it had very poor streamlining. Indeed no effort at all was made, all through the war, to improve the aerodynamics of the Messersmitt, in contrast to the Spitfire.
My first flight was in 1957 in an Anson of the passenger carrying type with proper windows. This was as an air cadet in the “squadron” opposite Richard Hind school. However the flight took place at RAF Woodvale near Southport (Lancs). At this aerodrome, Mosquitoes had just taken over from Spitfires for Met Flights over the Atlantic.
Our one visit to Thornaby was to see a demonstration by a Sycamore Helicopter of simulated air to sea rescue. I think it was mentioned that at that time helicopters could not fly at night.
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I was very impressed with the Spitfire monument at Thornaby. It is much better than the Spitfire placed near Southampton Airport near Eastleigh where the first prototypes were flown from. Southampton’s is duck egg blue, which I believe all the prototypes were.
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The duck egg blue would be a photo reconaisance Spitfire, they flew alone across Europe unarmed before and after raids to photograph tje damage and in some cases as with the “V” weapons to find the firing sites. The bravest of the brave yet nothing was known about them by the public or us war savvy youngsters.
The models I made from kits all had duck egg blue undersides and camouflage topsides which was the delivery colour to Squadrons.
Anyone seeing an ME109 would know the cockpit view was very poor as well as being cramped, the Spitfire cockpit was much larger with a very good all round view which often made a difference in dog fights. I did manage to sit in one at Nuffields Eaglescliffe where they broke up all types of aircraft for scrap. Any plane on either side was only as good as the Pilot and the Germans had the same problem as us, they pushed very young poorly trained men into the air to fight, they learned battle craft at the sharp end.
There were some Avro’s at Thornaby although as I said they did look like first world war, I do believe the Avro Anson there was the CO’s plane and looked very modern to me, we did learn well after the war it was a workhorse with many uses although too slow for close encounters with the enemy. Then we learned many bthings “after” the war.
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The WWI training aircraft at Thornaby were probably Avro 504s.
The progressively improved variants of the Spitfire certainly had the edge over the respective marks of the Messchmitt 109 all through the war. The 109 was essentially a touring aircraft design which had been fitted with a miltary engine. The wing loading was high to begin with and became excessive in the Me 109G and K models.
The FW190 was a different animal. Faster, and in some respects more manoverable than the Spitfire VB. Fighter Command lost a lot of pilots from it in 1942/43. The introduction of MK 9 Spitfire with two speed two stage supercharged Merlin engine put the Spitfire on the same level as the Focke Wulf 190. But these forms of the Merlin engine were only feasible because of the development of high octane fuels, in which ICI Billingham played some part.
On a more personal note the Art Teacher at Richard Hind in the 1950s flew Westland Waputis from Thornaby during the 1930s. A modified verson of this aircraft was the first aircraft to fly over Mount Everest.
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By 1943 the Spitfire VB was not exactly one of our front line fighters as it was barely level with the Me 109F and its top speed was 35mph slower than the Focke Wulf 190. This mark of the Spitfire was being replaced by the MK 9 version and the Typhoon. So its not surprising that the VB was only at Thornaby for a short time.
Our best fighter up to the Hurricane and Spitfire coming into service was the Gloster Gladiator, Frank Mee has got some of names mixed up. There was a Bristol Bulldog, a late 1920s fighter.
By the way, the nominal cost of a Spitfire was £5000, probably equivalent to 100-150 thousand in today’s money. The Hunters which were flying from Thornaby for a short time in the mid fifities were then costed at £100000, equivalent to nearly two million today.
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Correct Fred it was the Gloster Gladiator which saw service well into the battle of Malta. Thornaby saw in the years I remember up to and the first few months of the war, Dad was leading runway materials onto all those aerodromes and often took me, Hawker Fury II, even a Hawker Hart, a couple of Bristol Bulldogs all twin wing. There were also some what to me looked like first world war planes probably training planes as aircraft were in very short supply.
The Spitfire VB was slightly slower than some of the German fighters although far more manouvrable which often gave them the edge.
The Germans captured a Spitfire VB and the test pilots got a surprise as to how nimble it was in the air.
Later versions of the Spitfire had Griffin engines, heavier and more powerful they are still flying with the RAF heretage squadron. Merlins had many upgrades and were even produced by Packard of America.
The Spitfire to us who remember the war was unbeatable although as with all things young researchers try to wreck our memories of watching those wonderful planes and rubbish our cherished beliefs that kept everyone going for six long years. That Thornaby Spitfire says it all and well done to those who flew it I say.
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You ask why a Spitfire, two counts, to us wartime lads the Spitfire was the Icon, the plane that was winning the war, well that is what we thought after the Battle of Britain, we saw the pictures on Pathe news and read about it then discussed it at school to great length.
Hardly a day went by without seeing either a Spitfire or Hurricane flying around often doing aerobatics, there were Spitfires on nearly all the Aerodromes around us for the Bomber Pilots to relax and let go, my Mother worked at Goosepool and often told us about the mad cap flying as pilots shot up the hangers or the control tower, it usually got them grounded.
Those men Canadians at Goosepool went out night after night knowing full well not all would come back so letting their hair down now and then was allowed.
It would have looked odd if they had put a Gloster Bulldog or Hawker Fury 11 on the plinth as that was what we had at the beginning of the war, twin wing single engine and we thought them beautiful until the day I saw my first Hurricane then later the Spitfire. Those planes to this day lift my spirits and watching the two Spitfires plus the Halifax on the Dam Busters Anniversary show made my day, to us the Spitfire typifies the war.
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So why not a Hurricane ? After all it shot down more enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain than the Spitfire.
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I was at derwent water for this memorable event, and I believe the bomber was a lancaster plus the spitfires and a couple of tornadoes, wonderful to see.
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Why a Spitfire? Spitfires MK vb were only on station for 13 weeks in 1943 with 401 squadron.
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Other squadrons (Detachments) using Thornaby as forward base with Spitfire Mk Vb’s were,
122 (Bombay) January – March 1942
332 (Norway) March – June 1942
403 (Canadian) June 1942 – Jan 1943
401 (Canadian) January – May 1943
306 (Polish) May – August 1943
41 squadron also used Thornaby as forward base early in the war with Spitfires, although not with Vbs of course.
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This would have looked much better and more realistic without the prop blades, but with a pilot figure in the cockpit. Having said that, I still thinks it’s great !
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