Spitfire Project: An Overview

The Australian Army Flying Museum (AAFM) is located at Oakey in Queensland, Australia. Obviously it displays aircraft and artefacts of Army flying, but with one exception.

During WWII, Oakey was a major maintenance base for a whole range of military aircraft. After the war, Oakey became a storage base for surplus military aircraft including many Spitfires. A smelter was set up on site and the aircraft were melted down.

The aim is to reproduce a Spitfire Mk V with serial number A58-27. This Spitfire was sent to Australia as BR484 which later became RAAF serial number A58-27. So the project is a recognition of the history of the Oakey base even though it has no direct relevance to the AAFM.

The project has been rolling along for about 12 years with many volunteers being involved over the years. I started to be involved with the Spitfire in early 2015. The photos below illustrate the status of the project when I joined the team.