Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2007 | Page 29

INTERVIEW
immerging Italian Air Force as MM4100
and saw six years service before being
acquired by the Israeli Air Force in 1952.
Details on its service with the Israeli's are
very sketchy but it is known to have been
coded as I.A.F 2067. After being withdrawn
from service it was donated to a Kibbutz in
the Gaza Strip for use in their playground.
In the early 1980's the remains were
discovered by a British aircraft collector
on the Kibbutz tip. The partly buried
fuselage, engine and propeller were
removed in 1983 and brought to Fowlmere
in Cambridge. Property developer Charles
Church purchased the remains in 1984

it to the expert. “The exhilaration was
similar to a roller coaster ride, but far,
far better. That engine is incredible –
you can see why it won us the war!”
He shakes hands with Anthony.
“Thank you for making my dream come
true,” he says. And he hopes, he really
hopes, he’ll get a call and be invited
to fly the Spitfire again next year.

and the decision was made to rebuild the
aircraft to flying condition as a two-seat
Spitfire trainer version (Spitfire Tr9). Dick
Melton who had served for many years
with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
carried the work out over three years
at Charles Church's private airfield.
Upon completion in 1987 PT462 made
several display appearances, however
following Charles Churches fatal crash in
another of his Spitfires, PT462 was sold
to an American collector based in Florida
in 1994. Anthony Hodgson the current
owner, who in early1998 had decided
to fulfill a long held ambition to own a

life

Spitfire, purchased the aircraft in the
February. The aircraft was stripped down,
shipped back to Britain in a container
during the summer and delivered to
Duxford. The aircraft was re-assembled
by the Aircraft Restoration Company
(ARCo) at Duxford under the guidance
of John Romain and was successfully
test flown on 5th August of that year.
The aircraft is based at Anthony's
private farm strip in North Wales and
is currently the only Spitfire based
in Wales and to celebrate this fact
the aircraft now has a Welsh Dragon
Emblem d