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George Henderson
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Academy 1:48 Spitfire Mk.XIVe

July 10, 2017 · in Aviation · · 18 · 2.4K

Mk. XIVe TZ138. This aircraft built in 1945 at Aldermanston and shipped to Canada in 1945 and was used for cold weather testing with the Winter Experimental Establishment (WEE) Flight in western Canada from early 1946 to July 1949. It was probably the only Spitfire ever flown with skis, the skis falling off on lift-off.

TZ138 was sold for $1250 to two Edmonton businessmen (one was Ken Brown, who flew on the Dam Busters raid), registered as CF-GMZ and they quickly prepared it for entry in the Cleveland Air Races. It placed third, and the team won a $1050 prize. Early the next morning, the pilot took off with the Spitfire and the winnings and the Spit was sold a couple days later for $1000 in Florida. In 1952, it was supposed to be sold to a buyer in the Dominican Republic, but was confiscated by US Customs. It has passed from collector to collector, rebuilt in 1970 but crashing on its first flight. The Lone Star Flight Museum acquired it and restored it, completing it in 1994. It is now in Vancouver, BC with collector Robert Jens, registered C-GSPT.

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18 responses

  1. Quite an interesting history of this bird, George...must've had a "plan" in mind seein's how the skis fell off upon takeoff as I presume they were intended to do.

  2. Nice - good to see a non-typical livery of a commonly modeled subject.

  3. George, great model & report! It's very interesting. I wish there were pics of this one wearing skis before takeoff.
    Thanks for sharing.

  4. Hi George. What a history, you couldn't make up a story like that. Great build and beautiful finish. What was the base kit?

  5. Sorry, George - need new reading glasses (too much much modeling). I see it's the Academy 1/48.

  6. Did the nose art come as decals in the kit, George?

  7. Profile Photo
    said on July 10, 2017

    Another unusual subject George. Good stuff.

  8. Looks great George.

    Nice back story too.
    Cheers Gregor

  9. Thank you Gregor. One of the things I love about this hobby is trying to dig up every bit of info about the aircraft I want to portray

  10. Yes, a nice piece of aircraft history, and a great build.

  11. Love me some Canadian Spitfires

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