Stalin’s Spitfire
Wrecked in Russia in 1945, iconic aircraft is brought home... and given a £2million makeover
IT is probably the most famous fighter aircraft in history, its sleek shape familiar to millions after helping to defeat the German air assault during the Battle of Britain.
So it may come as a shock to see a Spitfire bearing the Soviet red star on its fuselage and wings instead of the usual RAF roundels.
But that is how this warplane appeared – unfamiliar markings and all – until it crashed in 1945, and was abandoned on the tundra in a remote part of Russia.
The Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX, serial number PT879, was one of 1,328 British fighters supplied to the Red Army from 1942 to 1945 under an often forgotten ‘lend-lease’ scheme by the Allies to help Joseph Stalin’s forces fight the Nazis on the Eastern Front.
After a restoration project costing more than £2million, it is now the only flying example of a ‘Russian Spitfire’ in existence.
It is pictured here being flown by its British owner Peter Teichman over Grafham Water reservoir near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.
Built at the Vickers-Armstrongs factory at Castle Bromwich, on the edge of Birmingham, PT879 was shipped to Murmansk in Russia’s far north in October 1944.
It joined a Russian squadron, but crashed on May 18, 1945, on the nearby Kola Peninsula.
Official reports say PT879 had completed a total of 18hours 29minutes of flying time before the crash during dogfight training when another Spitfire hit it with its wing, cutting off its tail, according to historian Peter Arnold.
PT879’s pilot Lieutenant Grigoriy
Vasilievich Semyonov bailed out safely.
Mr Arnold said Spitfires, with their delicate undercarriage and high performance at high altitude, were ‘not a particular favourite’ of Russian pilots who preferred ‘more rugged’ aircraft for the intermediate height combats on the Eastern Front.
After its recovery by a Russian farmer in 1997, PT879 was sold to a UK buyer.
Six years later, it was bought by
Mr Teichman, who runs The Hangar 11 Collection in North Weald, Essex.
A licensed display pilot in his 60s, he provides planes for airshows, corporate events, films and weddings and has restored several wartime machines. His collection includes a more familiar looking Spitfire Mark XI and an American P51D Mustang.
Despite PT879’s remains being badly damaged, Mr Teichman was able to harvest thousands of parts including its wings, fuselage, cannon and machine guns. The Arctic tundra had even preserved some of the Spitfire’s paintwork.
A replacement Rolls-Royce Merlin 66 engine was sourced from Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar in Kent, where the restoration was completed.
It was even fitted with 250lb bombs – as Spitfires often were late in the war – although these are fibreglass replicas. PT879
‘Crashed during a practice dogfight’
made its first test flight post-restoration last October and has a Civil Aviation Authority permit to be flown at displays.
Out of the more than 20,000 Spitfires built from 1938 to 1948, around 60 are still airworthy.
Mr Teichman said he had been supported by his wife Karen during the project, adding: ‘It’s been a labour of love for both of us.
‘Karen likes flying too, but as it’s only a one-seater I can’t take her with me unless she was strapped to the wing – and she’s not keen on that!’