Spitfire TE311:

From Gate Guardian to Airshow Favorite

Like all Mk XVI Spitfires, Spitfire Mk L.F. XVIe

TE311 was manufactured at the Castle Bromwich Aeroplane Factory near Birmingham, England.

It was built during 1945 as a low-back, clippedwing Packard Merlin 266-powered L.F. XVIe and delivered on June 8, 1945, exactly one month after VE Day.

With the war in Europe at an end, TE311 was placed in storage until October 5, 1945. Over the next nine years, the Spitfire flew intermittently with various different second-line RAF units, with long periods of storage in between. On December 13 ,1954, having flown only some 30 hours in total, TE311 was transferred to non-effective stock; grounded but still in RAF hands.

From August 1955, TE311 spent 12 years standing outside in the elements at RAF Tangmere as a gate guardian, on display at the Station’s main gate. After being used as an extra during the filming for the epic movie “Battle of Britain,” it became a gate guardian at RAF Benson from August 1968.

At the end of January 1973, TE311 was allocated to the RAF Exhibition Flight and spent the next 30 years touring Britain by road, visiting air shows as a static exhibit, in company with high-back Spitfire Mk XVI TB382. Both airframes were crudely modified for ease of dismantling, loading, transport, and reassembly, with the aircrafts’ wings being regularly removed and refitted.

In 1999, the RAF announced that the two Exhibition Spitfire Mk XVIs were to be sold.

However, after some high-level negotiations, TE311 and TB382 were allocated to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) at RAF Coningsby to be used as a source of spare parts. Subsequently, TB382 was struck off charge and broken up for spares, but inspection of Spitfire TE311 by the

BBMF engineers showed that it was in a fairly good state of preservation and, while much work was required and many parts were missing, it could be a candidate for restoration to flying condition. BBMF engineer Chief Technician Paul Blackah MBE took the lead in this decision and in the restoration, which began in June 2002. Initially, the restoration of TE311 had no official backing or funding, not least because this was supposed to be a spares recovery program, but eventually it was agreed that the Spitfire could officially be placed on the strength of the BBMF.

With the restoration complete, Spitfire TE311 took to the skies once again on October 19, 2012, for the first time in over 58 years. Since then, she has become a stalwart of the Flight and a favorite among the BBMF fighter pilots.