Perhaps the most famous of all Spitfires still flying today,
MH434 was built in 1943 at Vickers, Castle Bromwich. This
Spitfire is completely original, and has never been fully
rebuilt. A delight to fly, the aircraft is beautifully
responsive and extremely manoeuvrable.
At the beginning of August 1943, MH434 was air tested by
Alex Henshaw - a record breaking pilot from pre-war days (we
highly recommend Alex Henshaw’s book “Sigh for a Merlin”
Click here for more details).
Within the month MH434 was scoring with 222 Squadron. It was
flown in combat by South African pilot Flt Lt Henry
Lardner-Burke, DFC (1916-1970), seven and a half kills,
three damaged, retiring as a Wing Commander. On the 27
August in the St Omar area over France, Lardner-Burke shot
down a Focke-Wulf FW-190 and damaged a second during a
mission to escort USAAF B-17 bombers. On the 5 September
1943 Lardner-Burke and MH434 shot down another FW-190 in the
Nieuport area, and on the 8 September 1943 claimed a half
share in the downing of a Messerschmitt Bf-109G in Northern
France.
In 1944 MH434 was transferred to 350 Sqn. Hornchurch, before
being returned to 222 Sqn. After 79 operational sorties,
MH434 was retired in March 1945.
MH434’s guns were loaded again when bought by the Royal
Netherlands Air Force in 1947. The Spitfire served with 322
Sqn. As H-105 - mainly ground strafing and light bombing
missions - before crash-landing in Semarang, Java. After
spending some time in storage, MH434 was repaired and flew
again in Holland on the 10 March 1953.
The Belgian Air Force became the next owner of this
Spitfire, and as SM-41 she served at the Advanced Pilot
School at Koksijde and with 13 Wing at Brustem.
On the 26 March 1956 MH434 was put up for sale and bought
and brought back to Britain by airline pilot Tim Davies. As
G-ASJV the Spitfire was moved to Stansted then Elstree for a
full overhaul. The aircraft was flown purely for pleasure
and took part in it's first movie role, Operation Crossbow.
November 1967 saw MH434 join the motion picture airforce of
Spitfire Productions Ltd. Set up by Group Captain Hamish
Mahaddie for the film “Battle of Britain”. At the end of the
movie in 1968 MH434 was sold again. The new owner, Sir
Adrian Swire, Chairman of Cathay Pacific Airways, had the
Spitfire painted in 1944 camouflage colour scheme with his
initials AC-S, as squadron codes. There were several film
and television appearances during this period, including “A
Bridge Too Far”.
In April 1983 MH434 was sold at auction to the present and
illustrious owner, Ray Hanna (Nalfire Aviation Ltd) and
became one of OFMC’s founding aircraft. The first major
rebuild took place in the winter of 1994-95. MH434 has
become a regular movie co-star and airshow performer and
when not in make up for a role is flown in the authentic 222
Sqn. Codes ZD-B.
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