Spitfire nursed back to life after 11 year restoration (With Video)

An expert team of technicians from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight restored the rare 'low back' MkXVI Spitfire to flying order at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. 

When commemorations are held later this year for 70th anniversary of the Second World War’s most famous bombing raid, among those taking part will be a new star performer. 

Flypasts to mark the 1943 Dambusters raid are due to include a newly-restored Spitfire, now airborne again almost 60 years after it last took to the air. 

The participation of Spitfire TE311 will mark the end of a remarkable transformation for the aircraft, which has spent much of its career as a mounted display outside an RAF base, and then as a non-flying attraction at village fetes. 

Engineers from the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) have spent the last 11 years renovating the aircraft in their spare time. 

It joins an exclusive club, which until now had consisted of only 51 airworthy Spitfires in the world. 

Six of these are owned by the BBMF which is planning a series of flypasts in May, 70 years on from the attack by Lancasters of 617 Squadron on a series of German dams. 

Squadron Leader Duncan Mason, the new commanding officer of the BBMF, said: “The main focus of our season will be the commemoration of the Dambusters raid– I’m hoping TE311 will be part of those flying events as part of our three-ship [Hurricane, Spitfire, Lancaster] display. The aircraft is a dream to fly.”

Story and Video:   http://www.telegraph.co.uk