s/n PL344 Reg: VH-IUK // GBP£2,750,000

s/n PL344 Reg: VH-IUK
GBP£2,750,000

1944 Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. Spitfire Mk IXe PL344

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Additional Info

History

Following Extract form Spitfire Survivors, Vol. I by Riley, Arnold & Trant.

PL344 was ordered from Vickers-Armstrong at Castle Bromwich on June 1943 and built as an L.F.IX with a Merlin 66 and e-type armament as part of the batch PL313 – 356. The aircraft was delivered to No. 8 M.U. at Little Rissington on 1 July 1944 but seems to have required attention by a party from General Aircraft Ltd before being allocated to No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Sqn operating within No. 128 Wing. The unit was then based at Longues (B.11) and PL344 was coded LO-P. It suffered Cat. Ac damage to the port wing as a result of enemy action on 12 August. Following repair, PL344 was issued to No. 442 (Caribou) Sqn, RCAF, coded Y2-P on 28 September 1944; the unit was advancing across occupied Europe as evidenced by its bases – Illiers L’Eveque (B.26), Poix (B.44), Evere (B.56) and Le Culot (B.58). Further damage was inflicted on 28 December 1944 but this was repaired and PL344 remained with the unit until late March 1945 when the Squadron left  for the UK, leaving its aircraft behind in Holland. PL344 was issued to No. 401 (Ram) Sqn, RCAF in 19 April 1945, the unit having just moved to Wunsdorf (B.116) from Rheine (B.108).

Here it became the aircraft of choice of the squadron C.O., Sqn Ldr Bill Klersy DSO, DFC & Bar (RCAF) – one of the most successful and most highly-decorated Canadian fighter pilots of World War II. Flying PL344 (YO-K) Klersey claimed 6.5 kills and one probable; the first was an Fw190, shot down over Hagenow airfield near Hamburg on 19 April – the day that the aircraft joined the unit. The next day Klersy was flying PL344 as he led the squadron on an armed recce mission in the Schwerin area between 15:10 and 16:55 when he sighted several aircraft taking off from a grass strip; attacking from the eight o‘clock position he destroyed one Bf109 before turning to attack two more – sharing a second Bf109 with his No.2 – Flt Lt Woods. Later that evening Klersy was leading the squadron on another patrol in the Hamburg area when he saw six Fw190s flying at tree-top height near Hagenow airfield, he attacked from the rear and accounted for two of them.

PL344‘s next victim was another Fw190 which Klersy spotted taking off from Lubeck aerodrome on the evening of 1 May 1945, despite intense flak he managed to hit the aircraft in the cowling and wing root area but could not confirm the kill and claimed it as damaged. Two days later Klersy was leading the squadron on a patrol in the general area of Hamburg, after which they moved on to Kiel and Lubeck. Some 25 German aircraft were spotted parked at Schonberg aerodrome and with no flak in evidence the squadron strafed the aerodrome and left 15 aircraft in flames – Klersy and PL344 accounting for one Heinkel He111 and one Junkers Ju52.

It is interesting to note that Klersy flew number two to Wg Cdr Geoff Northcott on what was almost certainly the last sortie of World War 2 in Europe. Following orders that all offensive activities would cease at 08:00 hours on 5 May 1945 a group of four Spitfires from No. 126 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force, took off at 06:30 from Wunstorf (B.116) on 5 May 1945 but failed to find any targets and landed at 08:00; it is reasonable to assume that PL344 was the aircraft flown by Klersy in this final sweep.

The squadron Mk IX‘s started to be replaced by Mk XIV‘s on 6 May 1945 and Bill Klersy was killed in a flying accident on 22 May when his Spitfire F.R.XIVe, RM785, hit a hill in dense cloud near Wessel, Germany. He is buried in the military cemetery at Groesbeek, Holland.

During PL344’s final post-war flight from Hutton Cranswick to Lubeck, she was damaged one final time in a wheels-up landing at Eindhoven on 6 May 1946. The damage was classified as Cat. C (instructional airframe duties) and PL344 was allocated to No. 151 R.U. at Wevelgem, near Brussels, Belgium, on 5 September.

This aircraft together with several others, were acquired by the Institute of Technology at Delft during 1947, being stored in the loft of the college buildings for some years before being broken down into sections for instructional purposes. The surviving fuselage and wing parts remained on display throughout the 1960‘s and 70‘s, the cockpit section and inner wings being used as a hydraulic rig to demonstrate undercarriage retraction. Those parts were collected by Harry van der Meer in the early 1980‘s to save them from destruction. The remains were obtained late in 1985 by Charles Church and returned to the UK early in 1986, where a reconstruction to airworthy status commenced.

About

After an in-depth restoration by the late Charles Church and Dick Melton, Kermit Weeks purchased PL344 from the Estate of Charles Church and engaged Tony Bianchi of Personal Plane Services Ltd. to conduct additional upgrades on PL344 to make it more authentic. Upon completion in 2000, PL344 was purchased by Alice Blair for her husband Tom. Blair operated PL344 in the USA from 2001 – 2006, when he elected to ship the Spitfire to the UK for an IRAN/Restoration. The Aircraft Restoration Company (ARCo) stripped the airframe back to bare metal removing all major systems, and stripped the wings to enable fuel tanks to be refitted in the armament bays and the short-span (Mod 42) ailerons were replaced with standard units. During the restoration the opportunity was taken to re-jig both wings and check them for accuracy. ARCo also rebuilt the engine frame with newly manufactured pick-up fittings and replaced the undercarriage legs with the correct rebuilt Torque-link Mk IX units.

The restored aircraft was repainted in authentic camouflage by ARCo engineer Paul Ager, although the TL-B codes were retained. The aircraft left Duxford on 21 September 2010 and sailed for Blair‘s hangar at Easton, Maryland, USA.

Spitfire IXe PL344 was subsequently sold by Platinum Fighter Sales and Group 51 Aircraft Sales during October 2019 to an Australian Buyer and exported to Air Leasing in the United Kingdom. After undergoing maintenance and being painted into its original WWII paint scheme as PL344, YO*K (401 Sqn RCAF) as flown by RCAF Triple Ace and Squadron Commander, Sqn Ldr Bill Klersy DSO, DFC & Bar, in which he claimed 6.5 of his 16.5 confirmed destroyed enemy aircraft. PL344 was eventually exported to and registered in Australia as VH-IUK on 14 September 2021, where she remains in airworthy condition to this day.

PL344 is based near Sydney, Australia and available for Inspection by appointment only.

Sales may be subject to local Sales Tax / V.A.T. / G.S.T.

Aircraft maybe subject to prior sale, lease, and/or removal from the market without prior notice.

Specifications subject to verification upon inspection.

Photography By: Howard Mitchell

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