Repaint of MH603, restored in Australia to airworthy condition, once flew with Norwegian 331 Squadron.
As construction number CBAF.IX.5589, the aircraft rolled off the production line in 1943 at Vickers-Supermarine’s massive shadow factory in Castle Bromwich, near Birmingham, England. She joined the Royal Air Force as MH603, with her first stop being with No.39 Maintenance Unit (MU) at RAF Station Colerne in Wiltshire on October 15th, 1943. Ten days later, she moved to No.405 Aircraft Reception Flight (ARF) at Croydon, although the precise reason why this took place remains unclear. Her first operational unit was No.331(Norwegian) Squadron, which she joined at RAF North Weald on January 3rd, 1944; her initial squadron codes being “FN-B”. Interestingly, another Spitfire which served alongside MH603 at No.331 during the war still survives in the Norwegian Air Force Museum – this being LF Mk.IXe MH350. One of MH603’s regular pilots with the squadron was Captain Bjørn Bjørnstad.
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