THE HISTORY OF RR232
RR232 was built in Castle Bromwich by Vickers Armstrong and delivered to the RAF in October 1944 as an ‘HF.IX’ high altitude fighter, initially moving to 45 Maintenance Unit where she suffered a flying accident but was repaired on site, she was allocated to the Empire Central Flying School where she was used for testing and evaluation as well. One of the Vickers test pilots Lt Patrick Shea-Simonds who was seconded to Vickers flew her with regards assessment of rear fuel tanks and noted 1.6.45 ( RR232 being flown at the handling squadron at RAF Hullavington) Ailerons excessively heavy throughout test and could have done with 6” of trailing edge heading each side. With 25 Gallons of fuel in the rear tank it is just acceptable for combat.
At the end of the war she returned to Vickers at Oxford before being sold to the South African Air Force (SAAF) in 1948 with designation ‘5632’ and was last flown there by Lt. Ron Beamish of 2 Sqdn. It was then stored derelict at Salt River after being ‘ground looped’ in 1954. In 1976 it was bought by Australian collector Peter Sledge.
Peter Sledge of Sydney sourced the wreck of this aircraft (by then only a bare fuselage) from South Africa in 1976 from the famous South African Metal & Machinery Co., Salt River, and Cape Town, South Africa group of wrecks.
Peter spent the period from 1976 to 1984 completing a full static rebuild of the aircraft which was then placed on display at the FAA Museum Nowra, NSW from 1985-1986. Peter used parts sourced from many places to complete the aircraft including wings from Thailand. ?
Spitfire RR232 finally made it back to Britain in 1986 when purchased by Charles Church, who in turn sold the airframe to Jim Pearce of Sussex Spraying Services. But it was not until 2001 that current owner Martin Phillips bought the aircraft and began in earnest a full restoration to airworthy condition that would take nearly 13 years, having been challenged by friends on his 40th birthday to produce a Spitfire from the single rivet with which they presented him!
Mark Hillier – Spitfires.com