Spitfire F Mk1a N3200 QV

Spitfire N3200, a MkIa, looking rather better than you might expect bearing in mind its history. QV bears its original markings as a 19 Squadron aircraft. This actual aeroplane, flown by Sqn Ldr Geoffrey Dalton Stephenson, was tasked with defending the Dunkirk evacuations in May 1940. Unfortunately it was shot down over Dunkirk on 26th May 1940, the day before the evacuations, officially known as Operation Dynamo, started. The aeroplane was crash landed on the beach at Sangatte. Stephenson managed to avoid capture for a few days but was ultimately captured and spent the entire war as a POW, in which capacity he still managed to cause some not inconsiderable disruption, ending up at Colditz.

Spitfire N3200 lay on/under the beach where it had crashed until relatively recently. Unusually low tides and weather conditions resulted in the wreck being rediscovered some 40 years after the crash. Now remember, we are talking Spitfire here. A mere 40 years of salt/sand and sea corrosion is not going to stand in the way of an aircraft like this! (See also Spitfire MkIa P9374)

26th March 2014 saw the Merlin engine haul this magnificent Spitfire back into its intended environment, where it is hopefully going to be seen for many, many more years.

Any information, anecdotes, corrections - anything - on Spitfire MkIa N3200 - UK civil registration G-CFGJ - gratefully received.