Over the past ten years, Auckland-based Avspecs has been busy rebuilding de Havilland Mosquito aircraft to airworthy standard but, in the background, it has also been working on Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XVI TB252, a fighter that's been on site since 2002. After Mosquito FB.VI PZ474 (see page 40) was completed and exported, work on the Spitfire was accelerated greatly and, following test flights in New Zealand, the aircraft should be flying in the USA by the time FlyPast is published. Refurbished to near-factory specification, the machine is now airworthy again following decades spent on the ground - mainly as a 'gate guardian'. This Spitfire was built at Castle Bromwich in late 1944, but it never saw active service during World War Two. In early March 1945, the aircraft sustained damage while serving with 329 Squadron, a French unit serving as part of the RAF. Later that month, it was assigned to 341 Squadron and it was here the unit codes 'NL-J' were applied - but these were not to be in place for long.
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