One of 1,328 of the iconic British warplanes supplied to the Russian air force from 1942 to 1945 during the Second World War under a scheme by the Allies known as " Lend Lease” to help fight Adolf Hitler’s forces on the Eastern Front. Built at the Vickers Armstrong factory at Castle Bromwich, PT879 arrived in the Russian port of Murmansk to join her Russian squadron in October 1944, only to be lost in a flying accident on May 18, 1945 on the nearby Kola Peninsula. There it remained as surface wreckage - but basically intact - until recovered more than half a century later by a Russian farmer.
Official reports say PT879 had completed a total of 18 hours 29 minutes of flying time before it’s career was ended by the accident, which happened during a training dogfight when another Spitfire collided with it cutting off its tail unit and rendering it uncontrollable. PT879’s Red Army Russian pilot Lieutenant Grigoriy Vasilievich Semyonov bailed out and was unharmed.
Following its recovery in 1997, PT879 was sold to a UK purchaser. Six years later, it was sold on to Peter Teichman, who runs The Hangar 11 Collection in North Weald, Essex.
Battle of Britain Airshow at Imperial War Museums Duxford.
Photographed Saturday 18th September 2021.
