Warbirds

Ex Australian Spitfire Bound For Germany

One time Sid Marshall owned Spitfire HF Mk.VIIIc MV154/G-BKMI has been sold by its Scottish owner to a buyer in Germany.

The Spitfire is sometimes seen as the one that got away, after it was spirited out of Australia in 1979 in defiance of an export ban on historic aircraft. It had one of two aircraft in the Sid Marshall collection at Bankstown, Sydney. Built in 1944 MV154 came to Australia and was allocated the RAAF serial A56-671. Sold off as surplus in 1948 it eventually ended up with Sid Marshall at his Marshall Airways facility at Bankstown. Following Marshall’s death the aircraft was kept in open storage at Bankstown and had several owners before being acquired by UK flying identity Robs Lamplough. The Spit was then taken out of the country although a ban existed on the export of historic artefacts such as the Spitfire at the time.