Originally Posted by
uxb99
Saw it in bare metal in the TFC hangar just prior to it's first flight. 1989 iirc?
Ten years too early, most likely 1999. I think it's first post restoration flight was 2000.
In 1989 it was still in Doug Arnold's Warbirds of GB storage unit at Biggin Hill, after having been moved from his unit at Blackbushe where it had been since he recovered the derelict remains from a kibbutz in Israel in 1983(?)
TFC acquired it in 1991, and then set about restoring it. It was the only Mk.IV flying and had flown with 6 Sqn, the famous Flying Can-Openers during WW2 IIRC.