Good thread, great photos, but she was never "Al Deeres" Spitfire. Al had mentioned to Brendan that his favourite was the Mk.IX, so when PV270 came on the market he grabbed it. As an aside, PV270 was built at Castle Brom in 1944, and saw service in the Med and Italy, before being handed over to the Italian Air Force in 1947. It went to Israel in 1953, Burma in 1955 and was eventually sold to an American in 1999 before commencing Brendans restoration in 2003.