1944 Spitfire MkIX ‘The Russian Spitfire’

04 Aug 1944 – PT879 left the Vickers Armstrongs Castle Bromwich factory and was shipped from Cardiff to Murmansk to 2nd Sqn 767th Regiment 122nd Division of Russian Air Force as part of a ‘Lease Lend’ process. She was one of 1328 Spitfires supplied to Russia between 1942 and 1945. Joined her squadron in October 1944

On the 18th May 1945 – the aircraft crashed during a dogfight, believed to have collided with another Spitfire.
Official records say that PT879 had only completed 18 hours 29 minutes of flying time before it’s career was ended by the accident. This happened during a training dogfight when another Spitfire collided with PT879, cutting off its tail. PT879’s Red Army Russian pilot Lieutenant Grigoriy Vasilievich Semyonov bailed out and was unharmed.

PT879 now wears the livery that worn in the Spring of 1945 and is the only Spitfire in Russian markings in the West. It’s also the only known surviving airworthy Spitfire used by the Russian Air Force.