BR601
• BR601 was the sixth Spitfire Mk.IX, built at Southampton during 1942
• First flight at Eastleigh, 16 June 1942
• Flown to 45 MU at Kinloss the next day
• 9 July, ferried by Polish ATA pilot Stefania Wojtulanis from Prestwick to Hornchurch, arriving 11 July
• Allotted to 64 Squadron, (first unit to receive Mk.IXs) First ops flown with Mk.IXs on 28 July
• 21 October 1942, Sqdn Ldr Colin Gray suffered a burst tyre on landing, resulting in undercarriage collapse and wing damage
• Repaired at 39 MU and issued to 453 (Australian) Squadron 2 April 1943
• 17 July 1943, issued to 129 (Mysore) Squadron, again at Hornchurch
• 28 August 1943, reallocated to 316 (City of Warsaw Squadron, a Polish Squadron based at RAF Northolt.
• 28 September 1943, placed on charge with 165 (Ceylon) Squadron at Culmhead, moving to Colerne later that month
• 19 March 1944, under repair again at Air Service Training, and repaired again at 8 MU on 29 August
• 27 February 1945, sent to Vickers Armstrongs for modifications, going into storage at Lyneham with 33 MU
• 27 January 1949, shipped to South Africa on board SS Clan Mackellar, arriving 13 March
• 16 March 1951, now serialed 5631, issued to the Air Operation School at Langebaanweg Air Base, suffering three landing accidents and being relegated to a ground instructional airframe with 7 Squadron.
• 10 March 1955, sold to scrap merchants, South African Metal & Machinery Co, Salt River, Cape Town
• Restored by apprentices from the Atlas Aircraft Corporation for static display on a pole in the scrap yard. Placed on display in 1976
• Sold to Doug Arnold in 1986 for £70,000 and stored at Biggin Hill
• 1994, sold to Jet Cap aviation and moved to Bartow, Florida where it remained untouched
• Transported to the Lone Star Flight Museum, Galveston, Texas
• Acquired by Jeff Thomas in January 2008 and sent to Avspecs at Ardmore, New Zealand
• 29 July 2009, acquired by Peter Monk, and fully restored for the Collings Foundation, Stow, Massachusetts, USA
• First flight after restoration 31st August 2016.