Ex-Belgian Air Force fighter-reconnaissance ‘Spit’ takes part in Florennes commemoration and gives first airshow display at La Ferté-Alais
The W Aircollection’s ex-Belgian Air Force Supermarine Spitfire XIV, RM927/SG-25, briefly visited its former home at Florennes in Wallonia, Belgium from its base at La Ferté-Alais, south of Paris, on 11 May. Among those present was Jacques Bodart, the son of Yves Bodart, who originally delivered the fighter from the UK on 14 November 1947.
SG-25 was operated by 1 Squadron at Florennes, wearing the codes 3R-D and 3R-A. It was subsequently transferred to the Ecole de Chasse (Fighter School) at Koksijde on the Belgian coast, prior to being withdrawn from service in September 1954 and stored. On retirement from Belgian service SG-25 was displayed, sans wings, in a scrapyard in Ostend from 1957-67, and passed through the hands of several owners on both sides of the Atlantic before arriving back in the UK in 1995. Restoration work was undertaken in numerous workshops, before it moved to Sywell in early 2021 for completion by Air Leasing. It made its maiden post-restoration flight from Sywell on 5 July 2022.
For its return to Belgium the base commander at Florennes, Col Cedric Kamensky, and his staff arranged for the Spitfire to fly in formation with Belgian Air Component F-16AM Fighting Falcon serial FA-57, with the current CO of 1 Squadron at the helm.
A couple of weeks later, RM927 made its public airshow flying display debut at La Ferté-Alais, flying alongside France’s other airworthy Spitfire, Christophe Jacquard’s PRXIX PS890. Look out for a full report in the August issue of Aeroplane.
