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Spitfire Survivors - Then & Now |
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 Spitfire Survivors is the definitive reference book on the history of each and every survivor of the legendary World War II fighter aircraft. Volume I, published in March 2011, covers the Spitfire from the Mk I, which entered service at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, in July 1938, up to the F.XII - the first Spitfire to be powered by the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine - and which entered service in February 1943. Some of the surviving aircraft have been kept as museum-pieces since their retirement from Service and as such are "time-capsules" - down to their original paintwork and damage repairs. Others have been maintained in flying condition for some 70 years - and as such have had constant maintenance and renewal of components throughout their lives. More recently, some aircraft have been resurrected from damaged remains found at crash sites and are now gracing the skies once more. This book - over 570 pages and nearly 1,000 photographs in Volume I alone - is the culmination of research which began some 50 years ago when Graham Trant and Peter Arnold began their individual quests to photograph and document the histories of the surviving Spitfires. Gordon Riley only began in the 1980s but it was his original 64-page paperback which has developed into the magnificent book which we see today. For anyone with an interest in the history of the Spitfire, this is a "must-have" book. Volume II, to be published in 2012, will complete the work, covering the Spitfire Mks XIV - F.24, all surviving Seafires, and will also contain a selection of Appendices on related matters.
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