Just Off the Highway | Episode 28 | Never Surrender! Restoration of SAAF Spitfire 5518

Spitfire 5518, the last remaining South African Airforce spitfire in existence is the plane that won’t quit. Al Prodgers meets the team of aircraft enthusiasts who won’t give up on restoring her to fly again and interviews Col Tony Smit, retired, the former Officer Commanding of the SAAF Museum at Swartkop AFB.
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[@JustOfftheHighway]

Please remember to click "Like" if we did the subject justice and share with your friends.

[@jadams3427]

Lovely. Mk.XVI is my favourite. Good luck with the restoration !

[@losonsrenoster]

Remember EVELYN! She was ours, now sitting in a South American museum, I believe? I have a painting of Sailor Malan's Spitfire ZP -A hanging above my desk. To me it is a picture of freedom, which does not come free... To me the Spitfire is THE ultimate symbol of fighting for freedom.

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Sad that SA lost her. Thanks for your comment about Sailor Malan. I agree.

[@duncannapier318]

Sailor Malan, a hero of the highest quality. Why there is no Sailor Malan road I don’t know. It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.” ~ Mark Twain 👍🇿🇦

[@petercollingwood522]

I remember Evelyn well. I sat in the cockpit when I was a kid of about 8 or 9. My father asked Bob Rodgers, the SAAF chief if we could visit when we were on our Christmas holidays visiting relatives in Pretoria. Bob knew my uncle, or knew of him, as they had both been fighter pilots in the western desert during WW2. I imaging the duty officer at Waterkloof was a bit surprised when he got the order from on high. We were driven in a jeep up to a hanger with Mirage F1's then walked round to the other side and there was Evelyn. I remember in particular even as a child how incredibly cramped the cockpit was.

[@trevoroutim8519]

Awesome one Al. I also loved to find that Spitfire legend Sailor Malan lived in my home town Kimberley after WW2.

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thanks! Yes, I believe he is also buried in Kimberley.

[@KayBee72]

Thank you Al! What a wonderful video. I'm proud to be involved in this awesome restoration project.

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thanks again for all your help, guidance and sharing.

[@neillangridge4354]

I think this a bloody marvellous effort and pray she returns to the air again where she most rightfully belongs Well done everyone

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thanks! I will pass on your greetings and wishes to the club members.

[@leonehlers7241]

Again.... What a wonderful video Mr. Prodgers! Thank you

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thanks for your enthusiastic support, Leon. Makes a huge difference!

[@coenraadburger3412]

Just this past weekend, after 2 decades of wanting to go, I finally were in Pta and able to go to the museum. It closed the previous day, but I could still see the outdoor displays. I spotted movement in the one hangar and there I met Ian Grace. The enthusiasm radiates off this guy. What an experience. Go support these guys as they put so much of their own effort into a cause that seems largely forgotten, neglected and ignored by the actual air force. They were washing the hangar floors that day.....

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Agreed. Agreed. Agreed!

[@lynngreyling7660]

Tony Smit, what a legend!

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Indeed!

[@gideonlapidus8996]

Always Loved The Spitfire, made many models of it when I was young

[@JustOfftheHighway]

It's a beautiful plane, isn't it? Also my boyhood image of a fighter.

[@michaelknott4361]

Very nice! Really great to see more on this aircraft. Greetings from New Zealand!

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thank you. The Spitfire Restoration group have a Facebook page with lots more detail. I hope New Zealand is having a gentle start to Autumn.

[@peteblack7052]

Another excellent video. Cheers to everyone involved!

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Pleasure! Thanks for the encouragement.

[@davidc2585]

To your team, just outstanding and don't give up. That will be an awesome piece of history and I look forward to seeing that take to the air. Nothing like restoring an old timer to its former glory. Well done. All the best 👍

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thank you! I'll pass on your wishes to the team at Spitfire Restoration.

[@AmberjoyJohnson]

Just love "Just off the Highway".... I'm addicted

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thanks! Your comment has made my day.

[@jacovanjaarsveld3835]

Thank you for the work that you are putting in for us. We really appreciate it. Hope you will visit us soon

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thanks Jaco! You guys do all the work, I just tell the stories. I definitely look forward to visiting.

[@friendlypiranha774]

Love your Corona in camouflage in the beginning.

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thanks! At the Air force Museum I learned that camo paint on an aircraft has to be carefully "balanced" not to interfere with in flight performance. Clever okes those.

[@charlie9601]

Hey Al, I respect your personal beliefs however wanted to wish you, Jules and the li'l ones a merry Christmas and a peaceful and restful festive season. Thank you for all your entertaining, informative and humorous antibiotics through these toxic times. May we get to see and be spoiled next year with your timeless and limitless wit. Be safe and the immortal words of Niel Young "Long may run"

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Hi Charlie, thank you for your kind wishes and beautiful words. Wishing you and your special people a very Happy Christmas too. Let's meet the new year with an awareness of our stories and our faces toward the future.

[@premierhoner614]

Jhooo Al, you have put a big smile on my face right now... If I was a rich guy, I would like to sponsor you.. Thank you very much for all your efforts and input you put in your videos.. May you be blessed with many more happy years....😅

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thanks so much! I appreciate your kind words of encouragement.

[@Beautifultruthofficial]

Beautiful

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thank you!

[@AthenaBester]

I remember floating in the pool on Cliff ave in the mid 1970s and seeing Evelyn fly over from Waterkloof AFB. Awsome engine noise. ❤

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Yes, magnificent sound. Lovely memory. I dream that one day I'll have the money to fly in one of the 2-seaters that take passengers in the UK.

[@noelpharoah1928]

Just for the record. I was there when Neil Thomas crashed. It was a SAAF Museum Airshow. He was formating on the museum Vampire. He was in a turn and it sounded as though he was “pumping “ the throttle to maintain his position. There were some puffs of black smoke with an audible loss of power. Sadly he misjudged his turn onto base and final with a result that he undershot the runway and ended up hitting the wall

[@AndySlope]

I was there too however he was flying in formation with Andrew Torr’s spitfire. Yes there were 2 Spitties in the air together that day. I saw a light trail of smoke and then he broke off the formo on downwind and broadcast Mayday. It was terrible to watch it go down Andrew Torr subsequently sold his spotfire to Mike Snoyman who sadly crashed it at Wonderboom a few years later. He was killed in that crash

[@noelpharoah1928]

@@AndySlope Yes you are quite right. There was a Vamp formo earlier but as you say it was during a 2 Ship Spittie formo that he lost power. Very sad

[@johnhindson3514]

@@AndySlopehang on a sec. the second aircraft was a mustang. i was there too.

[@johnhindson3514]

a silver one. id just arrived and heard over the public anouncements that it was an historical event. a mustang and a spittie flying in formation. i heard the noise. a phut. people were running to the crash site. people were told not too. i saw the veteran allouette take off to fetch the injured pilot. it was like yesterday. pleased the pilot survived. if i'm not mistaken, he was at the time co of afb swartkop.

[@michaelknott4361]

Somebody was recording that accident flight and it's on KZbin now kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnPJf4mBgcaUd8U

[@eddiepires3998]

Thanks Al for an inspirational video So sad that it crashed after sitting for 30 years intact on a pole. Strength to those doing the restoration, may they soon get the funding they need. It reminds me that in the UK, there were a number of Spitfires mounted on display in this way, they have been replaced with fibreglass mock-ups when it was realised that they are way too valuable to be left at the mercy of the elements and vandals. I cringe at the thought of our SA Spitfires being chopped up for scrap, but of course at the time they were just considered surplus. What each one would be worth today ?....

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Yes! The irreplaceable heritage sent to scrap makes my head hurt, but I guess that happens in every country. Thanks for your comment.

[@neilmillward3980]

I have a huge framed photo of the exact same plane with the Mirage hanging on my wall. I recognized the registration immediately. I Love flying, airshows... anything to do with aeroplanes

[@JustOfftheHighway]

They are magnificent.

[@ianwoods8593]

At 6:36 surely a Boulton Paul Defiant??

[@lynngreyling7660]

Lovely presentation, thanks.

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Complete pleasure! Glad you like it. Feel free to browse other episodes too.

[@friendlypiranha774]

Decades ago there was a Spitfire mounted on a pole in a scrapyard in Maitland, Cape Town.

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Ouch! Worth a lot more than the scrap value today. So much of value was discarded.

[@moonshadowdrifting]

Another excellent production. Oh. That's a Griffon engine if I'm not mistaken....my father only flew Merlins in action. And was forced to crash land 8 times I think.

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Respect to your dad! I was told it's a Merlin, but I'm no expert.

[@ianallan8005]

‘Fraid you are mistaken, it’s a Merlin

[@moonshadowdrifting]

@@ianallan8005 odd one, because the Griffon cowling is evident in some pics. And the IXe was never a bubble canopy airframe either as far as I know. So maybe a much modified example.

[@patrickporter6536]

It's a merlin.

[@ianallan8005]

@@moonshadowdrifting the difference between a Mk IX and a Mk XVI is the engine. The sixteen had a Packhard Merlin and could be either a high back or a bubbletop

[@pammarais4112]

My brother Robert Wood was in charge of the museum a few years ago he's retired now he built many of the planes the very Spitfire you are talking about

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Thanks. Awesome legacy!

[@mikerogers582]

The pilot who crashed 551, also crashed an Impala, the man had a curse on him.

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Expensive habit!

[@patrickporter6536]

I think he crashed the Mustang.

[@justnoobtoo6352]

I've seen this plane in person in a small shed during a Air scout hanger cleanup

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Once seen, never forgotten.

[@kenurquhart2061]

Evelyn which was Alan lurie and Bartlett Spitfire a lot of the early work was done in Springs. I was in Oshkosh in 2018 and saw it there.

[@JustOfftheHighway]

What a pity South Africa lost her.

[@drikuslourens1854]

i remember the day she crashed me and my father took me to the airshow because it would be an historical event with both the spitfire and a mustang appearing. we where right by the wall by the designated spectator zone, i still remember the puffs of black smoke and silence then boom. my uncle is freinds with the pilot he was a bad ass the way he controlled it and then flew him self back home later that day

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Cool under pressure!

[@drikuslourens1854]

@JustOfftheHighway Just like the aces of old hahaha, I've just recently found your channel and absolutely loving it wish the history classes of today would cover just a fraction of the amazing stories and forgotten history your bringing back to life. how can we become who we are meant to be if we do not remember where we came from. the good and the bad especially in South Africa's case deserves to be remembered

[@stewiecindy5889]

Does the museum still have their Sabres?

[@JustOfftheHighway]

I didn't see them, but I didn't visit all the hangars.

[@montaguthorne2342]

Yes, there are 2 examples at Swartkop.

[@timeslip9]

Interesting and well presented video. Built at the Castle Bromwich factory, Birmingham England (which is local to me) in May 1945. I don't normally like to attach one of my own videos to another on KZbin, but thought you may like to see WHERE Spitfire 5518/ TE213 was 'born' and how the place looks today....l'm happy to remove the video if you so wish. Very best of luck with the rebuild . Gary kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWmaZ2yknL-EZ8U

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Hi, no problem. Thanks for the added detail.

[@John5209]

So sad to see the "new Airforce" ignoring the Aircraft. Just salary drawers.

[@JustOfftheHighway]

It would be great if preservation was adequately funded.

[@mikelouw7189]

Thanks to the Sponsors, we get to see these babes fly. viva anc Couldn't come close. Thanks to all. Ex Old SAAF stoutgat.

[@TheodoreAndor]

I have a family member that has the Pilots user manuals on spitfire. Interested?

[@JustOfftheHighway]

Something like that is of historical value. Best safeguarded by the SAAF museum I think.