The Grace Spitfire ML 407- Official Website

Welcome to the Official Grace Spitfire ML 407 Website

News Updated on Saturday 26th of April 2008! Click here to view.

We are delighted to announce that HSBC Insurance Brokers have agreed to sponsor our Insurance for the 2008 season. This is an enormous help, and we are indebted to them for their kindness and generosity.

Click here to join the Grace Spitfire Supporters Group!

To see where you can watch The Grace Spitfire display in 2008, please click the following link.

**The Grace Spitfire for your event!**

You can fill out our Display Enquiry Form by clicking here to obtain a quote for your own display!

As can be seen below, the Grace Spitfire is an aeroplane with a great history, with a very competent pilot in Carolyn Grace. Carolyn is the only current female Spitfire pilot in the world, and has been flying the Spitfire since 1990. In this time she has amassed a great deal of hours and experience, which can be seen below in her Airshow CV. The type of display offered is also very versatile and can be tailored to your personal needs. The display

Can be solo aerobatics, a flypast, or a routine tailored to your requirements
Can be solo flying, or as part of a Warbird formation
Can be at an airshow, or at any other open-air event, such as concerts, subject to CAA clearance
Can include performances for the media, VIPs and sponsors,
Can be tailored to almost any occasion, as can be seen in the Airshow CV below.

Airshow CV

Displays to Music:-

Carolyn in the Grace Spitfire has displayed to William Walton’s Spitfire Prelude and Fugue and The Dambusters March at :-

Audley End House to the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sudeley Castle to the English Symphony Orchestra
Ripley Castle to the Opera of the North Orchestra conductor Anthony Inglis
The display is choreographed to work with the music with timing done to the second, a climbing victory roll to the final crescendo. This is usually done into the setting sun adding an emotional aspect which is well appreciated.

Seafront Displays:-

Carolyn and the Grace Spitfire have been seen displaying at numerous seafront displays which require additional disciplines to land based displays:-

Lowestoft
Folkestone
Southampton Water and Boat Show
Portsmouth
Frinton
Weybourne in Norfolk

Solo Aerobatic displays:-

Carolyn has perfected (with the continued guidance of Peter Kynsey) a graceful, often described as poetic, aerobatic display showing the Spitfire in all it’s’ angles for the photographer in the crowd and the Spitfire devotee. However the 330 mph run in to open the display has all the emotions stirring with the sound then the sight of a well tuned Spitfire on the attack.

Adhering to the display rules has been well tested due to having displayed at Farnborough International in 1994, 1996, 1998 when Carolyn and the Grace Spitfire opened the public displays on both days and 2002. Farnborough use laser height cameras, video and a large flight committee to ensure that you get it right our you do not display!

Corporate Promotion:-

The Grace Spitfire has been extensively used to promote corporate entities. CSMA used Carolyn and her Spitfire a number of times last year. Shepherd Neame, BAE systems and The Boat Show have found the advantage of having a Spitfire displaying for them.

Solo Displays for your special day:-

Spitfire display for your father's birthday or just for your family and close friends your very own Spitfire displaying at your home arriving from seemingly nowhere to surprise and delight you all.

This has been done many times and is very special. It does not have to be a celebration - one has been just a thank you. It really adds a different dimension to saying it with flowers.

Formation Displays:-

There have been some very notable big Spitfire/Hurricane formations recently and Carolyn and the Grace Spitfire have been in them all. To fly in formation takes a great deal of dedicated concentration and training. Peter Kynsey trains with Carolyn each year in formation work.

At Duxford the Grace Spitfire has been seen many times in the ‘tail chase’ formations which offer a dramatic and exhilarating display for any event. Carolyn has clearance to fly in unlimited formations and tail-chase formations up to four aircraft.

In Memoriam:-

The Grace Spitfire can assist you at your special time of need.

I know how hard it is to say goodbye to one you love having done it myself. To lift spirits on the day I can perform a suitable display at the funeral.

The In Memorium display consists of four passes with a climbing roll up into the sky to complete.

The display cannot be done over a built up area and often Churches are located in the middle of towns/cities. In this instance you may prefer to have the ashes spread from the Grace Spitfire at a suitable site of your choice.

The Grace Spitfire would position to an airfield near to your selected site and we would place the ashes discreetly and with great respect into the Spitfire wings. They would then be flown to your site when you were ready and released from the Spitfire.

Please contact Carolyn Grace by email to either the website or above given email.

You may prefer to telephone me on 01787 476 995. Please leave your number if I am unavailable. Note that the answer machine will say Solo Enterprises.

I can assure you I will do everything I can to help you on the day.

For a quotation for the Grace Spitfire to provide a display at your event, please fill in our display enquiry form which can be found by clicking here

The Grace Spitfire History...

The Grace Spitfire was originally built at Castle Bromwich in early 1944 as a single seat fighter, and served in the front line of battle throughout the last twelve months of WWII, with six different Squadrons of the RAF's 2nd Tactical Air Force, all in all flying 176 operational combat sorties. It was delivered to 485 New Zealand Squadron on the 29th of April 1944 by Jackie Moggridge, one of the top lady pilots of the ATA, where it became the 'mount' of Flying Officer Johhnie Houlton DFC who was accredited, whilst flying ML407, with the first enemy aircraft shot down over the Normandy Beach head on D-Day.

In December of 1944, ML407 was transferred to 341 Free French Squadron, becoming the aircraft of Sergeant Jean Dabos. It then moved on through 308 (Polish ) Squadron, 349 (Belgian) Squadron, 345 (Free French) Squadron, 332 (Norwegian) Squadron, and back to 485 (New Zealand) Squadron, before being remodelled as a 2-seat trainer for the Irish Air Corps where she flew until 1960. She was used for the film 'Battle of Britain' and was then sold to the Strathallan Museum from where she was acquired by engineer Nick Grace in 1979.

Nick spent five years meticulously restoring the Grace Spitfire to flying condition as a 2-seat Spitfire, and completed this incredible project in 1985, when, on the 16th of April, the Grace Spitfire flew again, with Nick's capable hands at the controls.

Nick went on to fly it at many air displays and for filming, including 'Perfect Lady' and 'Piece of Cake'. A cruel twist of fate occurred when Nick Grace was tragically killed in a car accident in 1988, and his widow Carolyn Grace took on the task of learning to fly the Spitfire, which you can find documented in the film 'Going Solo'. Carolyn, as can be seen in the film, successfully completed her training by 'going solo' in the Spitfire in 1990, and hasn't looked back since, getting her Display Authorisation in 1991, and adding Aerobatic and Formation qualifications to that since.

The Spitfire is kept in Hangar Two at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK, and is maintained by Chief Engineer Dave Payne and his team. Carolyn flies the Grace Spitfire at many airshows, both public and private, up and down the country, and even in Europe, having also flown, much to her credit in no less than five record-breaking Spitfire formation flypasts between 1996 and 2000.