The Grace Spitfire ML 407 Website- News

Please scroll down for the latest News (last update 26/04/08)

The Grace Spitfire at Bentwaters

On Friday 25th April The Grace Spitfire was greeted at Bentwaters Airfield (in Suffolk) by Rendlesham Primary school who have designed their own school emblem with a Spitfire on it (some 18 months ago) now they were standing with a real Spitfire. It was a most moving experience to have the young children so fascinated to be close and take in the aura of The Grace Spitfire and all it represents.

It was an enchanting day and most welcoming to us. We have set up our maintenance organisation at Bentwaters due to the limitations placed on the hangarage of aircaraft and maintenance at Duxford. One of the Duxford policies is that you may not run a commercial operation on site. Because it is a working museum and the aeroplanes based there are historic a commerical maintenance organisation would not meet with Duxford's impressive conservation ethos.

Bentwaters was built during the Second World War as a British base. It was taken over by the Americans and continued to expand to be a significant Cold War Station which is wonderfully reflected in their own Cold War Museum www.bentwaters-as.org.uk.


Carolyn Grace

The Grace Spitfire Display Schedule 2008


For the benefit of all the web users, please see below the list of public displays that ML407 and Carolyn will be attending this year (these are also listed in the calendar on the message board):


James Wheeler

ML407 Webmaster



Thursday 15th November 2007

I have changed how the access to the members area works as some members were beginning to have issues with the Java applet that controlled access to the pages before. Can you all please ensure that you refresh each page of the website (by pressing F5) to ensure your browser hasn't cached the old link.

Now when you attempt to log in to the member's area you will see a pop up box that will ask you for the password.

James Wheeler

ML407 Webmaster



Sunday 20th of August

Carolyn will be displaying her Stampe at 14.45 and the Spitfire at 15.30 but will be at Duxford from 12.00 midday to meet any interested members of the public who wish to talk with me. I will be near the two aeroplanes parked (hopefully) to the east of the Control Tower near the public fence.



Now don't say I didn't warn you... The old message board is now gone forever into the ether never to return. This is because the new message board is doing so very, very well! You can find it here, preceded by a short instruction page.
Go have a look, register yourself, post a message, post a picture! If you're a member of the Supporters Group, then you can receive bulletins through the board about ML407, her whereabouts and maintenance. There are so many good reasons to go have a look that I really don't know where to start!



Hurrah! Well, it seems that even in the face of James' excellent work on the website, we can be foiled by BT in our efforts to post it! However, it's all done now, and you can see the fantastic new board, preceded by a short intro, at the message board links at the top of the page and here! If you want to look at the old message board for reference, it is here, although it is being discontinued in a week. Also, Carolyn will be posting the long-awaited answer to the ML 407 trivia quiz on the new message board! So go and have a look! Also, if you can't get to the new board from the links above, you need to do a 'Hard Refresh', which is less hard than it sounds - just push CTRL and F5!



Well, it's been being a very busy season for ML407 so far this year. As ever, we weren't invited to Flying Legends this weekend just passed, Stephen Grey has his own reasons for that choice. But nonetheless we're doing plenty of shows as you can see below on the newly updated airshow schedule for 2006 - scroll down for it.

Also I've just been informed that Carolyn successfully validated her display in ML407 in front of the close scrutiny of the Farnborough Flying Control Committee yesterday and will hence be flying on the public days as stated.

More exciting news is that Richard Grace has nearly completed his 3rd Cassutt Racer for his Cassutt 3-ship formation, the Dukes of Cassutt. You will be able to see them on the display circuit later this season, and if I get time I may even do a little website for them! Obviously Richard is working all hours to complete G-BOMB, and we are very proud of him.

And the last, but most definitely not least piece of news I have for you all is that we are getting a new message board! Unlike most of the things I say I am doing to the website, this one will actually happen because James Wheeler has done all the work! It's ready to run, James has done a fantastic job of the construction of it, and will no doubt continue to do a fantastic job of moderating and maintianing it. It's slightly different to our current one, but has a whole host of new features, like the possibility of posting pictures! The links at the top of the page will all be changed on Monday, so come and log on and see it for yourselves!



The Grace Spitfire Annual Gathering at Duxford on Saturday was fully attended by all ticket holders despite the weather on the day. I was most impressed with the turnout, a great reflection of the dedication of our Supporters.

Thankfully the weather held off long enough for me to be able to display ML407 in the morning but I was thwarted by the rain when it was time to do the second display. None of our spirits were lowered by this setback and we were all warm and happy in some wonderful company – our 485 NZ Squadron veterans – Vic Strange, Len Jordan, Joe Roddis and Harry Mihalop, plus of course our new found veteran of the Squadron Betty Drury. The old banter soon started as the 60 year gap slipped away.

Dr. Gordon Mitchell attended which was a great honour for us all. Dr. Mitchell has a quest to honour his father R.J. Mitchell in this most appropriate 70th anniversary of the first flight of this remarkably exceptional man’s design, the Spitfire. I fully support this idea and suggest that you too write in to support it – details are in Dr Mitchell’s own words:-



Southampton International Airport Ltd, previously Eastleigh Airport

The prototype Spitfire, K5054, made its first flight at Eastleigh Airport on the 5th March 1936 and was followed by intensive flight testing in the following months, often with its designer, R.J. Mitchell (my father) in attendance.

Flight testing of production Spitfires then began and continued throughout the 1939-1945 war and included the testing of all the new Marks as they were developed by Supermarine. In total, over 11,000 Spitfires/Seafires were test flown at Eastleigh Airport.

The association, therefore, between R.J. Mitchell, his Spitfire and Eastleigh Airport is colossal. Accordingly, I suggest that there can be a no more appropriate way, based on this association, of according the honour and recognition to my father which he surely deserves.

This is particularly appropriate since high honours, such as a knighthood, have never been awarded posthumously, and there is, I know, every intention that they never will be.

My suggestion is, therefore that Southampton Airport be renamed:-

R.J. Mitchell International (Southampton) Ltd

If you feel you can support this proposal, it would be much appreciated if you would write to the owners of Southampton Airport, namely BAA:-

Mr. Marcus Agius, Chairman, BAA plc, 130 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1LQ

I do have the support of many influential people, but it is going to need all the support I can get.

Thank you. Dr Gordon Mitchell.





The winter maintenance was done by 12/12/05 with great efficiency by our team Steve Kingman and Richard Grace. ML407 was inhibited for the remainder of the winter after two short tests flights. It was planned to fly in February however, most unexpectedly, our insurance sponsors of 18 years had a company policy change in their main office of the USA and we consequently lost the sponsorship of our insurance premium. This resulted in ML407 being grounded because we, as an organisation, do not have the funds to cover the premium – we never have!

The gloom was lifted, however, by the wonderful intervention of HSBC Insurance Brokers (see link on main page) who on the 1st March 2006 took on the full sponsorship of the insurance for The Grace Spitfire. They acted quickly and decisively after consultation with us and we suffered no ‘downtime’ as a direct result of their actions. To have HSBC Insurance Brokers as our new sponsors has opened a new and exciting era in the history of ML407 and they are directly responsible for ensuring the Grace Spitfire may fly. Many Grace Spitfire Supporters have given their strong approval and pleasure at this news and as a family striving to keep her operational, without HSBC Insurance Brokers direct generosity we would not have succeeded.

Carolyn displayed ML407 on the 5th March for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the first flight of the Spitfire and again, appropriately on Mother’s Day at Duxford. On the 15th and 22nd April Carolyn did a photo shoot with Darren Harbar who has taken some truly remarkable photos of ML407 from the ground and air to air. We will be selling these latest photos via our mail order list in mid May.

Have a look at the confirmed bookings for ML407 so far this year (below) and you will see a large number of displays to music at Proms evenings – a very emotive combination.



Confirmed bookings for 2006 as at 12th July 2006

7th May Royal Gunpowder Mills - VE Day Display - www.royalgunpowdermills.com

24th June - RAF Brize Norton Families Day - Display during afternoon - Private Airshow for RAF Brize Norton personnel

24th June - Spitfire Proms West Wycombe Park - Display at 19.00 - www.classicfantastic.co.uk/tickets.html

1st July - London City Airport Open Day Display during afternoon

21st July Farnborough International Airshow 2006 static main arena

22nd 23rd July Farnborough International 2006 Display both days

27th &28th July - Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival - 2 day Display - www.lowestoft.org.uk

5th August - CSMA Borde Hill Proms - Display to music at 20.00 - www.promsnight.com

6th August - Audley End Proms - Display to music at - 19.30 - www.picnicconcerts.com

27th August - Battle, Kent Proms - Display to music at - 19.30 - www.picnicconcerts.com

2nd and 3rd September - Duxford Spitfire Show - Display in afternoon both days - http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.00d





We have now been operating the Grace Spitfire for 20 years. On the 16th of April 2005, we celebrated this occasion with the first post-winter maintenance flight on the 20th anniversary of Nick Grace's first post-rebuild flight with Carolyn in the rear cockpit on the 16th of April 1985. Olivia aged 2 and Richard aged 10 months watched from the ground as if this is what your parents always did. On the 20th anniversary, however, they watched in quite different capacities. Flying Spitfires is still what their parents always did, but now they are working alongside Carolyn to help keep the Spitfire in the air.

The newly overhauled Merlin engine done by Maurice Hammond in Eye in Suffolk was delivered on time to the day and we have now done four hours flying - it has been running very well and particularly clean.

We would like to thank the Grace Spitfire Supporters for their support as this maintenance period would not have been possible without their renewals and donations - the pot would have been dry - they should feel very proud that they have made such a united contribution to help keep this Spitfire flying.



Confirmed Bookings for ML407 for 2005 (to date) 7th/8th May, VE day show, Duxford
8th May, VE Celebrations Royal Gunpowder Mills, Waltham Abbey
28th May, Glynde Palace Concert, ex Shoreham
9th July, RAF Brize Norton Families Day
15th/16th July, Walney Airshow, Barrow in Furness
23rd July, Wattisham Famiies Day
23rd July, Sudeley Castle Concert, 1900
28th/29th July, Lowestoft Seafront
29th/31st July, Sandown, Isle of Wight
6th August, Borde Hill concert, West Sussex
13th August, Drayton Manor, ex Coventry
3rd/4th September, Biggin Hill Airshow
10th/11th September, Duxford Airshow




Hello all, long time since the last update- my apologies. There have been a few photos added to the gallery, and more will appear soon, once I have found some more cyberspace to put them in! Now, very important information: we have been having some trouble with the info@ml407.co.uk email address not accepting email, so I have set up a backup address, which will hopefully work at all times. I would still ask you to use the info@ml407.co.uk address as our first port of call, but if that fails, the backup address is ml407@btinternet.com
We have had a very busy season and not an entirely smooth one either, but as ever, our team of engineers and pilots, and of course our ever-loyal supporters, pulled together and made it happen. Thank-you. Now, for some time I have been threatening to put the newsletter onto the website in the Members' area so people can view it online rather than receiving it by post. My plan is to put it on in different formats, and then those with access to the Members' area can let me know what works best for them.
If you are a member of the Grace Spitfire Supporters' Group, send me an email at either of the addresses mentioned earlier with your Supporters' number and a password of your choice and I will add you to the database of people who can access the pages and the newsletter online. if you wish to become a member of the Grace Spitfire Supporters group, pleaseclick here.



ML 407 will be appearing at the following Displays in 2004

6th - 12th March, running in, DX
2nd June, Southampton D-Day show, 01962 846 002
5th June, Annual Gathering, Duxford. Ticket holders only.
6th June, D-Day Airshow at Duxford, 01223 835 000, until 14.50 depart to
6th June, D-Day Airshow, Sandown, Isle of Wight, 01938 405 125.
3rd July, London City Airport, 0207 646 000.
9th July, Frome, Somerset ex Brize Norton.
10th July, Rugby, Display to Music, 0845 345 7444 CSMA
10th July, RAF Brize Norton, display
11th July, Halstead, Hospital Charity Display, 01787 291 010
14th-19th July, RIAT, Fairford, 01285 713 300.
24th July, Sudelely Castle, Display to Music, 0845 345 7444 CSMA
29th/30th July, Lowestoft, Seething, Display, Lowestoft Seafront Air festival
7th-8th August, Chailey Airshow 01273 843 749 Chailey Airshow.
7th August, Boarde Hill ex Chailey pm, display to music 01789 459 150.
14th August, Miners Arms, Hemerdon,Plympton, Plymouth.
22nd August, Rougham Airshow, Rougham.
22nd August, Alscot Park, Stratford upon Avon, Display to musicSpirit Concert
4th-5th September, Airshow at Duxford 01223 835 000.
18th/19th September, Biggin Hill Battle of Britain Display




Members of the Grace Spitfire Supporters Club, please click here. To join the Club, please click here.



Hope you have all been enjoying Spitfire Ace, we certainly have. There are still another two installments to come on Channel 4, Mondays at 9.00 pm. This is a little Newsflash that the Merchandise page has been updated so it matches the order form (I hope) and has some brand new Merchandise for 2004. To find this, go to 'Merchandise in the link above, and for the new merchandise, go to 'clothing'. I also hear that some of you have been having trouble working out how to join the Grace Spitfire Supporters Club. to do this, simply go to Merchandise and click the link to join the club.



STOP PRESS - FILM ANNOUNCEMENTIn June this year the Grace Spitfire was involved with a large film project for Channel Four via RDF Media at Duxford. The filming was for an historical series about the Battle of Britain pilots and their training coupled with the stories from the ground crews. They put in a small group of newly qualified pilots chosen across the board to recreate the training with one pilot being the eventual chosen one to go to advanced training on the Spitfire.We have just been notified that the series will start on 12th January 2004 on Channel Four at 21.00 hours (9 pm) and run for four weeks. It is called 'Spitfire Ace'The book 'Spitfire Ace' on the series is being published by Macmillan publishers and is being launched on the 12th December in hard back.The book is being serialised by 'the Mail on Sunday' for two weeks from Sunday 7th December.I hope that you will all enjoy this amazing bit of filming we did with some very special people.





Hello all, hope you had a good christmas. I have just returned from Australia and am finally in a position to spend some time updating the website! I have fixed a few glitches which people pointed out to me, anything else you come across, just send me an email. Also, anything you'd like to see, any articles, any links, any new ideas for what we could put on the site, let me know. As seems to be the usual thing, my apologies to the people who still can't access the members area. I have sent out an email to those people whose access requests I have received and am going to be processing soon, so if you are waiting for access and do not receive an email from me in the next few days, today being the 11th of Jan, please send me another request.



Sadly, we have a loss to report in the Grace Spitfire camp. Jackie Moggridge, the ATA Pilot who delivered ML 407 and was Carolyn's 'co-star' and co-pilot in 'Absolute Heaven' passed away on the 7th of January after a short illness. Our sympathies are with her family and we shall all miss her exuberant friendship very much.



The Grace Spitfire will be appearing at the following airshows and flying days in 2003. This list may change, so check back.

3rd May, Annual Gathering, Duxford
4th MAY, DUXFORD MAY AIRSHOW- static beside stall marquee
10th, 11th May, Wessex Show
7th June, RAF Lyneham 'Classics on the Wing' concert
5th July, London City Airshow
12th July, RAF Brize Norton Families Day
26th July, Westonbirt Arboretum
17th August, Rougham Airshow
23rd August, Alscot Park, Stratford Upon Avon, with the Glenn Miller Orchestra
6th and 7th September, September '100' Show, Duxford.



I hope that you all enjoy Olivia's website. She is off to Oxford University on Monday so this is my trial solo attempt at updating the website news. You will be pleased to hear that AON have renewed their very generous sponsorhisp of the full insurance cover ono ML 407 and from the 15th September she was fully covered. At this time of great turmoil it was a masterful feat on their behalf to obtain cover and we must all be very grateful to them for continuing to keep ML 407. I assure you that if they did not sponsor this insurance she would be grounded as the cost of the insurance is too high for us to afford to pay. ML 407 has one last display at the Duxford Autum air show on 14th October. I am doing the press day so with any luck ML 407 will appear in the press.The winter maintenance will start on the 15th October when ML 407 will have completed flying for the 2001 season.



Welcome to 2002You will be impressed to hear the the Grace Spitfire Support Vehicle was sold at the Duxford airshow on the 14th October to a great bloke who will love him as much as Olivia, Richard and I have. There were three people who wanted him but this chap came up with the required amount over the asking price. It will all help the Engine fund. The response from the Grace Spitfire Supporters to the renewal of their support in December 2001 was fast and generous. Despite having had to put the minimum contribution up to £20.00, it is very encouraging to have such a quick response. Those of you who know how I work will know that I will not be replying until Feburary. This is to cut down on postage and do it all at once, and it takes me a lot of time to do the renewal cards and tickets.The funds which have come in have been placed in the Engine fund getting, albeit small, interest, awaiting further developments with the overhaul of the engine. Sadly the funds will be eaten up very quickly into the engine, but then we all knew that would happen. ML407 is being worked on at the moment and those of you who visit Duxford can see her in Hangar T2 North, but she is somewhat hidden down the western end behind the B17.We look forward to the end of March early April for the test flying to begin. I will be posting on the Message Board any quick updates so look there.There is a new T-shirt which will be available on the Website from April, it has been offered to the Supporters first and they all love it. More details later.





Another day, another update. You will be pleased to hear that the framework for the new members area is now in place, ready and awaiting your contribution. Remember, if you are already a member of the Grace Spitfire Supporters Group, all you have to do is email your Supporters Number and a password that you wish to use to me at this address: info@ml407.co.uk to access this membera area . If you are one of the many people who have emailed me with your supporters number and a password you wish to use to access the members area and internet newsletter and still can't access it, my apologies. Due to my being away at University, and the computer on which the website files were stored consuming its own hard disk, I have not been able to add you yet. Still worse, the suicidal computer took all your emails down with it. So if you are still happy to have the newsletter on the net, and wish to access the new and improved members area, please resend your emails, and I will add you as quickly as possible. If you are not a member of the Grace Spitfire Supporters club and want to join, then click here.

Thanks, Olivia Grace





Copyright 2007 ©Olivia Grace