Churchill promised Stalin some Spitfires and these were sent by sea to Basra, reassembled at Shaibah airbase and flown to Abadan where the Soviet pilots took them to Russia. We have restored a Merlin 66 engine from a crashed Spitfire found near Murmansk. The Spit. was shipped to Iraq aboard SS276, 19-1-45. I am struggling to find out what the vessel was and to find a picture of it. Can anyone assist? By the way...Other Spits went on Empire Stalwart, Empire Archer, Edmund Fanning.
The full history as far as I can find is:
The Spitfire, registered as SM639 was an LFIX built at the Castle Bromwich Factory fitted with a Merlin 66 S/N 160231, despatched to 33MU (Lyneham) on 2-12-44; then to 82MU (Lichfield) on 10-1-45 where it would have been crated and delivered to docks at, maybe, Swansea, shipped as deck cargo on SS276 arriving at Basra/Shaibah 28-1-45. Hapmat 13-2-45 (does anyone know what Hapmat is?). Found in a bog Near Archangel, on Kola pennisular it had most probably been crashed inverted as peat was found in the engine ports but the lower portions of engine were clean.
Can anyone tell me anymore of the operational history of SM639 as I have drawn a blank upto now?
(Over 1300 Spits went to the Red Airforce)