Spitfire Mk.V BL628
The Return of Marion

Ecosphere Publications DVD

Reviewed by Glen Porter

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Background

BL 628 was a Mk. VB Spitfire flown by one of the many Canadian aces for one of the Canadian Spitfire Squadrons. He is known to have scored a FW 190 while flying this machine.

The cockpit part of the fuselage was found in England by two Australian Naval Officers searching for some Firefly bits and took it back to Australia but most of the final restoration was carried out in New Zealand where much of the aircraft was built new from original drawings.

The DVD

The DVD begins with about ten minutes of views around the aircraft when it is almost complete but before the engine testing was to start. There is no commentary at this stage,just military music.

The Commentary starts with the Engine Testing section and the commentator, with a very Kiwi accent, gives quite a few details of the aircraft's history, start-up procedures and various checks.

Next comes Preflight Preparations, Preflight Engine checks and Taxi Test with the commentator explaining what's happening and why.

The highlight is, of coarse, the First Flight-Pilot Keith Skilling. Many modellers and enthusiasts will get of on just the sound of a Rolls Royce Merlin 45 but for me it was the low and very fast passes over the airfield near the end of the flight. Very stirring stuff.

With any new built or restored aircraft, there is bound to be some niggling faults. These are explained in Troubleshooting and in some cases the cure described.

The final part of the video is the Display Flight-Pilot John Lamont. Much the same as the first flight but longer.

My only disappointment with the video section was a lack of air to air shots of the aircraft although this is given in the stills section.

Yep, that's right, you not only get all of this beaut action video stuff but a complete Walk-Around as well. There are more than 200 colour photographs under the headings of Cockpit, Engine, Wings, Undercarriage and paint-work etc, and all in slide show format.

If you're a Spitfire nut, either modeller or just enthusiast, this DVD is for you, a “must have”. With a running time of just under an hour plus the “Walk-Around”, there's plenty there for everyone and all those little questions that come up during a model build can be answered.

Thanks to Master Class Model Building Videos for the review sample.

DVDs in this series are available via email from Bruce Salmon