Claire Pierce

In 1988, RAF Sealand removed its corroding Mk XVI Spitfire, TD248, from the entrance pedestal where it had served as a gate guardian since the 1960s. The four-tonne aircraft was sent to Historic Flying for restoration under an RAF vintage-aircraft preservation programme and returned to flight in 1992. A Hawker Hunter Mk.4 replaced it at Sealand. The piece also explains the Spitfire’s changing wartime markings and registrations and collects local residents’ and former RAF personnel’s affectionate memories of the aircraft as a prominent landmark on the Wales–England border.