Clive du Cros's Spitfire

Clive Du Cros was born in Surrey, England in April l950. He spent his early years living in Englefield Green, which is home to the Royal Air Force Memorial dedicated to the memory of aircrew lost during the war with no known graves. The memorial overlooks the River Thames as it meanders through the historical setting of Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed by King John.
He attended Strodes Grammar School in Egham and on leaving school studied engineering at Brooklands College in Weybridge. He joined BICERI Ltd, a company based in Slough that specialises in the research and development of the internal combustion engine. Gaining experience in this field he left and started his own transport company. In l980 he moved to Marlborough in Wiltshire and started a new business in the rapidly expanding town of Swindon nearby. At this time he started the complex Spitfire project which took him some ten years to build. until it reached a satisfactory conclusion in 1991.

Clive learnt to fly aeroplanes in the mid eighties, has written articles for aviation magazines and is a member of both the Historical Aircraft and Popular Flying Associations. He has been on television on many occasions, being interviewed by the BBC, Central and HTV television companies about the Spitfire project. He has raced cars, captained fast charter boats in the Mediterranean and has absolutely no intention to build any more aeroplanes after the trials and tribulations of the Spitfire! He now lives on the beautiful island of Mallorca, and spends his time enjoying life and writing exciting novels, drawing on his past experiences and adventures.

 

The Museum acquired this beautiful aircraft in 2011. Since then Louis Turner, Julian Richardson, Roger Symes, Dave Brocklehurst Mbe, Clive Du Cros, Julian Ducros and others, have been rebuilding the V12 Jaguar engine that once powered this aircraft.

Just last month we were able to run the engine for the very first time since the Spitfire arrived at the Museum.

Sadly her main spars were cut by a previous owner, so she will never fly again, but from the 2016 Season on Vintage Weekends (dates to be confirmed) she will be out on the grass and we will run her up, so at least you will be able to see, hear and smell her again when she breathes fire once more...

For those of you who would like to read more about this aircraft, a kindle version is available on Amazon and is well worth a read. If you buy a copy remember to leave a review as some of the proceeds from sales will be donated to the Museum. Thanks as always to Clive Du Cros