Bill Greenwood

Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:00 am

I have been meaning to ask you this. How long have you owned your Spitfire and how many hours do you put on it in a year?

Tue Sep 25, 2007 11:28 am

Pat, I bought my Mk IX T on April 25, 1983, so 24 1/2 years. I usually fly it about 70 hours a year. Less the first year when I was getting my training, and there have been a couple of years when we have not flown much due to maintenance such as an engine change, repainting or other major maintenance. Now I am looking forward to going down to the CAF Midland show on Fri.

Thu Sep 27, 2007 12:55 pm

thanks Bill

Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:38 am

Bill,
Since you've owned your aircraft so long, it sounds like you are probably the highest time Spitfire pilot currently flying. Is that correct?

Dennis

Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:05 pm

This has been a subject discussed much over the years by many people.
From Bill's comments, he would certainly be in the running .
I have read many times and it is commonly stated that Jerry Billings is most likely at present the highest time Spifire pilot.
From WW2 up until sometime into the 1990's he constantly flew Spitfires for various owner thru out the world but mostly he flew Cliff Robertsons Spifire MK IX.
Jerry is no longer current on Spits, so if Bill has not already caught him, he may cetainly do so in the future.
Perhaps if "Ontario Warbird" is out there he may have an accurate idea of how many Spit hours Jerry actually has.

Either way Bill ,I always enjoy watching you display your lovely Spitfire, may you have many more wonderfull years with her.

Fleet 16b

Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:42 pm

Thanks for the good wishes guys. I might be one of the longest civilan owners of a Spitfire, don t really know. I doubt if I have the most hours. Alex Henshaw tested a couple of thousand Spitfires. Paul Day flew many hours for Battle of Britain Flight. I have a little over a thousand hours, haven't added it up recently, something I need to do soon.