COBI Spitfire Mk. I N3200 - Imperial War Museum Duxford Set 5868

COBI's Spitfire Mk. I N3200 is built from 146 blocks, 18 cm long with a 24 cm wingspan, in cooperation with the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. The propeller turns, the wheels roll on rubber tires, and all markings are printed.

This aircraft spent forty-six years in a beach

N3200 is not a representative Spitfire. It is a specific one with an unusual history.

On 26 May 1940, during the Dunkirk evacuation, Squadron Leader Geoffrey Stephenson was shot down while attacking Stukas and force-landed on the sand at Sangatte. He survived, was captured, and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. The aircraft was left where it lay and the tide buried it.

In 1986 shifting sands uncovered the wreck. It was recovered, identified, and restored over many years — and in 2014 N3200 flew again. It is now at Duxford, one of a small number of airworthy Mk. I Spitfires in the world, and the only one with a documented Battle of France combat history.

The Mk. I is worth distinguishing from the Spitfires most people picture. It had a two-blade wooden propeller on the earliest examples, eight rifle-calibre machine guns and no cannon, and it is the version that fought in 1940 — not the much-developed later marks.

Specifications

Pieces: 146 · In cooperation with the Imperial War Museum Duxford
Model dimensions: 18 × 24 × 7.5 cm (7.1 × 9.4 × 3.0 in)