Home Monster Moves Season 5 Episode 2

Spectacular Spitfire

Monster Moves · Season 5 · Episode 2
A team of aviation engineers attempt to move a historic Spitfire fighter aircraft over 6,000km from Duxford in England to Easton, Maryland USA for a private collector.

The vintage aircraft can’t carry enough fuel for the team to fly it to the US. Too large to be trucked or shipped intact, this episode follows the team attempt to dismantle it for its epic trek by trucks and ship. This operation is a huge challenge, as the aircraft must be flight worthy after it has been reassembled.

To squeeze the Spitfire inside a shipping container, the team must disconnect the fuselage, wings, nose and tail. They must build a support cradle for each component so they fit, snug, together like a jigsaw puzzle inside the container, and don’t bump or knock around. The journey is fraught with problems. Following a painstaking reconstruction process in Easton, will this classic aircraft survive the journey to fly again?

Episode Details

Air date, runtime, timezone, and episode position.

Season
5
Episode
2
Air Date
12/Apr/2011
Air Time
Runtime
60 min

Overview

Episode summary.

A team of aviation engineers attempt to move a historic Spitfire fighter aircraft over 6,000km from Duxford in England to Easton, Maryland USA for a private collector.

The vintage aircraft can’t carry enough fuel for the team to fly it to the US. Too large to be trucked or shipped intact, this episode follows the team attempt to dismantle it for its epic trek by trucks and ship. This operation is a huge challenge, as the aircraft must be flight worthy after it has been reassembled.

To squeeze the Spitfire inside a shipping container, the team must disconnect the fuselage, wings, nose and tail. They must build a support cradle for each component so they fit, snug, together like a jigsaw puzzle inside the container, and don’t bump or knock around. The journey is fraught with problems. Following a painstaking reconstruction process in Easton, will this classic aircraft survive the journey to fly again?

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