Upsun wrote:
Evelyn left SA under a cloud. It had a prop strike from going over onto its nose and the prop from the Mk.8 in the Saxonwold museum at the Joburg Zoo was "borrowed" and replaced with a wooden facsimile. The aircraft was then sold to a somewhat controversial businessman in California named David Price and the prop went with. Evelyn flew around SoCal for a few years in its 40 Sq SAAF colours. I happened to be in San Diego in 1987/8 and saw it at two different airshows, it was based at KSMO (Santa Monica in Los Angeles) where Price lived.
I forget the details but the aircraft was then exported in another dodgy deal, I seem to recall it was a tax issue on Price's side, and ended up in Brazil.
The prop story is apparently a bit of a myth - Barnett acquired a set of blades from Australia during the rebuild in exchange for Spitfire parts but they proved to be unsuitable for flight. The War Museum donated the Spitfire Mk VIII's blades then already and fibreglass replicas were fitted in their place.
With the destruction of the blades in the Margate accident there was some (heated?) discussions as to who would foot the bill for repairs and it is understood the SAAF paid for the engine repair and certain sheet-metal work while Barnett bought a new set of blades from Hoffman (a photograph exists of the technical team at Margate after repairs had been carried out (she was stored there for some time while engine and prob were being repaired) and prior to its return to Lanseria.
The Hoffman logo can clearly be seen on the blades and oddly the SAAF Museum is in possesion of the original Hoffman blade log cards!