File:Spitfire "City Of Exeter' Mk9 (31515808298).jpg

RR232 was built in Castle Bromwich by Vickers Armstrong and delivered to the RAF in October 1944 as an 'HF.IX' high altitude fighter where it was allocated to an anti-aircraft co-operation Squadron. It was then sold to the South African Air Force (SAAF) in 1948 with designation '5632' and was last flown there by Lt. Ron Beamish of 2 Sqdn. It was then stored derelict at Salt River after being 'ground looped' in 1954. In 1976 it was bought by Australian collector Peter Sledge and restored to static display standard.

Spitfire RR232 finally made it back to Britain in 1986 when purchased by Charles Church, who in turn sold the airframe to Jim Pearce of Sussex Spraying Services.

With parts having been sourced from myriad locations around the world, this Spitfire is a story in itself of an epic restoration project that saw parts contributed, sold and scavenged from across the globe, and one man's dogged determination to return an iconic fighter to the skies above Britain. Some parts were found very close to home however; one of the wings for example being salvaged from a hedge outside a pub near Exeter. With a fully rebuilt Merlin engine installed and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) happy that all had been done to the highest standards, in December 2012 Spitfire RR232 took to the skies again, becoming the last aircraft to be assembled at Filton Aerodrome (home of Concorde) before its closure for redevelopment.