MJ627 was built at Castle Bromwich, England, during the autumn of 1943 as part of the serial batch MJ602 to MJ646. As an LF.IXc, she was fitted with a Rolls-Royce Merlin 66 engine and first flown on November 27. Shortly afterwards, the aircraft was delivered to number 9 Maintenance Unit (MU), Royal Air Force (RAF) Cosford, where it was stored until the spring of 1944. On March 13, MJ627 arrived at General Aircraft for further checks which were almost certainly conducted at Hanworth, Middlesex.
MJ627 entered service with number 441(Silver Fox) Sqn, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on September 25, 1944 and served with the RAF from Advanced Landing Ground B70 located in Belgium. She was given the codes ‘9G-Q’ and the first operational sortie was flown by Flight Lieutenant A.A.Smith on a patrol in the Venloe/Nijmegen area.
On September 27, 1944 Pilot Officer Bregman took off in MJ627 to patrol the Arnhem area. At around 6000 feet, some fifteen Bf 109’s and Fw 190’s were engaged to the east of Arnhem and Bregman was later credited with the downing of a single Bf 109. Remaining with 441 Sqn, MJ627 was kept busy during the latter part of 1944 and the following sorties were recorded:
> November 6 - Flying Officer F.E.Manette was tasked to cover 216 Lancaster Bomber aircraft thatwere targeting Gelsenkirchen.
> November 10 - Flight Lieutenant Smith flew an ‘op’ to Minoru, escorting Dakotas to Paris.
> November 27 - Flying Officer B.M Mackenzie gave top cover for Lancasters to Cologne.
> November 29 - Flying Officer Bregman flew as a withdrawal escort for 270 Lancasters.
> December 8 - Flying Officer Bregman escorted 220 Lancasters to the Heinbach Dam with the Squadron then landing at Brussells as the weather had closed in at home base.
December 27, 1944 saw number 441 Sqn. being posted to Skeabrae, Orkney Islands, Scotland for defence of the Naval Fleet. However, on March 9, 1945, following a routine patrol, MJ627 experienced engine problems that resulted in a forced-landing in heather. The resulting damage to the airframe was initially declared Category E, but later re-categorised as ‘B’.... “beyond repair on site”. At this point, the total flying hours were recorded as 245.05.
On September 11, 1945, MJ627 was eventually sent to Air Service Training, Hamble, Hants for repairs and then issued to number 29 MU at High Ercall, Shropshire for storage. The aircraft was sold to Vickers Armstrong Ltd on July 19, 1950 and subsequently moved by road to Southampton. The company then converted the airframe into a T9 Trainer aircraft with 2-seats and it bore the B-Conditions marking G-15-171. The conversion necessitated the removal of the centre fuel tank and the repositioning of the front seat some 12 inches forward.
Having been converted to a 2-seat trainer, MJ627 was sold to the Irish Air Corps, given the markings IAC 158 and delivered to Baldonnel, near Dublin on June 5, 1951. She stayed with the Irish air Corps until April 20, 1960 before being withdrawn from service. At this point records show a total of 1036.10 flying hours.
On November 13, 1963 MJ627 seemed destined for a film career and was delivered to Elstree Studios where on February 19, 1964 she was reregistered by Film Aviation Services as G-ASOZ. Although such films as the Battle of Britain were being produced, MJ627 was not used in any flying sequence but instead robbed of her parts for other film-star aircraft such as MH343 (G-ASIV). In September 1964 Mr Tim Davies bought the remaining airframe and remnants of MJ627 which he stored at various locations until she was purchased by the current owner, Mr Maurice Bayliss, in1976.
Purchased by Mr Bayliss as a long-term restoration project, work commenced in earnest at Kenilworth. Fitted with Rolls-Royce Merlin 76 engine, the aircraft was given her current civilian registration of G-BMSB on May 3, 1978.
In 1989 MJ627 was moved to Coventry, Warks, for assembly at Dollar Air Services hangar and had its first engine runs in 1992. Piloted by Squadron Leader Paul Day, MJ627’s first post-restoration flight was flown on November 8 1993 - timed to coincide with its original first flight 50 years previously at Castle Bromwich. In view of MJ627’s operational history it was finished in number 441 Sqn colours, and coded 9G-P with invasion stripes.
On May 6, 1994 MJ627 was flown to Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire, and lodged in the main hangar along with Vulcan XH558 and Victor XM715. August 1997 saw her being relocated to Coventry Airport where she enjoyed mixed fortunes. Following a demonstration on April 25, 1998 MJ627 crashed landed at Coventry Airport at about 1300 hrs. Squadron Leader Paul Day was flying her but to his horror found that the undercarriage would not lower despite several airtests in recent weeks. After jettisoning the front canopy he and his passenger, Mr Tom Goodwin the aircraft’s ground engineer, prepared for the inevitable. As MJ627 neared the ground Day kept the nose high, for a gentle touchdown and to protect the Merlin engine as long as possible. Finally with the tailwheel tickling along the ground, the throttle was shut early enough to slow the propeller and MJ627 settled on the soft grass. The four wooden propeller blades shattered, each £2000 blade turning to matchwood in an instant. MJ627 came to rest and thankfully both Day and Goodwin were able to get out unhurt. The cause ? A tuppenny 6BA bolt had fallen out and into the undercarriage selector, jamming it. Despite this unfortunate and costly incident, there was never any question that Mr Bayliss would restore MJ627 back to full airworthiness.
On February 14, 2002 Sqn.Ldr.Paul Day carried out a post repair air test and landed at RAF Coningsby. On May 7, 2003 MJ627 was flown into East Kirby airfield where she became a main attraction at The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre for the next 5 years.
Having retired from the RAF, Sqn Leader Day declared his intention to continue flying MJ627 and in the summer of 2008 flew her into her new base at RAF Waddington where she is currently located. A team of willing volunteers led by Mr Keith Brenchley help keep the aircraft in an airworthy condition and, having been fitted with a new engine in the winter of 2010, she can be regularly seen and more often heard gracing the Lincolnshire sky line.
....Lets hope that she continues to do so for many years to come!
