The Vickers Supermarine company proposed the development of a two seat variant of the Spitfire to Air Ministry officials in 1941, the project fell flat and returned to further development of the single engined fighters. Once the war had ended, stories of unofficially modified two seat Spitfire projects started to circulate, with the ones produced by the Soviet Air Force being perhaps the most significant. Britain would eventually supply Russia with more than 1000 Spitfires and discovered several Spitfires were converted to the two seat configuration, however, rather than moving the front cockpit slightly forward as Vickers Supermarine would later do, the Russians elected to simply add a second cockpit behind the existing one, using a narrower section of the fuselage. Acknowledged by Vickers Supermarine, they revived a two-seat Spitfire project as a private venture and in 1946, selected a Spitfire Mk.VIII airframe as their donor aircraft. In fact, one of the most interesting facts about the two seat Spitfire variant is that there was no such thing as a new-build Spitfire T.9 trainer, because every single example was originally manufactured as a single seat fighter. Something of a post war phenomenon, the two seat Spitfire did attract several military operators over the years, including the Irish Air Corps, however, it is during the warbird restoration era and later that the popularity of ‘Spitfires made for two' became established. Nowadays, offering Spitfire experience flights has become an extremely lucrative business, to a point where only a few years ago, almost every Spitfire under restoration was being converted to T.9 or two seat Spitfire standard. This aircraft was purchased by Warbird Experiences at Biggin Hill and returned to British skies wearing the famous standard RAF wartime day fighter scheme, the TE307 was given a smart new scheme in honor of the fighters flown by the men of No.457 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force during WWII. Sporting the classic shark mouth under the engine cowling, the unit was known as the 'Grey Nurse' Squadron and Spitfire TE307 now carries the registration A58-606 and the codes ZP-W in honor of Squadron Leader Bruce Watson, who flew with this unit. Civilians can fly in this distinctive Spitfire at the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar offering leisure flights, but expect to join the long queue of people hoping to have this unique aviation experience.