'Threads'

A Discussion on Spitfires moving from squadron to squadron
source:  Hyperscale  (thanks to Brett Green for permission)

(Bold Italics are added by the Webmaster to clarify the text or correct known errors.  Some comments have been edited for clarity)

Tomt
Spitfire squadron swaps - Have noticed in...
Sun Mar 23 21:49:31 2003

...my Spit reading that some of the birds jumped from squadron to squadron on a really frequent basis. One book on the Mk. V has one aircraft jumping through seven squadrons in the span of a single year, others going through four or five squadron swaps in about the same timeframe. My question - Why were some of these planes getting cycled through different squadrons so frequently? I can understand replacing aircraft with newer mods, however... ? 

Don
Anders has one reason, another is repairs....
Sun Mar 23 22:10:31 2003

If a plane was damaged enough it sent back to a maintenance unit, and another plane was issued to the squadron. That repaired Spit was then sent to the next unit who might need one.

Bracken
Spitfires
Sun Mar 23 22:09:22 2003

One reason, is that if a squadron was flying Mk V's for example, but was due to be moved to a more active area in England, and Mk IXs were available, they would swap their Mk V's for IXs - and then have to give them up, and revert to Mk V's when they were "rested" and sent back to a more remote airfield. 416 , for example, received all of 402's rather new Spit IXs for this reason, and then had to go back to flying "clapped out" Spit V's again. Of course, there were the usual reasons - battle damage, and wear and tear, that necessitated an airframe being returned to an MU. maintenance unit, and it would seldom return to the same unit operationally. Some units that were shipped out to other theatres of war also had to give up the aircraft they were flying to other squadrons. So, if a Spitfire survived long enough, it could serve with quite a few squadrons. The other reason I can think of is that some squadrons tended to receive newer types as the war continued, and changed the model type of Spitfire they were flying, for high , or low altitude work, for example. AB 910 now with the BBMF, may have the record for the most squadrons it served in! 

Anders Svennevik
One explanation,
Sun Mar 23 22:06:14 2003

though not the only one.

When a squadron was withdrawn from frontline combat (for rest or training) the aircraft were sometimes (often?) passed on to the next squadron on active frontline service.