Paging TOG: Spitfire Q

The Spitfire at the start of this slideshow is captioned "circa 1939"
and I think that's erroneous.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10955752

What do the aircraft anoraks think?

 

Err, dunno which year it is, but two large radiators and cannon were
not a feature of early Marks of Spitfire. The Mk1a & Mk 2 had a single
large radiator under the port wing and a smaller (oil?) radiator under
the starboard wing.

 

1943 Spitfire IX MA235 No. 302 Squadron RAF (Polish)

Fabian

 

It's a Mk IX, one of the most common Spits out there but they didn't come
into service until later in the war... 1941 onwards I think... my Gramps
as shot down in one in 1942 He should've realised that the trains in
the Balkans would start shooting back at some point in the war

 

Fabian wibbled forthrightly:

I suppose it's circa '39. Depending upon how wide "circa" can be.

 

SIRPip wibbled forthrightly:

Dunno. What I wonder though, is that one some of the aircraft they
restore, how many bits are still original? It reminds me of Trigger and
his broom in 'Only Fools...'.

 

how many of the aircraft were original if they got to the end of the war in
a working condition?

just like today[1], aircraft were kept in service by cannibalising bits and
innovating repairs with whatever was at hand.

[1] my foster brother's best mate, based at Brize Norton, routinely swaps
engines from frame to frame so the aircraft can log hours and stay in
service becuase the MoD won't buy spares

 

Mk.1 only had three exhaust ports per side and that image shows six.
Plus there are canons, so a Vb or a IX is my guess at a quick glance.

 

wessie wibbled forthrightly:

I know what you mean, but early on in the slideshow, they're talking
about an aircraft that crashed in Calais. There's nothing but rust to
it.

 

What intrigued me was the fact that different Marks of Spit have
different values. Later ones seem to be £1.0-1.5 million. Mark Fives are
more valuable. They reckoned this will be the only flying Mark One and
valued it at £4.0-5.0 million, I think.

I knew that planes with a verified combat record are worth more, but it
never occured to me that different Marks had different values. But on
reflection, it makes sense: sort of like having an original 1972
Kawasaki Z1 instead of a 1981 Z1000J.

 

Praisdelawd and passde ammunition.

 

In the film, he said the one that crashed at Calais would have ~60%
new parts in the fuselage alone.

 

I wonder if it's anything along the lines that the merkin hot rod things
had. If you restore something old then it is just 'of its time'
therefore old techniques and materials that would not perhaps be allowed
on a modern 'replica' may be used.
With cars over there, apparently, it got to the stage where there was
so little original that it was essentially a hand built modern vehicle
that didn't have to meet modern regulation by dint of being 'old,'
IYSWIM.

 

There wasa programme ona few yearsback (prob a Dibnah) where they were
"restoring" a little Welsh steam engine.

The only bits they had were a brake leve, a name plate, and a set of
drawings.

 

I bumped into a old boy in Callender who drove a 1920 RR, and he was
most scathing of such 'restorations'. The car he had was gorgeous, and
was found as a virtual pile of scrap, but everything was there, just
very fucked looking at the back of a cowshed. Only one or two minor
parts weren't original. He'd owned it since the '50s, when a dud old RR
only cost twenty quid.

 

1943 Spitfire IX MA235 No. 302 Squadron RAF (Polish)[/QUOTE]

Oh well done sir!

(or: That's like Awesome Bro, isn't it?)

 

?

looks like Fogarty to me

 

mea culpa

 

Oh well done sir![/QUOTE]

Indeed.

TOG, lob this lad an Anorak#, eh?

 

That was my first thought - can't be that early. Then I got the book
out to make sure, then I had a glass of wine and it all got a bit
blurred.