Spitfire First Flight 80-years ago on 5th March 1936

[Warmtoast]

My local TV channel had an item about the 80th anniversary of the Spitfire's first flight on 5th March 1936 being celebrated tomorrow.


80-years old - Congratulations Spitfire!

[Buster Hyman]

Needs a photo...

http://www.pewteraircraft.com/STRUCKOFF/NEW%20SOC/SPITFIRE%20PROTO/SPITFIRE-PROTOTYPE-bw.jpg

:ok:

[Danny42C]

Many happy returns - to the nicest thing that ever flew !.......:D

[CoffmanStarter]

Many Happy Returns ... and "Thank You" Mr R J Mitchell and Team :D:D:D:D

[Yamagata ken]

Thank you very much Danny, for flying them for us. :)

[Flyer517]

It was great to see Australia's only 2 flying Spits in the air today at Temora Aviation Museum. They flew them both to celebrate the 80th anniversary.

I have to admit to a lump in the throat when they both screamed across the airfield in formation. There really is nothing better than the sound of Merlin except 2 Merlins together!

I could have watched and listened to them for hours.

Beautiful birds!

Flyer

[Fantome]

In Scone in Australia in the Upper Hunter Valley inland from Newcastle
there are a few interesting restorations on the go. . . . including the Mk 9
referred to here on the Pay's Air Service website. The associated blog of the chief engineer covers in detail the degree of fabrication necessary -

Pay's Flying Museum - Current Restorations

Supermarine Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied air arms during and after the Second World War. The Spitfire was built in many variants, using several wing configurations. It was produced in greater numbers than any other British aircraft. It was also the only British fighter to be in continuous production throughout the war. The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft.


Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IX (R.A.F. Serial MH603) was built by Vickers Armstrong at Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory with construction number CBAF.IX.5589 and delivered to 39.M.U. Colerne on the 15 October 1943. It was first taken on charge by 405 A.R.F. at Croydon.
Its first squadron was 331 (Norwegian) Squadron, and it was flown on operations by Capt. Bjorn Bjornstad. According to the AM78 it was taken on charge on the 3rd January 1944. But it was first flown on the 2nd January 1944 and was coded FN-B.
Its next move was to 6.M.U.Brize Norton on the 9th March 1944. From the 1st June until 11th August 1944 it was flown by W/O.S.G.Barker of 274 Squadron, under the command of S/Ldr. J.F. (Stocky) Edwards.
On the 21st August 1944 it was taken on charge by the Flight Leaders School at Milfield. It was transferred on an unknown date to the Central Flying Establishment Langmere. It suffered a flying accident, category B, and was sent to Air Service Training Hamble to be repaired. Repairs were completed on the 25th September 1945, after which it went to 33.M.U.Lyneham Wiltshire. It was recorded at the Air Ministry Home Census of March 1946, and was selected for sale to South Africa on the 15th October 1948 and went to 47 M.U. at Sealand for packing. ME603 sailed from Birkenhead on the 2nd February 1949 for South Africa on the S.S. Clan Campbell. She arrived in South Africa on the 16 March 1949.


Nothing is known about its South African service at this time. It was obtained by Steven Atkins and sold to John Sykes, who started rebuilding it to an airworthy standard. The aircraft was sold to Dr. Joe Scogna of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the project was moved to Q.G. Aviation in Fort Collins, Colorado.


In April 2008, Spitfire IX MH603 was purchased by Provenance Fighter Sales.
In February 2009 the Spitfire was purchased by Pay’s from Provenance Fighter Sales who had ownership of the aircraft since April 2008. The restoration is taking place in Scone by Pay’s and it will be restored as authentically as possible. As of the start of 2014 (VH-IXF) the Spitfire has made good progress. The wings now largely completed as well as the fuselage and tail assembly.
You can stay up to date with the progress of VH-IXF through a blog created by the head engineer of the project at http://paysspitfire.********.com.au

Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Although largely overshadowed by the Supermarine Spitfire, the aircraft became renowned during the Battle of Britain, accounting for 60% of the RAF's air victories in the battle, and served in all the major theatres of the Second World War.

A Scone identity recently acquired this particular Hurricane from Canada.It is C/N 60372, C-FDNL, Mk XII / IIB Serial No 5481, painted to represent P2970 as flown by pilot Officer Geoffrey Page circa 1940. It is in fact a Canadian built example built in 1942 by the Canadian Car and Foundry Co. The Hurricane was restored in the UK and first flew post war in 1991 as G-ORGI and then in 1992 traveled to the USA and in 2003 passed on to Ed Russell in Canada from whom it was purchased for export to Australia.
Pay’s is responsible for the maintenance and operation of this aircraft. First flight following extensive maintenance is scheduled for April 2016.

[Tankertrashnav]

I switched on the car radio this lunchtime and to commemorate the day Classic FM was playing Spitfire Prelude and Fugue which William Walton composed for The First of the Few. Nice touch, I thought.

[Danny42C]

Yamagata Ken (your #5),

It was a pleasure, Sir !

Danny.

[AGS Man]

Sorry I don't have a link but ITN starred by reporting this and showing a line up of Hurricanes!!!

[ACW342]

Watched one of the early BBC news bulletins with nice air to air of the two seat Spitfire, newsreader mentioned the BofB and immediately up came footage of fighters scrambling - Hurricanes!! It wasn't repeated.

[Tankertrashnav]

Sorry I don't have a link but ITN starred by reporting this and showing a line up of Hurricanes!!!

I saw that shot. News reporting about military matters gets worse and worse. The other day someone on BBC News 24 was reporting on the inquest into the guys who died on that SAS training exercise. Reading from his script which obviously described the guys as L. Cpl X and L.Cpl Y, the bloke read out "Lieutenant Corporal X and Lieutenant Corporal Y" :ugh:

[G-CPTN]

Lieutenant - a deputy or substitute acting for a superior.

The word lieutenant derives from French; the lieu meaning "place" as in a position (cf. in lieu of); and tenant meaning "holding" as in "holding a position"; thus a "lieutenant" is somebody who holds a superior's position in his or her absence.

[Danny42C]

G-CPTN,

I think Tankertrashnav's point was that "L.Cpl" is the abbreviation for "Lance- Corporal" - but you can't expect the BBC to know that !

Danny.

[G-CPTN]

G-CPTN,

I think Tankertrashnav's point was that "L.Cpl" is the abbreviation for "Lance- Corporal" - but you can't expect the BBC to know that !

Danny.

Agreed, but I wanted to point out a PSOI.

Many people assume that lieutenant-colonel means a higher rank than colonel, but, just like lance (as in lance corporal) it is a lesser rank.

[Tankertrashnav]

Agreed, but I wanted to point out a PSOI.

Many people assume that lieutenant-colonel means a higher rank than colonel, but, just like lance (as in lance corporal) it is a lesser rank.

In the same way that a major general is junior to a lieutenant general. My dad told me this was because the rank was originally sergeant-major general, but the sergeant bit got dropped later on. Still confuses people though.

Danny, have you tried to blag a flight in one of those two-seat Spitfires? I know one chap who has, and he's older than you! Last time he'd flown one was 1943 and he said it seemed like yesterday. Dont think they let him land it though!

[PPRuNeUser0139]

I grew up near RAF Woodvale while the THUM Flight (http://derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/13753/thum-flight-1953-woodvale-speke) was there in the 50s..
This was my daily soundtrack (https://www.freesound.org/people/genghis%20attenborough/sounds/32153/)..!:ok:

[Warmtoast]

Spitfire - some stats


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Image1_zpskyb63cx3.jpg


...and some video of the first flight here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tflwAyFNWyI


...and an hour-long BBC2 documentary about the Spitfire from 1976:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDzZnCkbxgs

[G-CPTN]

£5696 in 1940 equates to £332,100 in today's money.

Does that seem reasonable?

[Thomas coupling]

A little update:

Cost of the most expensive spitfire sold recently: 3.1 million including commission.

Running cost of a spitfire to day: approx 5k/hr.

numbers still flying globally: 71. Quite common as a collectors item!

all the 2 seaters were 'modded' after the war. The irish started the 'fad'.

I believe there are 21 'marques' of spitfire.

The americans flew them in the war.

During the war, it took 3 women a week to make a wing, now it takes a year.

There are only a handful of 'genuine' spitfires around the world. The rest have been built from new around the original serial data plate.

[TCAS FAN]

"all the 2 seaters were 'modded' after the war. The irish started the 'fad'."

Did they, or did they get the idea from G-AIDN, which I still remember from its days being flown from Eastleigh by Viv Bellamy who bought it as a two seater from the manufacturer, Vickers Armstrong?

Photograph of Aircraft G-AIDN (http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/applicationmodules/ginfo/ginfo_photo.aspx?regmark=G-AIDN&imgname=G-AIDN002&imgtype=jpg)

[Danny42C]

Tankertrashnav (your #16),

'Fraid not ! (I'm far too frail and immobile to go across the road even to see a Spitfire, much less fly in one). I believe Vickers converted 20 IXs into the two-seat trainers; Wiki says ten went to the Indian Air Force and the Irish took six. I know the Belgians took at least one, for I saw it twice in the '60s at Coxyde (Ostend) in Belgian AF markings. The best known survivor is of course the Grace Spitfire, which does honour to all concerned in its heartwarming story.

I simply cannot accept that the alterations, the excess weight and the effect on the CoG have not degraded its handling to some degree. To my mind, there was never any requirement for it as a "lead-in" to a Spitfire in military use (in a post-war world full of ex-service Harvards). Indeed, I remember seeing some time ago a Post on this Forum reporting that the BBMF were getting, as a lead-in for their new Spitfire boys, not a IX(T), but a Harvard. (Cynics have always said that a Spitfire is a good lead-in for the Harvard !) And there is some truth in this: whereas the Spitfire is docile and viceless, the Harvard can be quite nasty when provoked.

Stand by for incoming !

Danny.

PS: GCAPT,

As the cost-inflation factor 1940/today is about 60 (£5695X60 = £341,760), £332,100 would be about right. But the UK wage-inflation factor over the same period is around 150, which would give a figure of £854,400, at the very low end of today's market values.

In any case, I would question the 1940 price of £5695. During the war, the popular "Spitfire Funds" aimed to raise £5,000 "to buy a Spitfire", but even then the real figure was reckoned as nearer £12,000 by "those in the know".

Today's prices are "collector's prices", and when two or more individuals with bottomless pockets are bidding for one of the rare specimens which come onto the market, the price can go anywhere. It is always true that "the value of any article is what a willing purchaser is prepared to pay for it in a free market" - neither more nor less.

Meanwhile the humbler Hurricane (which did the "heavy lifting" in the BoB - I believe there were thirty Hurricane squadrons and six Spitfire ones) lingers on in obscurity (at least in comparison with its more glamorous sister).

It was ever thus.

Danny.

[Stitchbitch]

I believe the South Africans made a two seater in Italy by removing a petrol tank from the nose, no dual controls though?
Danny, the Harvard is normally borrowed by BBMF to give the boys some heavy tail wheel experience after the chipmunk and prior to the Hurricane. After a suitable period on the Hurricane they are then let loose on the baby Spits. Thank you for your posts Sir.

[Tankertrashnav]

Tankertrashnav (your #16),

'Fraid not ! (I'm far too frail and immobile to go across the road even to see a Spitfire, much less fly in one)...

Sorry to hear that Danny. Never mind, you can perhaps embark on a new career teaching some of our members how to write cogent, grammatical, correctly spelled and interesting posts on here!

[Stitchbitch]

I couldn't spell engineer, now i is one. :E

[Danny42C]

Stitchbitch (your #23)
...I believe the South Africans made a two seater in Italy by removing a petrol tank from the nose, no dual controls though?...[
This diagram shows the two internal tanks (D and E) just forward of the cockpit. Total tankage was 85 galls (Imp), 48 in the top tank and and 37 in the bottom. Clearly the top tank would have to be removed to provide a very limited space for the passenger. Tests showed that the full internal tankage would give you a range (inc climb) of 450 mi at 20,000 ft in 'M' gear, so taking the top out would reduce that to 200 mi - hardly worth the trouble. Of course additional external fuel could be carried - but a better idea would be to put you chap in the back of a Tiger Moth (where he'd be more comfortable anyway !)
...Danny, the Harvard is normally borrowed by BBMF to give the boys some heavy tail wheel experience after the chipmunk and prior to the Hurricane. After a suitable period on the Hurricane they are then let loose on the baby Spits...
Almost exactly what we did in '42 ! Harvards - (Master, just to see we hadn't forgotten how to fly) - Hurricane - Spitfire.
...Thank you for your posts Sir...

A pleasure, Sir (or Madam ?)

Danny.http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/spitfire_cutaway_diagram.gif

[Danny42C]

Tankertrashnav (your #24),
..Sorry to hear that Danny. Never mind, you can perhaps embark on a new career teaching some of our members how to write cogent, grammatical, correctly spelled and interesting posts on here!..
Now, now ! It was just my luck to have been dragged up in an era before the modern educational ideas took root (and when corporal punishment in schools was the norm !)

Danny.

[Buster Hyman]

They don't make em like they used to... And I'm not talking about the Spitfire Danny. :ok:

[Danny42C]

Stichbitch (your #25),

We had a chap in ATC who wrote to his SATCO, asking to be considered for a Commission.

Only trouble was - he couldn't spell it !

Danny.