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Spitfire Mk.I (Type 300)

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Spitfire Mk.I (Type 300)

Old 20th Jan 2015, 14:43
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Spitfire Mk.I (Type 300)

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Old 22nd Jan 2015, 16:33
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Danny42C
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Having Fun with a Spitfire Mk.I

mauld,

As I'm quite possibly the only living man who trained (75 hrs) on Spitfires (Mks.I and II), 74 years ago last summer, thank you most sincerely for the You Tube clip of a chap having huge fun with one of them. I didn't know there were any Mk.1s left flying still, though of course there are plenty of the later marks about, several being the strange IX(T)s, although only 20 (I believe) of these were built; the RAF had nothing to do with them apart from supplying the Mk.IXs for the conversion.

I hope you don't mind if I add a few words of comment and gentle reproof from long, long ago: (all written without reference to 'Pilots Notes' - although these can probably be called up from the "Jever Steam Laundry") - but wholly from memory. Here goes:

No chocks ? Funny colour scheme !

0.19
Where is his "jemmy" which should be Terry-clipped inside the cockpit flap ? There is something there bottom left, but not enough to break out of an eggshell. Can't even see the clips,

0.36
Has started on internal battery, bad practice as internal not intended to carry starter load. Should have waited for a trolley acc. But in this case, engine obviously still hot from last flight ? (as evidenced by the start without any "Ki-gas" fuel inject, otherwise would have had normal mini-coflagration from stacks). Opened cooling rad flap fully immediately on start-up, and left it open while taxying, good practice for that's when you need maximum cooling,

1.00
Shut your cockpit flap ! - (on the first catch, you'll need it there soon, and in any case you don't want it banging about in the gale).

1.38
Takes off with canopy shut. (so, if it goes wrong, and he finishes up on his back, he's trapped - must jemmy his way out. Oh, dear - no jemmy !). Drill we were taught is on: "Military Aviation>Gaining an RAF Pilots Brevet in WWII", Page 158 #3145.

4.01
Puff of rich mixture when power returns after the Merlin II or III gravity-fed carb has momentarily stopped supply under negative 'G'. (It was this that gave the Me109s the advantage of being able to 'bunt' away from a Spitfire, as their fuel-injected engines kept going).

4.05
Very nicely on three points now (but what happened in the previous 5-10 seconds ?) Would like to see that, pity they don't show it. Has landed with hood closed; see 1.38 above.

4.10
Don't remember a landing light (but then we didn't fly them by night).

5.00
Good view of the little "fingers" which popped up on the upper surface of each wing to confirm u/c 'down' (in addition to the cockpit indicator). I think only the Mks I and II had these. The patch on the port wing, I'm told, is a gas-detector.

Finally - No chocks !

In all, a lovely vignette of an incomparable little machine, the lightest of the series and the nicest thing I ever flew. (But what is a "Type 300" ?)

Eheu fugaces.... !

Danny42C.
 
Old 22nd Jan 2015, 17:21
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But what is a "Type 300"
Manufacturer's (as opposed to RAF's) designation.

Type 300 = Spitfire I
Type 329 = Spitfire II
Type 349 = Spitfire V
etc.
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Old 23rd Jan 2015, 02:46
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As I'm quite possibly the only living man who trained (75 hrs) on Spitfires (Mks.I and II), 74 years ago last summer, thank you most sincerely for the You Tube clip of a chap having huge fun with one of them. I didn't know there were any Mk.1s left flying still, though of course there are plenty of the later marks about, several being the strange IX(T)s
Danny,

Great post. Thank-you.

I'm the opposite of you. I knew there were some airworthy Mk. Is, but didn't know there were any chaps like you around.

Concerning the "strange IX(T)s", most of those are fairly recent conversions of Mk. IXs. I agree they are strange, but I'm very grateful that they were built, because I was able to fly one. Even from the back seat, it was a magical experience.
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Old 23rd Jan 2015, 07:09
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Danny, great post thank you.

We were lucky enough to have four Mk1s display together at Duxford's Flying Legends last summer, the original AR213 which has been flying more or less continuously since the war, and three recent restorations by the various engineering magicians at Duxford and elsewhere. These have all been restored from wrecks and contain at least some original material.

One was force landed by 92 Sqn's Peter Cazenove on the beach at Calais (or Dunkirk?) after an encounter with the enemy, and was recovered relatively intact in 1980.

I believe there are one or two further Mk1 restorations under way and several MkIIs. The more the merrier, the sound of the Merlin still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

Several of the IX(T)s are from the original batch converted by Vickers for the Irish Air Corps. Think at least one has a Packard Merlin, so I suppose it should really be a XVI(T)!
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Old 23rd Jan 2015, 08:52
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Further Feast of Mk I's






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Old 24th Jan 2015, 03:16
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Some extracts from the Pilot Notes Danny
Landing Lamps - Two landing lamps are provided. One is located under each main plane and they are lowered and raised by a finger lever located below the instrument panel port-of-centre. Each landing lamp has an independent electrical circuit and is controlled by a switch. With the switch in the central position, both lamps are off, when the switch is moved to port, the port lamp is illuminated, when the switch is moved to starboard, the starboard lamp is illuminated. The vertical azimuth of the landing lamps may be controlled by a lever next to the aforementioned switch, which when pulled upwards, lowers the landing lamps’ vertical azimuth, and when pushed downwards, raises it.
As you mention, the notes make great emphasis about having the hood open.

AT ALL TIMES when on the ground, the door-opening handle is to be at the half-cocked position to enable you to quickly leave the aircraft in the event of an emergency, and to prevent the door mechanism from jamming shut in the event of a mishap.

AT ALL TIMES when on the ground, the canopy is to be opened and locked and is to be opened and locked when in the circuit before landing for the same reason. There are no exceptions to this, regardless of the weather.

This rule is for your own good and is intended to promote safe operations and to provide a way to for you to exit your aircraft quickly and/or to aid those who may be helping you to do so in the event that such should become necessary. The bulkhead immediately behind your seat is designed to protect you from head injuries should your aircraft turn turtle. Always ensure that your harness is pulled tight!
The Mk. 1 notes make no mention of having a crowbar, and the photo of the door is devoid of same. The Mk.2 has the following note.

Hood jettisoning – the hood may be jettisoned in an emergency by pulling the lever mounted inside the top of the hood in a forward and downward movement, and pushing the lower edge of the hood outboard with the elbows. On aeroplanes not fitted with a jettison type hood, a crowbar is provided to assist in jettisoning the hood.
Salute Danny for your service. Enjoy your posts.
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Old 24th Jan 2015, 09:27
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Danny - Sir, I salute you. Thanks for sharing.
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Old 24th Jan 2015, 12:42
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Canopy.

An old pal of mine, now deceased, flew every Mk of Spit right through the war. He specifically said, as Danny stated above, that for t/o & landing, the door was to be half-latched with the canopy back. The reason was that the half-latched door physically prevented the canopy from flying forward in a mishap and trapping the pilot. Having found myself thus inverted on terra-firma (Similar canopy, different a/c type.) with the canopy closed and jammed, with a red-hot engine still ticking away, I can confirm that this is highly undesirable. Those original SOP's were there for good reason. :-/
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Old 25th Jan 2015, 17:03
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mauld,

Six more gorgeous You Tubes to look over ! Thank you, and thank DaveReidUK, India Four Two and treadigraph (and megan, Terry McCassey , and GQ2) for their 'gen', interest and comment.

The tale of my Spitfire OTU is told on the Thread mentioned in my #2 (Pages 123-125). Then I never flew a Spitfire again until a refresher on them on my return to tne RAF in '49. The following year, after conversion to Meteors, I was posted to 20 Sqdn, Valley, which flew a mixed bag of Spit XVIs and (inevitably !) Vampire IIIs and Vs until it disbanded in Sept '51.

Having watched your six UTs, I can cavil no more, must just say "Thanks"
again. How old are these pics ? But how beautifully the spotless, dent-less aircraft have been presented. They almost look polished ! (or was it a rub with an oily rag !?)

And congratulations to the pilots for their mostly impeccable 3-pointers (and one or two smooth rollers). For I well know that the Spit was as "floaty" and as skittish as any Tiger Moth - it's not easy and you have to be patient with them. Indeed, the feasability of a conversion TM direct to Spitfire has often been discussed: I think it is by no means out of the question, although AFAIK it has never been tried.

And nice to see the Hurricane appear again. Far rarer now than the Spit, the last pic shows clearly one difference: you sat on a Hurricane; you sat in a Spit (or, more exactly, you put it on like a glove). Only had a handful of hours in the Hurricane, so can't comment.

Will now leave this Thread to return to my home territory. Cheers,

Danny42C

EDIT
mauld,

Your Pic 5 raises a whole host of questions. Were the opening scenes intended as a parody of "Dad's Army" (Get yer 'air cut !), and I liked the chap on guard (?) with a fag in his mouth. What were the rifles ? Not SMLEs, more like the Canadian "Ross" rifle, one of which I had as a member of a TA Rifle Club just after the war. Or were they stage "props" ?

And the "Armoured Car" - (prewar Austin Ten "Cambridge" saloon in lovely nick - I learned to drive in one just like that in '38). They were £185 new then, and in 1952 one of our Auxiliary officers at Thornaby paid £450 for a good s/h one.

D.

EDIT II,

Channel 4 (1930-2100 Sat 24th) showed "Guy Martin's Spitfire". Showed start-up procedure (cockpit picture) and the pilot manfully pumping the u/c down. I'd quite forgotten that the earliest Mk.Is had no hydraulic pump, you selected 'UP' or 'DOWN' yourself, but then had to "man the pumps" to get a result. There was at least one of these on my Flight at Hawarden as late as '42. (Flaps were driven by compressed air, which also operated wheel brakes and gun firing).

D.

Last edited by Danny42C; 27th Jan 2015 at 16:16. Reason: Add Text.
 
Old 7th Feb 2015, 22:55
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mauld et al,

One last titbit of informtion about the Spitfire which is worth mention: I think it is the only aircraft which in its lifetime was fitted (at various times) with 2,3,4,5,and 6 blade props (the last in the Griffon-powered contra-rotating Seafire 47).

Any advance on that ? (thanks again for the You Tubes !)

Danny.
 
Old 10th Feb 2015, 18:32
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Thanks very much for sharing some of your experiences, I enjoyed reading them.
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