Originally Posted by
uxb99
Question for Spitfire experts.
One of the Spitfires at Duxford has two ports for Cannon on each wing but only one cannon fitted. The other port has a stub and is faired over.
Question. What's the point in having the port at all. Why not just fair over the hole and just have the one gun? What's the point in having an unused port that would cause drag?
No expert, but it sounds like a 'C' type wing, so originally produced for 4 x 20mm Hispano cannon and 4 x .303 machine guns. It was felt that 2 cannon did the job sufficiently well, so the 2 outboard cannon were often removed and short rubber stubs were inserted into the unused cannon ports instead.
The earlier 'B' wing had 2 x 20mm and no spare ports.