Ceylon
Without doubt the Spitfire and its sea borne counterpart the Seafire were great aircraft but they had their faults. Forward visibility was poor, the wheelbase was very narrow, they were not suitable for night flying and they were unhappy when not air borne. Great care had to be taken when taxiing to the take off point. Cooling was non-existent on the ground and after a couple of minutes taxiing the engine coolant boiled and the flight had to be aborted. Although the Seafire was strengthened it wasn’t really up to the thumps of a heavy deck landing. Naturally, the taxiing problem didn’t apply on a carrier but for some time our squadron was stationed ashore in Ceylon (as it was then) and the heat of Ceylon made things difficult: -
With thanks to Dave McIntosh
John Robertson of North Bend, B.C (British Columbia), recounts that in 1944 one jungle airstrip in Ceylon was so hot that naval aircraft overheated as they taxied to the runway for takeoff. So they were towed to the takeoff point.
Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten arrived one day for a squadron inspection
" What is your operational strength?" he asked.
"Twelve Seafires and one elephant, sir" said the C.O.
This was a new one to Mountbatten.
"How fast does an elephant go?" he asked
"About 3 knots, sir" said the C.O. and pointed to the runway. Sarah was just ambling up to the takeoff point with a Seafire on tow.