View Full Version : aircraft recognition
Gove N.T.
6th Sep 2018, 16:25
If this is the wrong forum or inappropriate then please ignore
However, In Scottish highlands 30/08 around 12:15 I heard a distinctive engine sound and this aircraft flew over.
I didn't have the best lens but i captured this image and wonder if anyone can recognise this aircraft from the silhouette
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/2000x1460/aircraft_recognition__648f3742be4f03b35ae14adca38fe1421c6438 fe.jpg
India Four Two
6th Sep 2018, 16:28
Unmistakable. It’s a Spitfire. Sorry I can’t make out what Mark, but it looks like a four-bladed prop, so later than a Mark V. :)
Icare9
6th Sep 2018, 16:44
blimey! If you can take a photo of the Scottish Highlands AND hear it all the way from Northern Territories I think your lens is remarkable!
There only seems to be 30 or so still airworthy..
Photo is too unclear to note whether any cannon barrels or if a two seater trainer variant, but looks to have a 4 blade prop.
A possible candidate might be Spitfire Tr.9 PT462 (G-CTIX). Owned by the Dragon Flight and based on a private strip in Rhuallt, North Wales. It wears the markings PT462 / SW-A. (solely as it's based in North Wales rather than south of England).
Others more knowledgeable than me will no doubt be able to tell you if the pilot has a moustache!
Gove N.T.
6th Sep 2018, 17:07
blimey! If you can take a photo of the Scottish Highlands AND hear it all the way from Northern Territories I think your lens is remarkable!
There only seems to be 30 or so still airworthy..
Photo is too unclear to note whether any cannon barrels or if a two seater trainer variant, but looks to have a 4 blade prop.
A possible candidate might be Spitfire Tr.9 PT462 (G-CTIX). Owned by the Dragon Flight and based on a private strip in Rhuallt, North Wales. It wears the markings PT462 / SW-A. (solely as it's based in North Wales rather than south of England).
Others more knowledgeable than me will no doubt be able to tell you if the pilot has a moustache!
On my hols. NT is pretty hot flat and brown so Scotland was the obvious choice for someone whose forebears were Scots.- hilly and green and cool - no mozzies but.
Thanks for the info. I felt sure it was a spitfire but didn't think there was more than 1 or 2 left.
Pontius Navigator
6th Sep 2018, 18:07
On my hols. NT is pretty hot flat and brown so Scotland was the obvious choice for someone whose forebears were Scots.- hilly and green and cool - no mozzies but.
Thanks for the info. I felt sure it was a spitfire but didn't think there was more than 1 or 2 left.
There are more Spitfires in UK now than there were for the BofB film in 1968
Treble one
6th Sep 2018, 18:42
If it was a familiar noise you recognised, its likely to be a Merlin engine Spitfire, so it could be a Mk IX....The Griffon engine Spitfires were a bit later (XIV was the first big production run IIRC).....although the XVI had a Packard Merlin engine fitted.
treadigraph
6th Sep 2018, 20:01
Boultbee's TR.IX PV202/G-CCCA was temporarily based up at Cumbernauld last week, so probably a good candidate.
I would agree with Treadigraph. Unfortunately the free playback on Flight Radar 24 gets overwritten after about a week and the 30th August is not available.
See 31st August currently still on there and showing PV202/G-CCCA in Scotland.
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-ccca#1db33e87
From
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-ccca
jjayjackson
7th Sep 2018, 12:12
Could it possibly be the Spitfire from Scone (Perth) Airport?
thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/scotland/310764/magnificent-man-flying-machine/
treadigraph
9th Sep 2018, 07:02
The Spitfire in Gove's pic looks like a genuine MkIX to me, in my experience the replica Spits look and sound what they are: nice little aeroplanes but not the real deal. The replica has a three blade prop, the one in the pic has four.
When walking around the quieter parts of eastern Croydon I occasionally can hear one of the Biggin Hill Heritage Spitfires get airborne and even at a distance of five or six miles the sound of the Merlin is unmistakable. Mind you when they get their ME109 flying will I be able to tell the difference between a Merlin and a DB605 at that distance? ☺
Davef68
9th Sep 2018, 08:53
Most likely PV202 it's been out and about in Central Scotland a few times over the last month