Spitfire.

[davidmash]

I am watching a documentary on Amazon about the aircraft. I like the human factor that they put in the stories.

There is a Spitfire that was ferried from the Factory to the active airfields. Anyway, a Ms Mary Wilkins (Air delivered back in 1944. The Spitfire in question never saw combat and is about 98% original and still air worthy.

Ms Wilkins happened to sign her name in the cockpit of the plane. The plane survives to this day. They took her out to the airfield and flew the plane in for her to see. It seemed to make her day.

I am guessing that the program was made in 2017 as she passed away in July 2018 at the age of 101. She delivered over 1,000 aircraft from the factory of which over 400 were spitfires.

A little bit of history. I thought it was pretty neat.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44962253

[vwnate1]

Thanx ! .

[barry12345]

Many of the ladies delivered all types of planes to their new bases. At the time it must have surprised a lot of the guys.

I watched an interview many years ago. Where the lady stated she just read the manual quickly and with no previous time on a type always got it there.

They built the Anson a light twin engine training plane in the local town during the second world war. I never checked but they were possibly delivered by air to western Canada from the east cost of Canada here. The weather and terrain made it ideal for training large numbers of aircrew there. In fact it probably was the largest commonwealth pilot training center in existence. We still build aircraft parts in town.

[cmac2012]

Interesting stuff. I always thought it was a cool looking plane but never read much about it. Turns out it was the only fighter built during the entire war. Pretty amazing power. Started off with the 1000hp Rolls Royce V12 and later moved up to a 2300hp model. Imagine it was this easy to gain access to your car engine:



I was researching two of the engines - the original power plant was the RR Merlin V12:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin

The Merlin remains most closely associated with the Spitfire and Hurricane, although the majority of the production run was for the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. A series of rapidly applied developments, brought about by wartime needs, markedly improved the engine's performance and durability. Starting at 1,000 hp for the first production models, most late war versions produced just under 1,800 hp, and the very latest version as used in the de Havilland Hornet over 2,000 hp.

One of the most successful aircraft engines of the World War II era, some 50 marks of Merlin were built by Rolls-Royce in Derby, Crewe and Glasgow, as well as by Ford of Britain at their Trafford Park factory, near Manchester.

Anybody have an idea of what they mean by "...some 50 marks of Merlin were built ..." Maybe it's some industrial quantity term.

[75Sv1]

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Interesting stuff. I always thought it was a cool looking plane but never read much about it. Turns out it was the only fighter built during the entire war. Pretty amazing power. Started off with the 1000hp Rolls Royce V12 and later moved up to a 2300hp model. Imagine it was this easy to gain access to your car engine:



I was researching two of the engines - the original power plant was the RR Merlin V12:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin


Anybody have an idea of what they mean by "...some 50 marks of Merlin were built ..." Maybe it's some industrial quantity term.

I think the Brits used 'Marks' for series or improvements. The Spitefire also had 'Marks'. I think the last ones in WW2 were Mark 21 and Mark 22.

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Interesting stuff. I always thought it was a cool looking plane but never read much about it. Turns out it was the only fighter built during the entire war.

Can you clarify what you mean by this? Doesn't make much sense to me I'm afraid.

I had an uncle who flew Spitfires in the Medditerranean theater of operations and then in Burma during the war. Had some harrowing experiences especially against the Jappanese. He's mentioned on a book on "Spitfire aces of Far east".
Won the DFC for his exploits amongst other things.

[cmac2012]

That wasn't the best sentence. I meant it was the only fighter that was continually built during the war. Others came in or went out in the mix.

I just learned this factoid and maybe I'm not fully in the light on it. Here's the first bit I read about it:

https://www.aviationcv.com/aviation-blog/2016/spitfire-the-only-fighter-built-wwii

SPITFIRE: THE ONLY FIGHTER BUILT THROUGHOUT WWII

The Spitfire, also called Supermarine Spitfire, is the most famous plane of World War Two. The single-seat aircraft was the only British fighter in continuous production throughout the entire war. It became the backbone of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command and was most noted for beating back the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. The distinct elliptical wings were designed to have the thinnest possible cross section, which resulted in higher speeds than many other fighters of the day.

The Spitfire, renowned for winning victory laurels in the Battle of Britain (1940–41) along with the Hawker Hurricane, served in every theatre of the war and was produced in more variants than any other British aircraft. The airframe was so versatile that it was able to serve in many different capacities, including interceptor, photo reconnaissance, fighter-bomber, and trainer. The fighters provided crucial air support for the D-Day landings and many were adapted to be fighter-bombers to carry out attacks on German ground forces. Originally fitted with a 1,000-hp Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 engine, the Spitfire was later adapted to handle the 2,300 horses cranked out by the massive Griffon engine also built by Rolls-Royce.

[cmac2012]

Originally Posted by 75Sv1

I think the Brits used 'Marks' for series or improvements. The Spitefire also had 'Marks'. I think the last ones in WW2 were Mark 21 and Mark 22.

Of course. That absolutely makes sense.

Wikipedia has a cutaway of the big V12, the Griffon:



That engine was built in the late 30s. When you look at the sort of engines used in autos just 30 years prior, quite a leap in design. And the machine tools of the era were far more basic, no NC.

The Supermarine Spitfire, the later, extra fast item:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EcCYA68m_w

[davidmash]

I was at an airshow a while back and they had a P-51 do a fly by with a Spitfire. Dame if that was not one of the coolest sights I have seen. Also flew a P-51 with a F-15 and F-22. Pretty cool as well but the Spit and Mustang were by far the most awesome planes in the air or on the ground as far as I was concerned.

[cmac2012]

I was reading about the RR V12s and had a thought that radial engines were perhaps a sort of WW1 relic, but apparently not. The plane that holds the piston engine speed record is a modified Grumman Bearcat with a 46 liter 18 cylinder radial engine. The Bearcat doesn't look as cool as the Mustang or the Spitfire - the radial engine gives a more squat look, but apparently it had it's good points. Not introduced into service until 1945, it's legacy is sort of muted.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_%26_Whitney_R-2800_Double_Wasp#Specifications_(R-2800-54)

The BMW fighter engines also radial. Makes sense for an airplane.

[davidmash]

P-46 thunderbolt and P-38 lighting as well.

[t walgamuth]

The Spit and mustang were awesome planes with very good looks too!

[75Sv1]

Originally Posted by davidmash

P-46 thunderbolt and P-38 lighting as well.

P-47 Thunderbolt had a radial, the P-38 Lightning used two Allison V-12s. Both I think had a single stage supercharger and a turbocharger.

The BMW fighter, I think is the FW-190A. It was sort of the nemesis of the Spite and the P-47. It later changed to the DB605 (??) V-12. Also, used in the ME-109.

There were a lot of fighters in WW2 that used a radial engine. One advantage is that they did not use coolant. There were a few squadrons of P-40 Warhawks that were grounded in Australia. No coolant. For some reason a supply Sargent didn't see a need to send glycol there.

I haven't attended an airshow in a while. Some, say the Merlin sounds different between the Mustang and Spitefire. The Merlin was produced in the US, under license by Packard.

[HuskyMan]

News flash to OP: We have all slept a few times since WWII. Old news, NEXT.

[vwnate1]

THANK YOU ALL for this information ! .

My step uncle flew in the Flying Tigers (? P-51 I *think*) and was shot down, when he bailed out the rudder smacked his back and he never fuly recovered, he landed in a rice paddy and the Chinese helped him to escape .

He went right back into service and finished the war in the Pacific Theatre .

hm, I know you're poorly educated and childish at best, why not stop making a public fool of your self so much, there will be another negative post or another of your fantasy adventures all too soon let the Adults have their time please .