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16 Spitfires


Subdeacon Joe

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Guest Hoss Carpenter, SASS Life 7843

Oh, but the sound of those lovely Rolls Royce 16 Cyl Merlin engines is pure music to my ears!

 

Hoss C.

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I noticed that at least 1 of those was a 2 seater. Im not sure if that was an original design or a modification made recently. like this

1195052335_47d42a71ba_o.jpg

They were converted after the war for training

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Beautiful! As much as I love P-38s, I think the Spitfire is the best looking aircraft ever made.

 

I had the good fortune of seeing the American equivelant in 2007 during the "Gathering of Mustangs and Legends" at Rickenbacker ANG Base, south Of Columbus, Ohio. Out of hundreds upon hundreds of pictures I've taken, this is probably my favorite.

 

FlyingIntotheSunset.jpg

 

Here is some video from the event:

 

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Splendiferous!

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OK, Let's see if this works. I think you just need to click on the picture and it will open a new window from my photobucket account. Just to give some radials equal time, this was taken at Grimes Field, Urbana, Ohio as the B-25s returned from doing a flyover for the Doolittle Raiders a few years ago. You can miss a lot of chatter if you skip to the 30-40 second mark. My apologies about the video quality. It may be best to close your eyes and just listen! I was not the videographer.

 

th_MVI_0956.jpg

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All of this reminded me of an article in Aviation Week that I read years ago. Congress was going through one of its many gyrations at the time to cancel production of the A-10 Warthog. Piper Aircraft was preparing an unsolicited bid for what they called a low-cost alternative. The engineers at Piper had taken a vintage P-51 airframe and modified it to hold a turboprop engine and a (if I remember correctly) 30mm cannon. Obviously the A-10 was never cancelled, so Piper's prototype never went anywhere. But it sure would have been interesting.

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Rumor has it hitler asked Goeing what he needed to defeat the Brits and he replies " give me Spitfires"

 

Adolph Galland told that To Goering.

 

 

During the Battle of Britain, in a front line General Officer briefing on Luftwaffe tactics, Göring asked what his pilots needed to win the battle.Werner Mölders replied that he would like the Bf 109 to be fitted with more powerful engines. Galland replied: "I should like an outfit of Spitfires for my squadron." which left Göring speechless with rage.[55] Galland still preferred the Bf 109 for offensive sweeps, but he perceived the Spitfire to be a better defensive fighter, owing to its manoeuvrability.[56]

 

 

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Thanks Doc

 

No problem!

 

I believe I first read about that in a book titled "Duel of Eagles" about the Battle of Britain. I'm sure Goering's reaction was priceless.

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You lose track of how big a P47 really is until you see the pilot of the plane with balky engine stand up in the cockpit.

In the Spitfire video, at about 2:15, the aircraft are looping in far sky. Place yourself on the ground in a Kubelwagen in northern France in June 1944 and see that. Not a very pleasant daydream!

See you down the trail......

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