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Mysterious HF Spit


petr-pb

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Definitely very likely to be X4942, check out the shape and colour of the spinner, which appears to be in natural metal (or in a metallized paint) in both images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ww2images/690...in/photostream/

:coolio:

You are right !! X4942

Here is two photos from my album

X4942-B.jpg

X4942-A.jpg

SPIT-VI-X4942.jpg

The first is the previousely published on the post :

- 7x5 - A&AEE / SECRET stamped - 12 Sept 1941 - Neg N° A/C 32 E

The second is from the same photo session :

- 7x5 - A1AEE / SECRET stamped - 12 Sept 1941 - neg N° A/C 32 + stamp from RTP / Ministry of aircraft production / Neg 2401

Both photos are hand writed negative number + Spitfire VI.

Other Spitfire photos in my interet album : http://s1025.photobucket.com/albums/y317/joanblaue/SPITFIRE/

I will changing one after one with better definition the entire album and put some close ups.

cheers

Olivier

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Oh, those a really very useful photos, merci Olivier !

Theory of the shorter span aileron seems to be confirmed now.

X4942shortaileron.jpg

Regards

Petr

Petr,

A close up directly at my photo is getting this :

X4942-A-det.jpg

X4942-A-det2.jpg

cheers

Olivier

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Petr,

A close up directly at my photo is getting this :

X4942-A-det.jpg

X4942-A-det2.jpg

cheers

Olivier

Okay, so what are the colors for this bird?

Ocean Gray/Dark Green over .... what? MSG? Trainer Yellow?

I see A1 type roundels on the fuselage. Dark Earth/Dk Green over Yellow?

just wonderin'

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  • 1 month later...

OK, I'm new to this forum and came here via the internet looking for information on BR114 as I'm making a 1/48 Airfix kit of this a/c.

What I would like to know is: Does anyone have any idea what colour the sealer is that is so obvious on the front panels of BR114?

I read a long time ago that a type of paste used for this was be a brick red colour but cannot find the reference.

Trying to work out what colours are from black and white photos is, I know, fraught with difficulty, but judging by the colour of the fin flash in photo 2 of BR114 I think it could well be a dull red shade. Any thoughts on this would be gratefully received as the uncertainty of the actual colour of the paste used is holding up the completion of this model. Thanks

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It is: Spitfire Vc BR114 "B". AFAIK (would be delighted to be proved wrong) the other two (BP985 and BR234) have escaped the camera.

Could "C" be one of the missing modified Mk Vs Maybe BR234?

Despite the caption being attributed to the former pilot of BR114 I can't see anyone connected with the Spit confusing these two obvious MK V types with a Hurricane!

http://s1263.photobu...inman/Spitfire/

Edited by AMStreet
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Could "C" be one of the missing modified Mk Vs Maybe BR234?

Despite the caption being attributed to the former pilot of BR114 I can't see anyone connected with the Spit confusing these two obvious MK V types with a Hurricane!

http://s1263.photobu...inman/Spitfire/

Interesting find: thanks for posting. I am probably missing something blindingly obvious but I can't see where the caption is attributed to the "former pilot of BR114" (and who is he?). Also why do you propose BR234 as the ident for C in preference to BP985?

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Interesting find: thanks for posting. I am probably missing something blindingly obvious but I can't see where the caption is attributed to the "former pilot of BR114" (and who is he?). Also why do you propose BR234 as the ident for C in preference to BP985?

Sorry, I should have said, I found this photo with the others of BR114 on a web site that I cannot re-locate at the moment. On it someone posted these photos and said that the captions had been done by a pilot of BR114. On my copy of the head-on photo there is a caption "Spit Mk VI four bladed prop, very new in 1942." I'll upload it to photobucket with the other one. As you can see, this one is BR114 as well, just look at the sealing compound on the port wing.

As for why I suggested BR234 as C it's just numerical progression. I.E BP985 "A" BR114 "B" BR234 "C".Given the letter as they were modified. I have no proof, it's just a suggestion, knowing the ways of the RAF it may well be that it is BP985 as "C". According to Price "Spitfire A Documentary History" the successful pilot was F/O G Reynolds, this could be the pilot writing the captions on the photos. If I track the site down again, I'll post the URL.

Edited by AMStreet
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Look here for original posting. Even better it also has two photos of one of the Spit Mk.VIs (BS124) in Egypt........

http://www.network54...ire Mk VI (Trop)....Photo

Steve Mackenzie

Thanks for the link. That's the same set of HF.VI photos as posted in Post 14 above but it's helpful to know their provenance: F/O Gibson. For those who are interested there's a bit on the story of the Aboukir HF.VIs and modified Vcs on pages 63-66 of the Osprey "Spitfire Mark V Aces 1941-45" by Alfred Price. Just the one portside view of BR114, though.

Edited by Seahawk
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Look here for original posting. Even better it also has two photos of one of the Spit Mk.VIs (BS124) in Egypt........

http://www.network54...ire Mk VI (Trop)....Photo

Steve Mackenzie

Yes, thanks for finding the link, as I said I found the site then could not remember the URL.

One thing that is bothering me are BR114 colours. As I said in a previous post I am not sure what colour the sealing compound is. As it is I've gone for brick red as it seems pretty close to the colour of the fin flash. Another thing is the colour of the spinner. I have seen a couple of side views with the spinner painted white. That does not seem right to me for a number of reasons:

1) White was the colour used by the Italians and Germans as the theatre colour and I can't see 103 MU painting the spinner white because of that.

2) As four bladed props were not standard on MKVs 103 MU must have got one either from spares or scrounged it from elsewhere, the colour of the spinner would presumably be Sky, that being the standard colour used in the UK which was as far as I know the only place at that time where MKIXs were being used. Also the colour looks about right to be Sky to me.

I could be wrong, but that's what I have painted my model of BR114 and it looks right to me.

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BR114 later served with 451 Sqn with a Red painted spinner. However in these earlier photos the spinner does not match the small portion of Red that can be seen in the fuselage roundel in the second photo.

I agree that Sky is the most likely in the 3 photos above.

Steve Mackenzie

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