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Edgar

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Everything posted by Edgar

  1. Well, good for you, but, unfortunately, not everyone on this site is an aeronautical expert (including me,) so I find that I have to think of them, and tailor my responses accordingly. But the Spitfire is a fighter, so how are the elevators supposed to be positioned when increased to combat (i.e. design) speed? Thousands of pilots coped with this major design fault, and the tailplane's aerofoil section was neutral, giving neither positive nor negative "lift" effect; a simple change to its section would have given the required lift, if it had been deemed necessary; it wasn't, so we're left to assume that the trim tabs were enough.
  2. Not exactly true, and it's funny how that "lash-up" lasted all those years and nobody noticed, or did anything about it; however, on 15-2-43, on the Mk. IX, the tailplane incidence (which could be adjusted) was actually reduced from +/- 20' to +/- 10', which runs completely counter to that jibe. A 1 degree incidence was introduced on the 22/24, 22-8-47 just after the larger tail had been introduced. As the Spitfire's speed varied, so did the effectiveness of the elevators, hence the addition of the trim tabs (item 42 [ii] in the Pilot's notes,) and on take off (item 38,) depending on the load) the pilot is told to set the elevator trim tabs to 1 div. nose down, which would force the elevators down as a result.
  3. Extended elevator horns were introduced on the Vb, Vc, VI, VII, VIII, IX, P.R.IV, & XIII production lines on 13-9-43, though leaflets, enabling units to carry out the work, themselves, were issued in March/April 1943. The XII didn't get them, possibly because at low level it didn't need them, and it seems the XIV & XIX got them from the start.
  4. I take it you missed this part of my reply:- "it's possible that Farnborough took a B.S. colour and duplicated the shade in aircraft-quality paint, there might well be duplicate names, but I've found no evidence, whatsoever, that any wartime paint had a B.S. name or number copied to it." As Farnborough were producing colour charts, with various "stones" labelled on them, in October 1937, it remains a moot point as to who copied whom. .RAF Blue-Grey was not an aircraft colour, so is unlikely to have exercised Farnborough, at all.
  5. The first internally-armoured screen was fitted to the Mk.III, and the "Spitfire III type windscreen and hood" were fitted from 26-4-41. The mod was not retrospective, and was production-line only, but how many had had their screens fitted before that date, and retained them until they were finished is impossible to judge. From photos, it appears that all Spitfire Vs, for tropical use, had the new screens.
  6. There were no B.S. colours used during WWII, nor was there an eau-de-nil; some units mixed their own, which apparently caused some very odd results, but it would be wrong to assume that it was a general thing.
  7. Trumpeter/Hobbyboss used to have a member of staff who would ask for assistance from the knowledgeable across the net. He had plans for many large-scale aircraft, but, when he left, to form his own company, all forms of contact ceased, and his plans seem to have gone with him.
  8. A general pattern, for fighters, was issued, as an "Air Diagram," and companies were expected to keep to that general pattern, though it was always stressed that it was a guide, so it was possible to see variations. It was left to the company to transfer the pattern onto a scale drawing of the airframe (I have a copy of a Spitfire drawing, but not a Hurricane,) which was then covered by " 1'-0" " (one foot) squares to guide the painter as he drew the design on the "stencil mats." At first, Hurricanes, like Spitfires, were supposed to alternate airframes between the "A" & "B" mirror schemes, which were ditched in early 1941, in favour of a single scheme (usually the "A"); years ago, ex-Hawker employees told us how they painted the whole airframe dark earth, laid the mats in place, and painted the green. When a mirror scheme was needed, they just flipped the mats over.
  9. I remember reading of makeshift bombs being made from a droptank with grenade attached (don't know if it was Italy, but have a feeling it was in the Far East.) Releasing the tank pulled the pin, and it had some success in shifting troops encamped on/in a river bank.
  10. The "danger" item is the pair of exploder buttons for destruction of the I.F.F. gear in the radio compartment; it was not fitted on the Spitfire until 28-12-1940, but can be a nightmare to remove from kit walls. You can just see the fuel levers beside the compass, in the photo; eventually they were replaced by a single control. If your "ring pull" is down by the left side of the seat, it started life as the release mechanism for the parachute flare tube, and later became the pull-handle for the upward-firing recognition device (recognisable by the hole in the top of the spine.) If the pull is on the right side, it's probably the jettison handle for the droptank fitted under the fuselage, and it was July 1942 before that arrived, and Vickers list it as being introduced on the Mk.V.
  11. You don't say what scale, but, if it's the new 1/32 kit:- 1/. Yes, it should. 2/.The 1940s computer was a set of dials, which would normally have been kept in the map case, not stuck on the wall, so I'm lost with that one, sorry. 3/. Left of the compass should be the landing lights control, which is part no. 40, but, due to a foul-up by Revell (who originally produced the instrument panel the wrong way round,) they show it as being fitted to the starboard wall, when it was actually fitted by the pilot's left knee. 4/. Don't drink coke, but, guessing you might mean part no. 17A, it's the lever for lowering and raising the seat. URL=http://s165.photobucket.com/user/EdgarBrooks/media/Scan%2046_zps3i5zvdtx.jpg.html][/url]
  12. Spitfire Squadrons were given a special dispensation to use 20" codes, while other aircraft were expected to retain 24". The reason was the lack of vertical area between the top of the wingroot fairing and the bottom of the canopy (when open.) Some Squadrons did, others didn't, and it really needs a photo to be absolutely certain.
  13. As far as I know, the breakout panel needed the bulged-top, flat-sided canopy, and could not be fitted to the blown type. It was November 1941 before it was deleted, and the first mention of a blown canopy comes in 1942. Vickers' ledger talks of fitting the "Spitfire III type windscreen and hood to Spitfires I & II" in April 1941, but the only photo I have, of the Mk.III, shows it with a flat-sided canopy + internally-armoured screen, so the difference might only have been dimensional.
  14. One thing often mentioned, with regard to Sunderlands, is the damage caused by seagulls walking (and doing what comes naturally to birds) on the upper surfaces. The "guano" caused bleaching of the paint.
  15. Well, they're wrong, it was black.
  16. In discussions of this kind, I always bear in mind what the Westland archivist told me, years ago. He said that, during repairs, they found that removable parts from any of their, or Supermarine's, Spitfires, could be set aside, and fitted onto any similar airframe without a problem; however, every Castle Bromwich airframe had to retain its parts, since they would not fit on any other.
  17. It wasn't; it was known as PRU Special Pink, and was supplied, ready-mixed, by Titanine Ltd. I don't know where that idea comes from, but these are wartime samples, held by the RAF Museum library, of roundel bright red (up to mid-1942) and dull roundel red (1942-on,) photographed in daylight, out of direct sunlight:-
  18. SAMS Models www.samsmodels.com/acatalogue/John_Sizer_Drawings.html., under reference K1875, has a set, in 1/48, for £9.95.
  19. The only known (to me) photo, taken in Belgium, is often printed with a pink shade that's far too deep; the giveaway is the face of a cycling "erk," in the foreground, who would need to have come from the Indian sub-continent.
  20. There is a sample of the original pink in the National Archives; when I found it, I had to lay it on a sheet of white paper before I could tell that it really is pink.
  21. There was talk, while we were researching for Frank Brown's Echelon kit, that the Germany-based F2A Squadrons went on a Mediterranean exercise carrying guns in all six positions, but we were never able to get verification.
  22. It probably depended on whether they went deck cargo, or in ships' holds; certainly the spares manual allows for complete disassembly:- There are photos (somewhere) of an opened crate with the tail section complete, but separate.
  23. The change was ordered from 15-8-41, starting with 10, 11 & 12 Groups, with 13, 14, 9, 82, 81 to follow, in that order, as paint became available. In the order were instructions on how to mix the paint, if necessary, but it was never called Mixed Grey, the title Ocean Grey was officially bestowed, by Farnborough, 21-8-41.
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