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Update to the Edgar Brooks Spitfire Notes


jonbius

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Hi all!

If I've placed this in the wrong section please let me know the preferred area.

I've made an update to the Edgar Brooks Spitfire Notes, adding some brief but (hopefully) helpful information regarding the K5054 prototype, as well as an index to the document that should make it easier to navigate. (Thanks to Pip Moss for the suggestion for that, as well as the nudge to post here.)

If you're not familiar with this project, or how to contribute, how it's maintained, all the details are here.

Thanks!

http://www.jonbius.com/edgar-brooks-spitfire-notes/

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Well done. I doff my hat off to you. I have added your page to my favourite list. So as an American, why Spitfires?

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Well done. I doff my hat off to you. I have added your page to my favourite list. So as an American, why Spitfires?

As an American, I have to ask, what in the world do you mean by that? I for one have more completed Spitfires in my collection than any other type, by far; and I'll bet I'm not alone.

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Well done. I doff my hat off to you. I have added your page to my favourite list. So as an American, why Spitfires?

Several reasons, really. Growing up, my dad (a private pilot) always talked about airplanes. As a boy (he was born in '37), the air battles of WWII really made an impression on him. He was constantly talking about the various aircraft, battles, personalities, etc. But he really held the Spitfire in the Battle of Britain in high esteem. (Though often he got many of his facts wrong. :) ) So as a boy, with little concept of timelines, etc., at such an early age, I was under the impression that Spitfires won the Battle in Europe, and the Flying Tigers in Asia, and everyone went home happily ever after. :)

As I grew older, and learned the actual order of things.. LOL... I still held the Spitfire in high esteem. Of all the WWII aircraft, its history to me is just so compelling. It's intertwined with the life of R. J. Mitchell, of course, a fascinating person in his own right. The history of the Spitfire is so embedded in the history of the UK in WWII. Yes, the Hurricanes and Typhoons and Mossies and Lancs and so forth made huge contributions... but the "romantic" notion in my mind's eye will always be of a Spitfire, slicing through the sky, sweeping all before it.

And of course the look of the Spitfire. To me, there simply hasn't ever been a fighter that was as graceful. I love WWII aircraft, and all played some role- some big some small. But the aesthetics of the Spitfire... in my own eye, nothing else comes close.

Ultimately, it, above all other airplanes, emotionally moves me. The history, the look, the sound of that Merlin. I watch videos of period and restored aircraft all the time. Yet only the Spitfire gives me a lump in my throat... a quickening of the pulse. It truly moves me to watch it.

Anyway... I suppose I am a bit Spitfire zany. I've built 77 of them thus far, with two more in the works now!

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Hi Jon

please accept my thanks for your proactivity in this field. I too was lucky enough to benefit from Edgar's help and advice but to a much lesser extent than you, so to see his words to you and others being collated is truly educational and enlightening.

Best regards

Dave Cromie

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Well done. I doff my hat off to you. I have added your page to my favourite list. So as an American, why Spitfires?

Well after all, until the arrival of the Mustang (and even after that), US had nothing to present able to take up the challenge from the German fighters. The USAAF also employed about a thousand Spitfires. mainly in the MTO.

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As an American, I have to ask, what in the world do you mean by that? I for one have more completed Spitfires in my collection than any other type, by far; and I'll bet I'm not alone.

Just wondered what the appeal a Spitfire had to a home-grown Mustang, that's all

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Just wondered what the appeal a Spitfire had to a home-grown Mustang, that's all

I have nothing against Mustangs and have built a number of them, but I prefer Spitfires for any number of reasons including the camouflage colors, the wealth of variants, and the sheer beauty of the machine. Beauty knows no nationality. In any case, I for one don't tend to favor any particular type of airplane simply because it's American, and I seldom put American colors/markings on a plane of non-American design.

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Another 'thank you' for doing this Jon; it would be a great shame if Edgar's knowledge were to disappear.

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Damn good job Jon,well worth it.

And speaking as an Englishman,your Dad was right,Spitfires did win the Battle of Europe....... :wicked: :wicked: ;);) .

Seriously though,I think the Spit is just as much a part of American aviation history and folk-lore as it is ours.

Many U.S pilots learned the rules and skills of air combat with the RAF(posing as "Canadians")during the Battle of Britain

(and I might add,paid the very highest price too)to great effect,enablining them when the time came to fight for home,

they were equipped to do so and pass on their skill and knowledge to others.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Many thanks for updating the notes, it would be a crime to let that knowledge get lost when Edgar was kind enough to share it with us on this forum.

Just for the record, I would like to point out that the bomb-laden Spitfire on page 26 cannot be, to the best of my knowledge, a Mk.Vc, even if Edgar thought this might possibly have been the case: apart from the angle of the undercarriage, which does not seem to be steep enough for a "c" wing, and the absence of the extra cannon bulges, the presence of the muzzle brakes would indicate a "b" wing, since the correct functioning of the belt-fed cannons in the "c" wing required said muzzle brakes to be removed (see "Guns of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945" by G.F. Wallace).

Flavio

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