Spit XVI with standard wings?

[warhawk]

Hello,

 

I have seen a some Spits restored as Mk.XVI, but with standard (un-clipped) wings.

Is any of these machines accurately restored regarding that matter?

 

 

[Work In Progress]

Yes, some were delivered with full span wings. Graham has previously pointed out TE330 as one example. It's no big job to change the wingtips anyway.

Bear in mind also that a lot of Spitfire XVI were high-back so you might have seen some other full span examples of the XVI without realising, as they are hard to distinguish from a IX.

 

According to Edgar Brooks, all aircraft in service with the rear fuselage fuel tank fitted should have had clipped wings as this was a mandatory mod.

 

(The rearward shift of the centre of gravity caused by the tank reduced longitudinal stability, while clipping the wings tended to improve it, by increasing the relative area of the tailplane in comparison to that of the wing.)

Edited March 4, 2017 by Work In Progress

[warhawk]

27 minutes ago, Work In Progress said:

Bear in mnd also that a lot of Spitfire XVI were high back so you might have seen some without realising.

 

Thanks for the heads-up.

I am pondering the idea of making a wartime camouflaged bubble-top XVI with standard wings.

TD248 looks interesting with that amblem on the nose, but did it exist as such during WWII?

 

source: Flickr

Edited March 4, 2017 by warhawk

[Work In Progress]

TD248 ws not delivered until after the end of the war in Europe. It never went into a combat zone and all its interesting colour schemes are post-war. I like the silver and red one, personally.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Work In Progress

[Mark12]

On 3/4/2017 at 9:35 AM, Work In Progress said:

Yes, some were delivered with full span wings. Graham has previously pointed out TE330 as one example.

 

 

TE330 was clipped wing when in service with 601 Sqn, coded HT-B, both in camou and over all aluminium silver.

 

On 3/4/2017 at 8:53 AM, warhawk said:

Hello,

 

I have seen a some Spits restored as Mk.XVI, but with standard (un-clipped) wings.

Is any of these machines accurately restored regarding that matter?

 

 

 

TD248 (CR-S) was clipped wing when in service with 34 Sqn as 8Q-T.

 

SL721 (AU-J) was full span wing when in service as Sir James Robb's personal Spitfire JM-R. As it was readied by Vickers for his personal transport it is possible the wings tips were added although it is not listed on the job list. For reference SL720 the adjacent Spitfire to SL721 was clipped.

Edited March 7, 2017 by Mark12