72modeler Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 Here's a very interesting film that shows arrested landings by Martlets, Swordfish, Seafires, Albacores, Fulmars, and others. Note the Martlet with the pitot mounted on the upper LH wing, which was characteristic of the early examples. I hope the footage is new to many of you. Mike 8 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaddad Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 tasty post 72 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat d Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 Enjoyable to watch, thanks for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Beema Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 Great find Mike, I love watching those films. Martlet IIs AM964 to AM 999 had the unique pitot which was located on the port upper wing, near the inner edge of the aileron. This pitot angled to the rear and upwards. These aircraft were the only Wildcat/Martlet to use this pitot. The remaining Mark IIs, serial range AJ100 to AJ153 used the standard F4F-4 pitot. I ended up having to scratch build the pitot on my MkII. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltcarBoB Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 Amazing that so few accidents occurred with all those props spinning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 Probably old news, but I've never noticed until now, that the fuselage codes were repeated on both lower wing folds, and appear on coloured discs. I've looked at my Airfix Swordfish and this detail is not included on the decal sheet, so maybe wasn't standard protocol? regards. Jack 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudioN Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 50 minutes ago, JackG said: Probably old news, but I've never noticed until now, that the fuselage codes were repeated on both lower wing folds, and appear on coloured discs. I've looked at my Airfix Swordfish and this detail is not included on the decal sheet, so maybe wasn't standard protocol? Same as you, thank you for remarking on this. I think these details were up to individual units, much like the style of code numbers/letters. Swordfish in the film are from the two Swordfish units aboard HMS Illustrious, Nos. 810 ('2x') and 829 ('3x') Squadrons but, as far as I could see, only 810 used to repeat the code on the wing fold. Question: which colour(s)? The stills you posted are very useful and suggest that '2A', '2F' and '2K'/'2M' have different colours, possibly flight colours? My guess at the moment is '2A' - white, '2F' - blue, '2K'/'2M' - red. Maybe the colour is the same as on the spinner cap. On the other hand, 829 Squadron machines all seem to have a six-pointed star on a darker background on the wheel disks. Which colours? Claudio 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 (edited) Fascinating! I noticed that the Swordfish had a cable or wire on three supports on the forward edge of the upper wing centre section; I've never noticed this before, does anyone know what it was? Edited February 15, 2020 by 593jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudioN Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 12 hours ago, 593jones said: Fascinating! I noticed that the Swordfish had a cable or wire on three supports on the forward edge of the upper wing centre section; I've never noticed this before, does anyone know what it was? Do you mean the device below the upper wing? IIRC, that should be the torpedo aiming sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 1 hour ago, ClaudioN said: Do you mean the device below the upper wing? IIRC, that should be the torpedo aiming sight. No, I know about the torpedo aiming sight, the object I am referring to is attached to the upper wing, It can be seen clearly in the second of JackG's screen shots above, and at 5.55 and 15.57 on the film. It is attached to the leading edge by three brackets/fixings. I can't imagine what it could be, but it is quite intriguing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Looks to be some kind of horizontal aerial, or possibly a variation of early ASV radar? regards, Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Yes, ASV. The other aerials can be seen mounted between the outer wings. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltcarBoB Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Knowing how anything and everything was hung on a Stringbag at one time or another its probably the washing line for the crews underwear. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 4 hours ago, JackG said: Looks to be some kind of horizontal aerial, or possibly a variation of early ASV radar? regards, Jack 1 hour ago, Graham Boak said: Yes, ASV. The other aerials can be seen mounted between the outer wings. Thank you gentlemen, that would seem to fit, probably explains why it doesn't appear on every Swordfish too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EwenS Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 17 hours ago, Graham Boak said: Yes, ASV. The other aerials can be seen mounted between the outer wings. The early ASV.II sets had separate transmit and receive aerials. The receive aerials are on the outboard wing struts angled outwards. The aerial on the centre section of the upper wing would be the transmit aerial. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Swindell Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 19 hours ago, Graham Boak said: Yes, ASV. The other aerials can be seen mounted between the outer wings. The horizontal aerial on the upper wing centre section is the transmitter, the yagi aerials on the outer wing struts are the receivers. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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