Special High Altitude Spitfires

[M20gull]

There are good photos and comments on this page https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/84234-special-lightened-high-altitude-african-spitfires which includes the comments:

 

Wing Commander Dereck "Bill" Kain who at this time commanded No. 127 Squadron and then was posted as Staion Commander and commander of the Wing at RAF Idku in Egypt.

Sometime in this period he flew at least one lightened Spitfire that the maintenance guys removed everthing they could to make it lighter in weight. Their aim was to try to reach high altiude to attack some Junkers 86 (and possibly Junkers 88) bombers that were flying so high the standard fighters couldn't reach them.

He apparently actually intercepted a Junkers 86 in one of these Spitfires, flew alongside and waggled his wings to shue him away and they never had trouble with the bombers again as they realised they could be now shot down. The intercept was at 45,000 feet. His logbook records this event as the 15th of April 1944, and the Spitfire being coded 'H; and the serial ending with '237'. He didn't fill in the full serial.

The next day he took another Spitfire that he wrote in as '504' up to 47,000 feet on a height test.

 

504 is presumably MA504

237 – could be MA237 or MJ237 but I think is more likely to be a misprint for MJ227 which is paired with MA504 in 10 SAAF

 

In April, 41 squadron were based at Idku and they get their SHF planes on 18/04 two days after Kain’s test.  Who better to air test two new high performance Spits than the Station Commander? And why weigh them down with ammo so that you can only waggle your wings at them?

 

[M20gull]

On 06/03/2021 at 21:26, M20gull said:

 

@cdk' s post in this topic says "I have a small book titeled - Supermarine Spitfire - written by Peter Moss. On page 60 is a picture showing a line of four Mk IX. The caption say " Four Spitfire Mk.IX Bs in the Middle East-unit unknown- with Aboukir filters and extended wing-tips of local manufacture. ...". The picture is not in very good quality but it shows BS342, coded R, with the cowling in the RR conversion with the small bumps. The wing show the 20 mm cannon, but not the stups for the unused cannon bay. If the machine guns are installed are not visible in the picture. The wing extension looks to me not so pointed as the factory applied ones. The filter under the cowling is much in shadow, but it looks more like a Aboukir then the small one for the early Mk IX.

I agree with you that this is not a really B wing. I suppose that this are weight reduced Spits, eventually with only the cannon armament and have something to do with catching the high flying Ju86 recon birds. The caption says also that BS342 and MA399 are wrecked in accidents during November 1943."

 

The "small book" is the one that I have ordered.  I presume that the "Four Spitfire Mk.IX Bs in the Middle East-unit unknown" could be the four on detachment (as they include BS342).  Three are identifed from 238's ORB, one unknown.  There is a stock photo of BS342 which is presented in the DK decals High Altitude set.  The stock photo certainly looks like standard high altitude scheme.]

The Ducimus book referred to has arrived. It dates from 1970, covers only the Merlin-engined versions and has a lot of information in it for its size. The author is honest that there is much information still to discover!

 

The picture is much as described above. A very poor quality photo of four IXs. The nearest is BS342 in high altitude colours. Compared to the other photo that I have already linked to there is one obvious difference.  And that highlights something I had previously missed. In the stock photo the spinner is light in colour presumably MSG to match the upper colour.  The DK decals set has the spinner as black. The Ducimus photo has a dark spinner, which could be black but could presumably be red.  What it does mean is that the two photos are not directly contemporary.  I think in the new photo the fin flash is also different.  The Ducimus photo could be with 74 squadron.

 

The next in the line is MA399 and is not in high altitude scheme.  The caption says it is normal day fighter scheme, which I suppose it could be; it's certainly dark enough.  It has the code 'C' and standard C roundels.

 

The third in line is not identified and you cannot see very much of it.  It looks a lot like MA399, similar darkness, matching roundels and you can see the bottom half of a letter which looks a lot like 'S'.

 

You can see even less of the fourth one.

[M20gull]

I have a couple of questions about Spitfire camo in the Middle East late in the war.  This connects the previous two posts.

 

I referenced above that MA399 is in day fighter scheme.  It arrives in Africa via Casablanca at the end of June.  So I think that most of the IXs arriving at this time would have been exported in the expectation that they were headed to Italy and so should not be in desert. As they are not NW Europe they do not have the sky band which would be overpainted in theatre. Is this reasonable? 

 

Bill Kain has his own V special when station commander at Idku.  As a beautiful reminder of the difficulty of selecting colours on the basis of B&W photos compare EP312 on this page with the photo on this Ventura decals set..  The colour for this plane seems to be settled as dark green/dark earth/azure blue though there is some dissent arguing for desert standard instead.  On this page it is suggested that the green/earth/azure scheme was standard for the Western desert at this phase of the war.  While I can see a logic for moving away from desert when most of the fighter activity is related to convoy protection, did the standard change?  EP312 had been in North Africa since 1942 so presumably would have started life in desert.

[M20gull]

Further to the BS342 photos the DK decals have an insignia on the engine cover. This looks similar to the 238 squadron crest so both photos could be 238 squadron, just at different times.

[Further update: I originally suggested a Hydra, as per Wikipedia, and amended the reference to Cerberus following Hornet133's post, now left open]

Edited March 16, 2021 by M20gull
Update thanks to Hornet133

[M20gull]

Bill Kain's story is interesting and has kept me busy reading and digging. He came to the RAF from a farm in New Zealand at the age of 19 in 1935. He flew display teams in the Empire Air Days, fought in France, over Dunkirk and in the Battle of Britain, led squadrons in Malta and North Africa before returning to farming in NZ.

 

While his Idku plane EP312 is clearly special it is not a high altitude plane and doesn't trouble us here.

[M20gull]

An aside about Bill Kain. I had seen a suggestion that he was the first RAF pilot shot down in France. He was shot down in France on 29.9.39.  By the French! He flew over to show some French artillery an English plane and they shot off his airscrew.

[Hornet133]

The crest on the nose of BS342 is Cerberus, the 3 headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. It is the centrepiece of the 238 Sqn badge.  Thus that lineup has been said to be of 238 Sqn airframes.

[M20gull]

I have been distracted again.  I was looking at how 451 Squadron received their Spitfires before moving to Corsica in April 1944 to see if it could guide me on the sort of camouflage they would be wearing.  They get Vs in October 1943 and these are replaced by IXs in late December/early January.  The first two IXs arrive from 80 and 74 squadrons.  The ORB Records for January and February are a very poor copy and the serials are unreadable but I suspect that MA456 (of which we have a later photo) is the one from 80 Squadron.  

 

I then noticed that one of the Vcs was BR470 which was a subject of discussion much earlier in this topic while looking at BR363's service in 601 Squadron in 1942.  According to the production database BR470 was with 601 Squadron and Failed to Return on 31.08.42  I had already noted that I could not find any record of this.  So I had a look around 601's ORBs for that period and could not find BR470 on any of them.  So I looked on 92 and 145 who were also operating Spitfires at that time.  No sign.  However I did coinicdentally notice that both 601 and 92 are both operating a BR478 in August and September.  On 1.9.42 they are flying at the same time.  Database for BR478 has shot down on 29.9.42; neither 601 nor 92 have a record of losing BR478 on that date!  

 

See: nothing to do with special Spitfires!

[M20gull]

16 hours ago, Hornet133 said:

The crest on the nose of BS342 is Cerberus, the 3 headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. It is the centrepiece of the 238 Sqn badge.  Thus that lineup has been said to be of 238 Sqn airframes.

I took the Hydra reference from Wikipedia so doubt is always there.  The RAF Heraldic Trust also suggests a three-headed Hydra http://www.rafht.co.uk/index.php/2016/06/11/238-sqn/

[M20gull]

Ok, enough distractions. Back on track.

 

I thought I had got a bit muddled with the Natural Metal IXs so I have gone back to the beginning, which is a shame as I thought this would be the easy bit.  It did not help me that the hunter/killer naming is used instead of the old striker/marker pair.  I will only use striker and marker, with the marker having the radio.

 

I first wanted to summarise the armament as it develops to get to 1944, which helped me to clarify which one is which.

 

To start with, the then new-to-theatre Mk V was used in standard configuration. When that could not get high enough they were lightened by removing the machine guns. Then to gain a bit more the pair of cannon was replaced with machine guns (I think usually a 0.5" but some sources suggest 0.303"). These machine gun-equipped strikers lost their radios and were then paired with a radio-equipped marker.  My impression is that the markers varied over the period until the IXs turn up. After all, you only need the marker to get close to the target so it doesn't need all the height of a striker.  So you can use a standard Vc , or a Hurricane, if that's all you have.

 

When the IXs arrive there is a change.  The difference between cannon and machine gun is only about 100ft of altitude.  So the special IX strikers keep the cannon and lose the machine guns.  I suspect that the IXs in camouflage that accompany BS342 act as markers and probably keep all their armament.  As before, other planes can be used as markers when needed. 80 squadron operate their specials in pairs at three sites. When they lose two of their IXs in flying accidents at different sites they use Mk Vs.

 

The flight that operates in Italy is different as all the planes have radios but no machine guns.

 

The Natural Metal IXs have cannons on the strikers and machine guns on the markers.

[M20gull]

Further up I commented on respect of the Natural Metal IXs: "There are 6 SHFs and this is referenced in 41's ORB for April ...  The other 4 are allocated to 213 and 94 squadron,...  213 are allocated MH931 and MH993.  No detail on the other four. "

 

I think I'm now prepared to hazard a guess on who gets which.

 

We know 931 and 993 are with 213 as it says so in their ORB.  These two transfer to 41 SAAF in June.

 

In July, 10 SAAF receive MA504 and MJ227, these must come from 41 as in August 227 goes to Aboukir and is replaced with MH946 from 94 squadron.  That means MA792 must be the other 94 squadron plane.

 

10's pair are passed to 9 SAAF when 10 is shut down in September and then this pair are "lost", presumably back to Aboukir. 41's remaining pair operate on detachment in Cyprus until October when they return to base before 41 is shut down in November.

[M20gull]

My current thinking is:

 

Strikers: MA504, MA792, MH931

Markers: MJ227, MH946, MH993

 

Though I am prepared to be proved wrong...

[M20gull]

And on the subject of Natural Metal markers, I still cannot see radio masts on any of them. I assume Aboukir must have found a way of wiring an aerial another way.

[M20gull]

There are good photos of some of these Natural Metal SHFs here: https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/84234-special-lightened-high-altitude-african-spitfires

 

and watermarked photos here:  http://www.saairforce.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2760&sid=68aa477f02a285f68c2be1586a38f658&start=75

 

I wonder if this one from the second link might be MJ227.  

[M20gull]

I don't think I have much to add for the Natural Metal aircraft.  I did see a suggestion that the engines were improved and I note from one of the ORBs that on taking over the planes from another squadron the engines had to have a 50 hour inspection, which I think is consistent.   The only markings they have is the serial number.  Overall they are bare metal, the armoured panel over the fuel tank is a slightly darker colour as it is an aluminium alloy (Duralumin IIRC).   The extended wingtips are locally made and I do not think they have lights.

 

The Natural Metal planes see very little action and their removal from the squadrons in November follows the withdrawal of the German recco unit from Crete in October 1944.

 

I am certain there will be more to add to this story and I will find out more things (I still have another book in the post) and I want to cover Northolt too.  

 

There is a flourish that seems to tie the end of the Mediterranean HA Spitfires with its beginning.  BP985, which is assumed to be the first modified plane, is struck off charge on 27.10.44 after forecelanding on a beach and overturning at El Gamil on 7.10.44.  The ORB of 9 SAAF, based at Gamil and then flying two of the Natural Metal Spitfires, contains the following: "On 7th October Lt. Bartman executed a skillful forced landing on the strip of beach 10 miles from the aerodrome... While belly-landing the aircraft struck a soft patch, turned on its back and was broken up.  Lt Bartman luckily escaped uninjured."

Edited March 16, 2021 by M20gull

[M20gull]

Just before we leave North Africa I wanted to return to the photo of ‘BR114’ in the Aeroplane Spotter article and those B roundels.  Today I was reading August 2009 Flypast which has an article about these Spitfires and also has this photo.  The caption suggests it is in High Altitude scheme.  Summer of 1942 is too early for that scheme to be finalised but it did make me look again at the photo.  I’m still confident this is BR114 because it has the ‘Irene’ name on the side and the extra pipe from the exhaust.  We have photos of BR114 from its later periods with the Mk VIs and in 451 squadron and it is in camo for both of those.  So I think it has to be from the earlier summer 1942 period. As well as having the B roundel it appears to my untrained eye that there is no obvious demarcation suggestive of a desert scheme and the upper colour looks identical to the lower one.  So I tentatively suggest that while with 103MU this plane, and possibly therefore the others, was painted in a pale colour all over and the B roundels added. As for the colour I suppose there are several contenders like Sky or one of the pale blues. I like the idea of Sky all over but I’m guessing obviously!

[M20gull]

On to Northolt.  The story of Galitzine’s famous interception is well covered in a couple of Alfred Price’s books and on this webpage. It is also a feature of this discussion.

 

The discussion on ww2aircraft.net mentions the policy of not warning for raids of single aircraft and hence the bombs arrived in Bristol without warning.  The bombing is dealt with briefly here and illustrates the urgency.

 

Unusually i am going to start with the pilot.  See this obituary for Galitzine’s story.

[M20gull]

Galitzine’s Mk IX is famous so I will start there. The subject of Northolt was larger than I expected so there is quite a bit to discuss and i will start with a well-documented one.  Sadly there is no photo of BS273 while in its Northolt specification so some elements remain speculative.  Orders were given for three IXs to be taken straight from the production line so it seems strange that the production database shows an earlier visit to 64 squadron FF 14-8-42 R-RH Cv IX M61 64S 16-8-42 AFDU Duxford 16-8-42 Cranfield 3501SU 27-8-42 Special Flt Northolt 5-9-42 (the companion BS271 does too).

 

I suspect that the movement card will show this struck out as neither plane show up in 64’s ORB and BS273 moves to the Air Fighting Development Unit on the same date before going to a service unit.  There is a photo of BS273 at one of these earlier stages in its factory paint here, for example, showing it with the incorrectly applied serial BF273 (BS271 was apparently similarly afflicted).  It is converted from a Mk V but seems to have a production engine cowl.

The following modifications are included in the database: Wood prop, armour removed, armament reduced to 2x20mm can

 

i think Galitzine suggested they dispensed with his Mae West and dinghy, presumably in the hope that any interception would be over land!  It is suggested here that the rear view mirror was dispensed with.  Unlike in North Africa the radio was retained which allowed Galitzine to operate solo.  I have not seen confirmation that the changes were made to BS271 but would have to think it likely, though its database entry does not show any visit elsewhere.

 

The next bit of the database entry is where the most discussion arises.  “lightweight pt finish”.  This has been well covered on these pages but I’m going to have a view.  It’s blue.  There is no photo so which blue you choose is up to you.  If you opt for PRU blue you are in good company, the AZ kit chooses this and the flight were told to paint it PRU blue so that seems a reasonable choice.  In my mind, painting it a standard RAF paint is not a “lightweight paint finish” so I could conceive that is was first painted PRU blue (as ordered) then stripped and re-coloured to save weight.  At this point you are definitely free to choose.  DK decals opt for Sky Blue but anything that fits Galitzine’s comment of “a special lightweight finish, which gave it a colour rather like Cambridge blue” would seem to suffice.

 

Incidentally http://planehunters.com/63-2 suggests that “as an interim, similar to the earlier Mark VC, two latest model Spitfires, Mark IXs, were painted a light blue” adding weight to my earlier proposal that Reynolds’ BR114 should be a light colour, though without a supporting reference.

 

I’m confident that, regardless of it being repainted, and unlike this example, BS273 still has the wrong serial.  When it ends up at 124 squadron (more on this to follow shortly) it is still referred to as BF273.

 

The next bit of the database entry has “operated under code Windgap reached height of 45000ft”.  Don’t know about Windgap but I guess it could just refer to the high-flying programme in general.

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by M20gull

[M20gull]

I had hoped to form a view on what the flight was called but I cannot.  When the flight moves to 124 squadron at North Weald it is simply referred to as the SS Flight.  I have seen Special Service and Special Spitfire.

On the production database for BS271 and BS273 it is called Special Flt Northolt, which does not help.

 

The 124 ORB says in January 1943 that when six pilots and aircraft of the SS flight transfer to 124 squadron it has “a VI, besides IXs and some 
VIIs”.  The ORB actually lists 8 pilots, not 6.  The database suggests 7 aircraft transfer to 124 squadron on 25.1.43.  As well as the two IXs there is the VI BR326 and the following VIIs AB450, BS121 (Says 123 Squadron but they were flying Hurricanes in the Western Desert), BS142 and EN285.

 

Looking at the database these planes are allocated to:

 

HA Flt Northolt - BS121, BS142, EN285

SF Northolt - BR326

Special Flt Northolt - AB450, BS271, BS273

 

 

[M20gull]

The next job was to form a view on the third IX that was supposed to join. I had hoped it would be as simple as it being BS274 which also suffered being mis-serialled as BF274 but I think there is another contender.  
 

I looked again at the database and found the following planes that had a connection to Northolt:

 

Mk V AB380 which joined SF Northolt on 23-10-42 but did not move to 124 squadron

Mk VIs BR318 and BR585 which left SF Northolt before the move to 124

Six Mk IXs that joined SF Northolt after the move to 124

 

There are two Mk IX contenders:

BS457 which joined SF Northolt 30-9-42 but moved to 316S 14-3-43

and

BR639 which joined HA Flt Northolt on 16-9-42 FA 21-9-42 HAL SS Sqdn Northolt 31-12-42 engine failed on takeoff struck BR181 CE 21-1-43

 

I’m suggesting BR639 which is another Hucknall conversion, joined at the right time but was damaged before it got the chance to move to 124.  I have no other evidence.  This link does however suggest a connection to 124 squadron at North Weald that might bear further investigation.

 

[Edit: see next post]

Edited March 18, 2021 by M20gull

[M20gull]

The BR639 incident is in the 124 ORB.  BR639 suffers engine failure on take off and crashes into Mk VI BR181 in a dispersal bay killing LAC Jones so this is an eighth transfer from SF Northolt. The pilots and aircraft physically transfer to North Weald on the 20th but do not transfer to 124 until 25th.  Whether BR639 is modified in any way is an open question.

 

The notes on the production database for BR639 and BR181 are definitely confused:

 

BR639 FF4-8-42 R-RH Cv IX M61 64S 6-8-42 AST 24-8-42 HA Flt Northolt 16-9-42 FA 21-9-42 HAL SS Sqdn Northolt 31-12-42 engine failed on takeoff struck BR181 CE 21-1-43 SOC 28-1-43 AST 15-2-43 405ARF 24-10-43 AST 31-5-44 VA mods 15-11-44 58OTU 8-4-45 sold scrap H.Bath 10-11-49

 

BR181 FF 21-3-42 8MU 25-3-42 616S 9-5-42 AST 20-5-42 124S 25-1-43 engine failed on takeoff North Weald hit by BR639 CE 21-2-43 FH264.25

 

BR639 looks like it was salvaged. Not so BR181.

 

[M20gull]

Of the 8 aircraft that transfer to North Weald, BR639 is lost to its accident, AB450 (the Mk VII prototype which I will discuss separately) is transferred back to AAEE, and the other six are used on operations by 124 Squadron.  124 continues to refer to operations by the SS Flight long after the transfer.  The two remaining IXs continue to use their BF serials, both reverting to the correct BS serial when they transfer, BS271 to 331 Squadron in April, BS273 to 453 Squadron in May via the same Servicing Unit it used before arriving at Northolt.  

 

I've not seen any evidence that the other four aircraft are modified and they do seem to be just absorbed into 124 Squadron without much comment, other than the reference to the SS Flight. Maybe the SS just indicates the flight used for high-level interceptions.  124, which only operate VIs before the transfer and upgrade to VIIs in 1943 are not kept very busy, presumably because the high-level threat is so limited.

 

I am therefore only going to look at AB450 as a special high altitude plane.

[M20gull]

Before I get to AB450 I wanted to write about James Christian “Jimmy” Nelson III. 
 

Jimmy was the leader of the Northolt SS Flight and leader of 124 Squadron. A reasonable biography is here on the American Air Museum site but it has a few issues.  Jimmy was born in 1918, the son unsurprisingly of James Christian Nelson II.  James Christian I had anglicised his name of Jens Christian Nielsen when moving from Denmark to the USA in the 1870s. 
 

Jimmy’s last operations with 133 were 3 out of the 4 patrols on Operation Jubilee.  The squadron then had a fortnight off and re-equipped with Spitfire IXs.  This seems to be when Jimmy would have moved to Northolt as he does not feature on 133’s ops in September.  Luckily for him especially as it means he was not involved in the Morlaix disaster when an entire patrol of 12 aircraft was lost, with 6 pilots killed.

 

Jimmy moved to 124 squadron at the beginning of January just before the rest of the SS Flight and stayed there until July.  While at North Weald he had his first son (it’s mentioned in the ORB!), yep James Christian IV who went on to serve in US Special Forces in Vietnam.

 

I don’t think Jimmy goes straight to RAE Farnborough as the ORB has him heading to Boscombe Down.  There was another High Altitude Flight at Boscombe Down that according to this report was involved in work on contrails.so that could have been his destination.

 

I’m not convinced by the dates in the rest of the timeline but he certainly was at Farnborough in the Aerodynamics Flight as shown in the photo on this page.  I was unsuccessful in finding out the details of his Mosquito crash.

 

His AFC is on the same honours list as Roly Falk’s and Jimmy gets to fly a 707 alongside Roly in the Vulcan on its first flight and its first public display at Farnborough in 1952. 
 

After his return to America he became a government official and died in 1971 at the age of 52, the same age as his father.

Edited March 19, 2021 by M20gull

[M20gull]

The Aeronautical Society report in the previous post includes a mention of another High Altitude Flight at Bari in Italy.  I have found no details on this at all anywhere else. Any ideas?

[M20gull]

AB450 is the prototype VII, converted from a V and with a Merlin 61 fitted.  It appears in a number of photos, see for example https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/supermarine-spitfire-mk-vii/ which has some of it in day fighter as presumably its earliest version and some in what looks like high altitude but without cannons.  The day fighter version has a fin guard on it.  The high altitude version has a very light-coloured spinner, possibly even white?

 

Sadly there are none of it obviously in these colours from the database:  "original day ftr camouflage painted over PR blue upper/deep sky (No.2 pattern) under surfaces" which is after its move to Northolt.  No 2 pattern simply denotes a high demarcation line like bombers.  This has previously been covered on spitfire-vii-prototype-ab540-colours-stated-pru-blue-over-deep-sky

 

The full text from the database is:

 

FF 22-8-42 CRD R-R Contract Cv proto FVII M61 8-42 AAEE for trials R-RH 10-9-42 prop reduction gear change supercharger mods RAF Special Flt Northolt 16-9-42 original day ftr camouflage painted over PR blue upper/deep sky (No.2 pattern) under surfaces AAEE 10-42 carbon monoxide cockpit contam trials cool trials with new reduction gear R-R fitt of tail parachute and fin guard 124S 25-1-43 AAEE 13-2-43 CE 14-6-44

Edited March 19, 2021 by M20gull