Target towing spitfires

[Pascal]

Does anybody have any good pictures of a Spitfire with a target towing device ?

Like this one :

Thanks

Edited August 26, 2011 by Pascal

[Boscombe73]

Hi

Is it a TTMkIX you're after? Can't see anything at present, and am not near my copy of a certain book, The Long Drag, a history of target towing, by Don Evans. Is it TT's or Spits in particular? Can't say the TT Spit is one I recall, as I assume most WWII towers had a back seater to operate the mechanical winch mechanism powered by the side fixed 'windmill'. Anyone else out there on BM care to add to this?

Rob

[Pascal]

Is it a TTMkIX you're after?

Yes, the one in the picture is a Mk IX (NH 238) it flew as a target tug in the fifties. I guess that the barrell shaped object between the radiators holds the winch and the cable ?

[Boscombe73]

Hi Pascal

That could well be the case, a small sleeve target could fit into that device underneath, but not sure about the winch gear, perhaps it was a 'one shot and drop' target? The only picture I can find of a Spitfire IX carrying anything in that area at present are 443 Canadian sqn taking off from Ford, with 44 gallon tanks in that position. I will ask around, but am thinking that the winding gear needed a windmill to drive it, and the drum fixture would need to be placed (behind pilot?), hence thinking that was it just reeled out and the whole cable jettisoned after use? Anyone else on BM know?

Rob

[penfold]

Haven't the foggiest, It's only a suggestion; there seems to be a thin cable dangling under the Spit's fuselage from between the wings to the tailwheel area; could it really be so crude a set-up that some pull on this cable - from the pilot or an internal motor - would pull the windsock target out from its housing to stream behind the plane in flight ?? It could then be jettisoned prior to landing - or possibly not ??? And no external windmill or winding gear needed....

Edited August 28, 2011 by penfold

[Edgar]

The likeliest set-up would probably be allied to the jettison gear for the under-fuselage fuel tank, in some way; pull up the release handle, and the sleeve slides out of the container. There's no mention of a TT Spitfire in "The Long Drag," which is hardly surprising with dedicated aircraft like the more powerful Tempest readily available. I have seen mention of "co-operation" Spitfires, towards the end of the war, which had black, rather than yellow, leading edges, but I'd expect that to be more co-operation with AA.

Edgar

[penfold]

The likeliest set-up would probably be allied to the jettison gear for the under-fuselage fuel tank, in some way; pull up the release handle, and the sleeve slides out of the container. There's no mention of a TT Spitfire in "The Long Drag," which is hardly surprising with dedicated aircraft like the more powerful Tempest readily available. I have seen mention of "co-operation" Spitfires, towards the end of the war, which had black, rather than yellow, leading edges, but I'd expect that to be more co-operation with AA.

Edgar

Ah; do you mean that the barrel-like container is entirely jettisoned, as a drop tank was; the target is attached to the rear of the plane via that thin cable under the fuselage, and the rolled-up target and additional cabling slides out of the container as it falls ??? Pretty crude, but that would work. You would just need to ensure that the container is heavy enough to overcome the friction of the drogue sliding within it.

Edited August 28, 2011 by penfold

[gingerbob]

Well, they had a latch worked out for use in towing Hotspurs- don't know if that was used, or someone came up with a new arrangement. If the towing was done in other countries postwar (Belgium), then it may well be a local mod. I doubt they'd be dropping a can every time they wanted to deploy a streamer- if I were designing it I'd have the streamer pop out of the can- then when you're done you just do a low pass and drop the cable and streamer, the way banner towers do it.

Spitfire Survivors is likely to have some photos, since a number of survivors did pass through this, I believe.

bob

[Miggers]

I might be wrong but,AFAIK,there weren't any target towing Spits used by the RAF/RN.

The only ones I've ever heard of(IX's that is)are the Belgian COGEA ones,like NH238 above.

MH434 was another one.

Mark

[The wooksta V2.0]

There's mention in the Morgan/Shacklady bible of an F.XVIII converted with the winch inside the fuselage but it was a prototype only and according to M/S, the few TT Spitfires had the target laid out on the runway and just tied to a hook on the fuselage, being dragged along on take off.

[Aeronut]

Well, they had a latch worked out for use in towing Hotspurs

I have a photo of two versions of the Spitfire tow hitch for the Hotspur glider and they're nothing like this target tug.

For the Spitfire glider tug the tow hitch was mounted on the tailwheel axle.