6B/159 Squadron – The Spitfire – Photo Heavy

[Omegafanman]

Following on from the Mosquito (link below) along with my Omega UK2292 I was lucky enough to get up close and personal with The Imperial War Museums only flying exhibit, A Supermarine Spitfire Mark 1a which is based at Duxford in the actual hanger if flew from in 1940.

I was superbly hosted by Phil McGahan (last picture) a member of the 1000mph club from flyinging Lightnings as an RAF pilot and of course very knowledgeable.

Buried in a Calais beach for nearly 50 years the story of N3200 and its return to flight is amazing and well worth a read. The original recovered engine is also pictured below.
The Spitfire lost for almost 50 Years | Imperial War Museums (iwm.org.uk)

The red gear down flag indicators on the wings and the hand pump for raising the gear brought home the effort and focus these young men needed just to land and take off in these early variants. During the day a BF109 Hispano ‘’Messerschmitt’’ also put on a display which showed how hard it must have been to make and maintain visual contacts from the small claustrophobic cockpit. There is also not much between your feet and a large 85 gallon 100-Octane fuel tank.

It was very exciting and moving to get close to such an iconic and beautiful aircraft based at its original airfield.

One more plane to go……..

12/11/2021 update. Well, that is my mission complete with three iconic aircraft covered…. Although there might now be a fourth and if anyone might be interested in a very good value UK based warbird flight this year drop me a PM.

https://omegaforums.net/threads/6b-159-squadron-–-the-mosquito-–-photo-heavy.137584/

https://omegaforums.net/threads/6b-159-squadron-–-the-lancaster-–-photo-heavy.138662/


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Edited: Nov 12, 2021

 

[Schmedsc]

That looks like a fantastic experience. I was able to attend an air show at Duxford several years ago. Great memories. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Valisk_61]

Brilliant pics! That 1a is a beautiful specimen. Looking forward to seeing your next aircraft post.

I make the annual pilgrimage to Flying Legends every year to meet up with friends from the flight sim community from all over the world. I love Duxford. There's just so much stuff to discover.

And obviously, there's this particular establishment that is a must visit too

Edited: Oct 29, 2021

 

[Schmedsc]

Valisk_61

Brilliant pics! That 1a is a beautiful specimen. Looking forward to seeing your next aircraft post.

I make the annual pilgrimage to Flying Legends every year to meet up with friends from the flight sim community from all over the world. I love Duxford. There's just so much stuff to discover.

And obviously, there's this particular establishment that is a must visit too

I loved that place too! There’s a lot of history there.

 

[DoctorEvil]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. Beautiful aircraft.
Interestingly, I note that there's no roundel on the underside of the wing in one photo. Will have to check period photos or film footage to confirm if that was the case back in the day.

 

[Valisk_61]

Yep, there were certainly 1a's that had no underwing roundels.

Edit: Sorry for the off-topic, I found a photo I took of one of my favourite exhibits at Duxford... A recreation of a Command Centre. They have audio playing, synchronised with the Squadron status board that recreates an incoming raid on the airfield. It's really well done - it gave me goosebumps.

Edited: Oct 29, 2021

 

[rob#1]

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

When I was at primary school it was close to a wartime airfield that was still active, so every 11th November at lunchtime I was lucky enough to see (and hear!) a Spitfire, a Hurricane and a Lancaster flying together low over the playground on their way to fly over London

 

[DoctorEvil]

Valisk_61

Yep, there were certainly 1a's that had no underwing roundels.

Edit: Sorry for the off-topic, I found a photo I took of one of my favourite exhibits at Duxford... A recreation of a Command Centre. They have audio playing, synchronised with the Squadron status board that recreates an incoming raid on the airfield. It's really well done - it gave me goosebumps.

Found this one image. A bit hard to see but it does confirm what you're saying.

 

[Omegafanman]

DoctorEvil

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. Beautiful aircraft.
Interestingly, I note that there's no roundel on the underside of the wing in one photo. Will have to check period photos or film footage to confirm if that was the case back in the day.

A good spot and as mentioned above that is true to the period. It also has no individual aircraft ID. In the pic below RF is the Squadron but D is the specific aircraft. N3200 probably had less than a days flying time on the engine before it was shot down - it was not at the squadron long enough to have an ID allocated. They were desperate times and it was a numbers game as well as skill, technology and planning. There were 24 types of Spitfire so this Mk1a is at the very start of that evolution. It shows what a brilliant flying platform Reginald Mitchell created.

Edited: Oct 30, 2021

 

[DoctorEvil]

Omegafanman

A good spot and as mentioned above that is true to the period. It also has no individual aircraft ID. In the pic below RF is the Squadron but D is the specific aircraft. N3200 probably had less than a days flying time on the engine before it was shot down - it was not at the squadron long enough to have an ID allocated. They were desperate times and it was a numbers game as well as skill, technology and planning. There were 24 types of Spitfire so this Mk1a is at the very start of that evolution. It shows what a brilliant flying platform Reginald Mitchell created.

That pic you posted is of a Mark Vb, my favorite variant of the Spitfire. I used to have an Airfix 1:72 scale model of that very aircraft in the pic

 

[Flatfoot]

What a great experience to be up close and personal with such an artifact. The fact that they were able to rebuild and recreate that airplane from the uncovered hulk is nothing short of amazing.

The early split color underside camouflage “white and night” was a characteristic of the very early Spitfires, some of which served in the battle of France. Any existing aircraft and all new ones were repainted with a full span sky colored underside, along with prominent roundels as the summer of 1940 / Battle of Britain progressed. The fuselage roundel with the large yellow outer ring was characteristic of that period too.

I’ve been a Free Flight scale modeler since I was a kid, and I still am active building and flying these rubber powered “stick and tissue” ships. The model below was built from a set of plans drawn by Doug McHard, who I understand worked for Rolls Royce for much of his career. He had the ability to maximally capture the subtle shape of the Spitfire in a relative minimum number of balsa sticks. Pictured below is my Mk. 1A, doing its thing. It is a tribute to the ship flown by Eric Locke, the highest scoring RAF ace during the Battle of Britain. He was lost in a later mark Spitfire in 1941.

 

[SpeedyPhill]

Valisk_61

Brilliant pics! That 1a is a beautiful specimen. Looking forward to seeing your next aircraft post.

I make the annual pilgrimage to Flying Legends every year to meet up with friends from the flight sim community from all over the world. I love Duxford. There's just so much stuff to discover.

And obviously, there's this particular establishment that is a must visit too

Lots of DNA in that superb place...
.

 

[Omegafanman]

Flatfoot

What a great experience to be up close and personal with such an artifact. The fact that they were able to rebuild and recreate that airplane from the uncovered hulk is nothing short of amazing.

The early split color underside camouflage “white and night” was a characteristic of the very early Spitfires, some of which served in the battle of France. Any existing aircraft and all new ones were repainted with a full span sky colored underside, along with prominent roundels as the summer of 1940 / Battle of Britain progressed. The fuselage roundel with the large yellow outer ring was characteristic of that period too.

I’ve been a Free Flight scale modeler since I was a kid, and I still am active building and flying these rubber powered “stick and tissue” ships. The model below was built from a set of plans drawn by Doug McHard, who I understand worked for Rolls Royce for much of his career. He had the ability to maximally capture the subtle shape of the Spitfire in a relative minimum number of balsa sticks. Pictured below is my Mk. 1A, doing its thing. It is a tribute to the ship flown by Eric Locke, the highest scoring RAF ace during the Battle of Britain. He was lost in a later mark Spitfire in 1941.

Thanks for sharing - great photos. I recall some of your videos / wonderful to see free flight models made with with so much detail and passion.

 

[Omegafanman]

DoctorEvil

Found this one image. A bit hard to see but it does confirm what you're saying.

I just noticed the wing blisters have gone and you can see 303 Shell cases dropping in this image / maybe a bit of gun smoke. They must be sighting the guns in / testing the guns. Rare to see that captured - a spitfire spiting fire with the the engine off.

 

[DoctorEvil]

Flatfoot

What a great experience to be up close and personal with such an artifact. The fact that they were able to rebuild and recreate that airplane from the uncovered hulk is nothing short of amazing.

The early split color underside camouflage “white and night” was a characteristic of the very early Spitfires, some of which served in the battle of France. Any existing aircraft and all new ones were repainted with a full span sky colored underside, along with prominent roundels as the summer of 1940 / Battle of Britain progressed. The fuselage roundel with the large yellow outer ring was characteristic of that period too.

I’ve been a Free Flight scale modeler since I was a kid, and I still am active building and flying these rubber powered “stick and tissue” ships. The model below was built from a set of plans drawn by Doug McHard, who I understand worked for Rolls Royce for much of his career. He had the ability to maximally capture the subtle shape of the Spitfire in a relative minimum number of balsa sticks. Pictured below is my Mk. 1A, doing its thing. It is a tribute to the ship flown by Eric Locke, the highest scoring RAF ace during the Battle of Britain. He was lost in a later mark Spitfire in 1941.

That model looks so realistic I thought for a second that it was a real Spitfire. Well done!

 

[Omegafanman]

DoctorEvil

That model looks so realistic I thought for a second that it was a real Spitfire. Well done!

These are some older posts from @Flatfoot which are worth a revisit.
I have said this before but for the scale the power ratio seems to make the free flight models fly more realistically than RC. Very skilled - if it looks right it flys right :0)

https://omegaforums.net/threads/show-us-your-favourite-toys-boyz…-and-girlz.93839/#post-1217474

https://omegaforums.net/threads/show-us-your-favourite-toys-boyz…-and-girlz.93839/#post-1217441

https://omegaforums.net/threads/show-us-your-favourite-toys-boyz…-and-girlz.93839/page-2#post-1218932