92-year old vet flies Spitfire again
- Thread starter JeppUpdater
- Start date
FloridaLarry
Well-Known Member
Joy certainly lived up to her name!
There were 20,351 Spitfires built (all versions) between 1938 and 1948. Only ONE (T Mk VIII) was factory-built as a double-cockpit prototype. The factories were spread around southern England to avoid German bombers knocking out the source) . There were a few field conversions to 2 seats and some post-war ones built - trainers, observation, etc.
There are about 55 still airworthy.
It's THE fighter credited with winning the Battle of Britain, although there were more Hurricanes flying. The Brits have build a hanger-full of really ugly airplanes over the years. The Spit isn't one of them!
There were 20,351 Spitfires built (all versions) between 1938 and 1948. Only ONE (T Mk VIII) was factory-built as a double-cockpit prototype. The factories were spread around southern England to avoid German bombers knocking out the source) . There were a few field conversions to 2 seats and some post-war ones built - trainers, observation, etc.
There are about 55 still airworthy.
It's THE fighter credited with winning the Battle of Britain, although there were more Hurricanes flying. The Brits have build a hanger-full of really ugly airplanes over the years. The Spit isn't one of them!
A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
What a marvelous story. Goes to show that no matter how old you are, wonderful experiences can still be had. An iconic aircraft flown by a remarkable woman.
This is part of an interview with her last year:
And a bit about the ATA program that she flew under. Very interesting and well worth watching:
"Although much of the Battle of Britain was also fought by the Hawker Hurricane, the Spitfire had elliptical wings with incredibly thin cross-sections, which gave the fighter a much higher top speed than the Hurricane and many other fighter planes at the time. However, what was truly remarkable about the Spitfire was the engine and the materials used to construct the plane.
The Spitfire was initially powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which initially produced up to 1,030 hp, although future marks saw the plane's performance increase up to 2,340 hp, with an air speed of 600 mph due to the addition of a two-stage, two-speed supercharger and the switch-over to the much more powerful Rolls-Royce Griffon.
Two-stage, two-speed superchargers, enabled a significant increase in power at much higher altitudes than the original single stage superchargers, which could not easily handle higher altitudes and reduction in air density.
As production of the Spitfire intensified during the Battle of Britain, the airplane manufacturers also improved the plane's carburetors.
It was found that during an air battle, if the Merlin engine was affected by negative G forces due to a sudden dive, the engine would lose power due to fuel starvation. Using the Bendix-Stromberg pressure carburetor, more precise metering of the amount of fuel used by the engine was able to prevent the problem."
German ace, Adolf Galland, was asked by Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe, what he required in order to break down the stubborn British resistance. "I should like an outfit of Spitfires" was the terse reply. Another German ace complained, "The bastards can make such infernally tight turns. There seems to be no way of nailing them."
Thanks for posting such an uplifting and happy story.
This is part of an interview with her last year:
And a bit about the ATA program that she flew under. Very interesting and well worth watching:
"Although much of the Battle of Britain was also fought by the Hawker Hurricane, the Spitfire had elliptical wings with incredibly thin cross-sections, which gave the fighter a much higher top speed than the Hurricane and many other fighter planes at the time. However, what was truly remarkable about the Spitfire was the engine and the materials used to construct the plane.
The Spitfire was initially powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which initially produced up to 1,030 hp, although future marks saw the plane's performance increase up to 2,340 hp, with an air speed of 600 mph due to the addition of a two-stage, two-speed supercharger and the switch-over to the much more powerful Rolls-Royce Griffon.
Two-stage, two-speed superchargers, enabled a significant increase in power at much higher altitudes than the original single stage superchargers, which could not easily handle higher altitudes and reduction in air density.
As production of the Spitfire intensified during the Battle of Britain, the airplane manufacturers also improved the plane's carburetors.
It was found that during an air battle, if the Merlin engine was affected by negative G forces due to a sudden dive, the engine would lose power due to fuel starvation. Using the Bendix-Stromberg pressure carburetor, more precise metering of the amount of fuel used by the engine was able to prevent the problem."
German ace, Adolf Galland, was asked by Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe, what he required in order to break down the stubborn British resistance. "I should like an outfit of Spitfires" was the terse reply. Another German ace complained, "The bastards can make such infernally tight turns. There seems to be no way of nailing them."
Thanks for posting such an uplifting and happy story.
Last edited:
FloridaLarry
Well-Known Member
A Life Aloft said, in part:
The other part of this fix(1941), invented by an aviation engineer named Beatrice "Tilly" Shilling, was a metal disc with a hole, fitted in the fuel line, restricting fuel flow to the maximum the engine could consume. While it did not cure the problem of the initial fuel starvation in a dive, it did reduce the more serious problem of the carburetor being flooded with fuel by the fuel pumps under negative "g". It became known as "Miss Shilling's orifice" after its inventor. (You can't make this stuff up - truth is better than fiction!). The following year (1942), the pressure carburetor CA Aloft referred to, solved the problem fully.
The Spitfire started as a good aircraft, modeled in part after Supermarine's racers from the 1930s. It's a great example of a plane made successively better and better from experience and clever thinking, both in problem-solving and "what-if-we-could only..." thinking..
The other part of this fix(1941), invented by an aviation engineer named Beatrice "Tilly" Shilling, was a metal disc with a hole, fitted in the fuel line, restricting fuel flow to the maximum the engine could consume. While it did not cure the problem of the initial fuel starvation in a dive, it did reduce the more serious problem of the carburetor being flooded with fuel by the fuel pumps under negative "g". It became known as "Miss Shilling's orifice" after its inventor. (You can't make this stuff up - truth is better than fiction!). The following year (1942), the pressure carburetor CA Aloft referred to, solved the problem fully.
The Spitfire started as a good aircraft, modeled in part after Supermarine's racers from the 1930s. It's a great example of a plane made successively better and better from experience and clever thinking, both in problem-solving and "what-if-we-could only..." thinking..
ArcherII
Well-Known Member
My grandpa was flying above Italy and a AA obus hit it's Merlin carter without exploding and remaining stuck inside. He flew the remaining 60nm back to the alternate airfield (Neptuno) with the engine running a bit rough.
I guess we are talking about some of the best airframe-powerplant combo in aviation history. And I'm not even talking about the beauty-sound part of the bargain, which IMO is second to none.
I guess we are talking about some of the best airframe-powerplant combo in aviation history. And I'm not even talking about the beauty-sound part of the bargain, which IMO is second to none.
