BeechTalk - BT

Username Protected · **Posted:** 02 Mar 2018, 19:57

Take out some guns, add some fuel and go to Berlin...

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ie3SrjLlcUY[/youtube]

Username Protected · **Posted:** 02 Mar 2018, 21:41

All the recon planes had cameras put in, rather than guns.

One recon pilot is credited with a kill. He was so good and stayed on the enemies tail so long, the guy flew into the ground.

They called on the best pilots to fly those birds. It was an incredible era, we could have done without. If only we could all pull together. So much greater what we would achieve. :shrug:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 02 Mar 2018, 21:55

Amen.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 02 Mar 2018, 22:24

That was very enjoyable. Thanks for posting.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Mar 2018, 18:43

FWIW there is a book about Sid Cotton("Last plane out of Berlin") where the process of "Cottonising" these Spitfires is described - using plaster of Paris to smoothe the surface etc.(ISBN 0 7336 1516 3)

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Mar 2018, 20:02

Username Protected wrote:

Take out some guns, add some fuel and go to Berlin...

The PR Spits are very different from the Gun ones.
Cockpit is sealed with bulkheads and pressurized. Different canopy as well. Griffon powered ones had a roots type blower to provide the pressurization. Unsure what was done with the Merlin powered ones.
Most Fighter Types didn't have any fuel in the wings stock. The Griffon powered ones had a 16 Gal rubber cell in each wing. Kind of a band air as we cruised at 85 GPH. We had around 180 gals internal in the MkXVIII.
The PR types had each leading edge as a tank as well as another cavity sealed outboard of the radiators. This is in addition to about 100 gal internal in the fuselage between the cockpit and the firewall.
They used Merlins rated for high altitudes and some had extended wing tips for a bit of extra lift in the thin air.
The PR ones were a different animal in the shape of a Spitfire.
My 6 years of maintaining a Spit were quite different than the US ones I had maintained. Was fun though.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Mar 2018, 20:10

Username Protected wrote:

All the recon planes had cameras put in, rather than guns.

One recon pilot is credited with a kill. He was so good and stayed on the enemies tail so long, the guy flew into the ground.

They called on the best pilots to fly those birds. It was an incredible era, we could have done without. If only we could all pull together. So much greater what we would achieve. :shrug:

Thanks for that John. My dad flew Photo Recon P-38s in the Burma theater. No guns. Just flat out fast. Took pics of the bridges before and after the B17s did their bombing runs to see if they got it done. I have scrapbooks filled with pre and post photos of targets taken by pops.

Their motto: "Unarmed and unafraid". They had to use their energy management skills, and superior horsepower, to out-maneuver the gun equipped enemy.

I miss the man.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Mar 2018, 23:12

Username Protected wrote:

The PR Spits are very different from the Gun ones. Cockpit is sealed with bulkheads and pressurized...

I don't think that's generally true. Online sources indicate that only the PR Mk X (16 built) and 203 of the Mk XIX were pressurized, vs. over 800 of the various unpressurized models, so only about 20% were pressurized. The most numerous single Mark was the unpressurized Mk XI.
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/we ... re_PR.html

Username Protected · **Posted:** 04 Mar 2018, 13:05

Interesting, thanks for posting.

Growing up there was a guy I knew who flew Fighter Photographic in Hellcats. To me the personal accounts tell so much more. In addition to our conversations he also recorded some of his memories & I was able to get a copy.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 05 Mar 2018, 23:20

Username Protected wrote:

All the recon planes had cameras put in, rather than guns.

Their motto: "Unarmed and unafraid".

Reconnaissance Spitfires in WWII