Early Spit

[cheddar cheese]

Hey guys, does anoyone have a picture of a Spitfire MkI or II, preferably on the ground with the pilot/squadron/ground crew/ANYONE standing near it? Thanks

 

[plan_D]

There you go, a Mk.I with GERMANS stood by it.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Thats ideal, thanks! 8)

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

wow it's pretty intact..............

 

[BlackWolf3945]

That's 'Dirty Dick', a Spit I (N3277) of 234 Sqn after force-landing in France, possibly near Cherbourg. Here's some shots of this aircraft during and after markings repaint...

I believe these images are somewhere in the galleries here, although the accompanying info incorrectly states that the aircraft was from 245 Sqn...


Fade to Black...

 

[cheddar cheese]

Wow superb pictures...

 

[Medvedya]

Ha ha! Look at those LW guys having a good look at a superior warbird.

 

[cheddar cheese]

I dont consider the Spitfire superior to a Fw-190

Mind you, being a Mk.I I dont think the Fw-190 would have been around at the time

 

[Nonskimmer]

As big a fan as I am of the Spitfire, I have to say that the very early marks were "good" but not exactly great.
Still, they did the job!

 

[plan_D]

The early Mark Spitfires were great, they were better than the 109Es although in some areas the -109 did have its advantages. I saw an interview with some Spitfire pilot who flew the Mk. I, V and IX in the war...and he loved the V and IX but the thing most he loved about the IX was that it looked like a V. So the Germans would attack in their -190s being happy with the easy prey (thinking its a V) only to be shocked when the IX starts dancing around them at high speeds.

HE said one of his first times up when the IX first came into service, he pulled up above a -109 to see the shock in teh German pilots face as he carried on climbing.

 

[Nonskimmer]

Specifically, I was refering to the Mk.I's and II's. They did a good job against the Emil series 109's they encountered during the BoB, but at that early stage of development they were still somewhat crude. Fabric covered control surfaces in the case of the Mk.I, which tended to balloon at high speeds (such as in a dive), manual landing gear, float carburettors, only .303 machine guns for armament (except for a few Mk.Ib's with 20mm cannons).

I'm a huge fan of the Spit, but IMO it didn't really start to become effective until the Mk.V. Then, she truly began to take off! 8)

 

[plan_D]

I don't think so. The Mk.I and Mk.II were fine for their time period, they moved ahead in the Mk.V and had the Mk.IX catch the -190, then the Mk.VIII before becoming the, in my opinion, supreme Griffon engined Spits.

 

[Nonskimmer]

The Mk.VIII ruled! The Mk.IX was great too.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Mk.XXII is more my kinda thing

 

[plan_D]

Tut..tut...by Mk.22 they were no longer Roman numerials.

 

[Nonskimmer]

That's right. They were beginning to look too much like movie copyright dates.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Tut..tut...by Mk.22 they were no longer Roman numerials.

They are now See, I have the power to change history!

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

and the early spits were brilliant, very manouverable............

 

[cheddar cheese]

The Fiat G.50 was manoeverable, but noooooooo it wasnt brilliant!

 

[Archangel]

The Fiat G.50 was manoeverable, but noooooooo it wasnt brilliant!

Plz, no G-50 associations. ty

but i think the fact that the early spits were superior to the emil series, also has to do with the training/combatstyle of the german pilots.
and maybe the fact that they had to fly long distances to england and back. but ive never seen a test between that 2 planes. (if someone has a link, plz post it )