My All Time Favorite Spitfire Photo

[MIflyer]

This is my all time favorite Spitfire photo. It shows a Spitfire Vb of the USAAF 31 FG at High Ercall in Shopshire in June 1942. I first saw this photo in the Profile publication and it inspired me to take a Monogram 1/48 Spitfire IX kit, vacform the canopy, scratchbuild a door, add a seat, "convert" it to a MKV by using Monogram Hurricane II exhaust stacks and modifying the Left radiator into the MKV configuration. While I was at it, I made it the LF version built for fighting FW-190's by cropping the wingtips and forming new tips out of Testor's Model Putty. And then I decided it looked better in desert brown and tan, even though he photo depicted the sea gray and green scheme. I still have it, over 50 years later.

The photo shows the rakish beauty of a Spitfire better than any other I have seen.

Also attached is a photo of the same aircraft later, after being run hard and put away wet.

 

[Barrett]

Reminds me of one of my favorite aces, the late Col. Jerry Collinsworth of the 31st. The original plan intended the group to Transplant its P-39s (!) because a general said that 25% attrition would be "acceptable."
Upon arriving in the UK, you may imagine the group's response to receiving Spits. Jerry (and one or two others) said the "biggest" problem was getting used to the brakes activated on the control stick rather than on rudder pedals...

 

[MIflyer]

Upon arriving in the UK, you may imagine the group's response to receiving Spits. Jerry (and one or two others) said the "biggest" problem was getting used to the brakes activated on the control stick rather than on rudder pedals...

You'd have thought that going from a nosedragger to a taildargger would have been more challenging. But of course all of those pilots learned to fly on taildraggers anyway.

P-39's and P-400's were sent to North Africa but I have read very little on their use. Here is a shot of one about to be ferried there from the UK. One pilot did say that the 37MM gun was useful against barges.

 

[Wild_Bill_Kelso]

You'd have thought that going from a nosedragger to a taildargger would have been more challenging. But of course all of those pilots learned to fly on taildraggers anyway.

P-39's and P-400's were sent to North Africa but I have read very little on their use. Here is a shot of one about to be ferried there from the UK. One pilot did say that the 37MM gun was useful against barges.

View attachment 768182

They got wrecked in a couple of engagements and were then relegated to (short range) maritime patrol missions. Later on though in Italy they were using them as dive bombers / CAS, apparently with some success.