Spitfire Mk.III

[fubar57]

Anyone know of any photos or drawings of the Spitfire Mk.III serial number N3297. I've found two. The Diverse Images website show a bright yellow/white(should that be trainer yellow/grey) clipped wing Spit as one of their future releases. The aeroflight.co.uk site shows a photo of a camouflaged normal wing version. One of my hundreds of goals in aircraft modelling is to build a spitfire of every mark. Any help would be appreciated.


Geo

 

[Njaco]

I just came across one this very day in a book I'm reading. Will try to scan for you in the next few days.

Ok, quick google search had this.....which is probably the one you are talking about.

Aeroflight » Supermarine Spitfire Mks.I-III

Not the pic I have but will scan.

 

[fubar57]

Hey Njaco. Yes,same one I found and thanks for the quick response. Exhaust is different than I imagined and staring at the picture now, not sure about camouflage but the coloring looks different around the serial number and just behind the port wing. Also, the radiator looks odd. An article on the spitfiresite.com said the wings were converted to the Type A as per the photo. Again, thanks.


Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

I have three in addition to the above pic, all featured in Alfred Price's "The Spitfire Story". The above pic was taken after the initial version's shortened wings were removed and replaced with the regular span wing for trials with newer engines. By this time, the Mk III program had been cancelled and the sole prototype was being used as a test bed. The first pic in Price's book is a view of the parked plane from 2 o'clock and features the smaller wing. It's hard to tell the colour but the upper surfaces appear dark, although yellow can look like this in old B&W pics. The second pic claims to be taken at about the same time but does not have the fin flash. This one is taken from 9 o'clock and again appears quite dark on the top. There is a distinct break between upper and lower colours. The third pic is taken much later from the 7 o'clock position and features N3297 with the Merloin 61 engine and 4 bladed prop. Again the colour appears dark and monotone on the topsides.

 

[fubar57]

Many thanks Andy. The underside of the above photo looks grey so am assuming the pic was taken late 1941 or so. Curious if the original version was over all yellow or Sky underside. The first website I mentioned had a top color of almost lemon yellow and the bottom looks white to me. It also shows whitewall tires.


Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

Here are two from the book I mentioned above. No whitewalls evident. Price makes no mention of the colours unfortunately.

 

[fubar57]

Awesome photos Andy. Way too many questions to ask. Bottom picture...looks almost like the underside of the port wing is gloss black and no roundel. Two different antennae. Sky/Sky grey under surface? The exhaust is much clearer. I read somewhere that the prototype had some sort of parachute anti-fowling device on the tail. Is that the case here or are they something else?

Thanks, Geo

 

[Njaco]

ok, the 2nd pic from CR is the one I have at home. Will check the rest of my books.

 

[nuuumannn]

According to the Spitfire bible "Spitfire the History" by Eric Morgan and Edward Shacklady, the Mk.III (Supermarine Type 330/348 ) in July 1940 was all over yellow with the underside split half and half as black (port side) and white (stbd side) as was often used as identification markings at squadron level until the duck egg green/sky was applied. This matches with Crimea River's bottom image. There was no roundel under the wing. From April 1941 it was used as an engine test bed and wore standard pattern camouflage (Dark Green/Dark Earth) on top sides and yellow underside with a black spinner, standard roundels on fuse side, top wings and fin flash, but none under wings. This is probably as in NJACO's posted image.

Regarding the radiator, it was bigger than the standard Mk.I and II; the picture NJACO posted shows it without its fairing, just the radiator block.

Here's a wee snippet of info that might be of interest:

"The Spitfire Mk.III was an interesting type but it never entered full scale production desipte its obvious advantages over current production aircraft. The combination of a modified Merlin XX and Mk.I airframe was rushed into service to combat the high flying Bf 109F. This compromise aeroplane was such a success that the Air Ministry decided to order it into full scale production and the 'Improved Spitfire' was abandoned. The German bombing of the Supermarine factories at Southampton also affected the Mk.III development programme for the first set of strengthened wings was destroyed during the first raid in September 1940, together with the majority of production drawings."

Hope this helps.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Guys. Also read the forward fuselage was extended 30". This could be a tough build.

 

[Edgar Brooks]

There is a heck of a lot of myths in this thread; no such engine as a "modified XX" was ever fitted into the Spitfire. The XX had a single-stage, two-speed supercharger; up to, and including, the VI, Merlin superchargers were single-stage, single-speed, while, from the VII onwards, they were two-stage, two-speed. The III was abandoned largely because the Merlin XX was needed for the Hurricane II, and the Merlin 45/46 (basically a modified III) proved entirely capable of doing the job of coping with the Me109F.
Another advantage of the 45 over the XX was the ability to get it into the same space as the I/II/III series, so there was no need to modify the area in front of the engine bulkhead. If you look at the photos, you'll see that the Mk.III bulkhead angles forward, at the top, like on the Spitfire XIV; this led to the III fuselage being 4" (not 30" - where the heck did that come from) longer than that of the I/II/V/VI. This also led to the u/c being raked forward 2", which led to the "universal" C wing, which caused problems leading to a curved oleo cover, instead of the flat type seen on the early Marks.
N3297 eventually became the prototype IX.

 

[nuuumannn]

Hi Edgar,

The info I quoted was lifted straight from "Spitfire the History". As for the engine details, perhaps what the authors meant was the Merlin 45/46. Not so much myths, but miss prints?

 

[fubar57]

"this led to the III fuselage being 4" (not 30" - where the heck did that come)"-Sorry about that. The web site I was looking at used a quotation mark instead of an apostrophe.

Geo