Which Spitfire

[xsier]

Hope someone can help. I have an image of a spitfire which my book describes as a MK V. I'm searching google images for high quality photographs of a MK 5 but they seem different to my imagine. In particular the filler area for the tank. Can anyone shed some light?

Thanks

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

is that the image from your book? i'm making a model Mk.Vc now and it looks right, what do you mean by

In particular the filler area for the tank

 

[xsier]

I'm talking about the area i've marked. That is an image from my book. I'm also about to start modeling this so i'm looking for some reference pics. When i search for MK V at google images, that area looks different.



Thanks.

 

[Nonskimmer]

The deeper "chin" is caused by the Volks air filter, fitted to aircraft destined for service in North Africa. It was there to keep the sand out of the engine.

 

[Gnomey]

Yep that is it. I had a look for some reference pics (with the Volk filter - there is loads without it) for you xsier, here is what I have found:

Models (Not great but give you an idea)

Slightly different angle than the one above:

Hope those help.

 

[xsier]

Great, thanks for the info and all the ref pics. That also helps me decide the color scheme.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

well they weren't just used in the desert, some of the Mk.Vs with the filter were used in the CBI too, in a very nice green uppers, gery unders and a white tail............

 

[Brunner]

Yep. Some of theme served till the end of the II world war, but many were replaced by mk VIII (correct me if i'm wrong)

 

[Nonskimmer]

well they weren't just used in the desert, some of the Mk.Vs with the filter were used in the CBI too, in a very nice green uppers, gery unders and a white tail............

Those were aircraft that had either been used, or had been intended for use in the desert. That's why they had the Volks filters installed. It was a sand filter. Many of those planes had been rushed to the Pacific/CBI from North Africa. In most if not all cases, the filter was removed but the aircraft retained the big lower cowling.

 

[helmitsmit]

Those volks filter really hampered the Spitfire's performance it was barely faster than the Mk2 Hurricanes it was also the slowest of all Spitfire varients 340mph I think...

Didn't Supermarine make a more stream lined sand filter?

 

[xsier]

Wow, thanks guys. What a great place this is for information.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Those volks filter really hampered the Spitfire's performance it was barely faster than the Mk2 Hurricanes it was also the slowest of all Spitfire varients 340mph I think...

Didn't Supermarine make a more stream lined sand filter?

RAF testing of the Volkes Tropical Filter on a Spitfire VB showed that it made about 355 mph at full throttle height. So it cut off about 15-20 mph off top speed. The 337 mph figure usually given for aircraft fitteed with the Volkes filter is for a Mk V with a 90 gallon D/T.

Supermarine didn't make a more streamlined fliter, but the No 103 Maintence Unit based at Aboukir did. The 'Aboukir Filter' wasn't quite as effective as the larger Volkes unit in filtering out sand and dust particles, but it was much better than the standard Spitfire filter, and offered substantially less drag penalty than the Volkes unit.