Great vid, thanks for posting Richard... Interesting to hear the on-board sounds, which is no match for the sounds when a Spit is flying overhead.
I suspect I may have posted these pics of RR`s Spit when it visited the local airport, I was MUCH younger back then... Another fond memory was hearing engines roar, went to the window and a Lanc was flying about level with the window and up the river below the local shipyard were launching HMS Lancaster... Wish I had known at the time as I would have tried to grab a pic of it..
As for my favourite Spit vid, again I think I have posted it before BUT... WARNING, do not click on the link if the F word offends..
My father was one of the Dutch pilots that joined the Canadian Air Force at the start of the war and flew Spitfires with the RAF. He did not talk much about it, but he always said that the White Cliffs were the most beautiful things he had ever seen.
Joe, my late father came over from Poland and was a Spitfire pilot and like yours spoke very little of his experiences but his log book tells all.
He had many log books during his flying career but during his final weeks he bound them into one volume and left it to me as his eldest and only son.
I have always left it with my stepmother as a comfort for her since his passing 35 years ago but I shall be picking it up soon when we visit as someone has requested some information about his exploits flying an ME 109g for a book they are writing.
The bit about the VE day Flypast that annoyed all the Poles was that they were not allowed to take part in it, by this time Churchill was in bed with Stalin and he expressly forbid it and Churchill capitulated once more after the sell out of Polish territories to him.
2009 4/4 Sport Henrietta 1999 Indigo Blue +8 2009 4/4 Sport Green prev 1993 Con Green +8 prev
Richard, from a very dull memory it was owned by RR and I think it was Merlin propelled and was lost in an accident to be replaced by a blue photo reconnaissance Griffon engine job which sounded nothing like as involving..?
George that's interesting, now I start to think about it I think all the Griffon engine one's had to have contra rotating props to counter the swing on take off due to the tremendous increase in power. They don't sound the same I totally agree.
2009 4/4 Sport Henrietta 1999 Indigo Blue +8 2009 4/4 Sport Green prev 1993 Con Green +8 prev
George that's interesting, now I start to think about it I think all the Griffon engine one's had to have contra rotating props to counter the swing on take off due to the tremendous increase in power. They don't sound the same I totally agree.
Griffon engined Spitfires had a single prop but it rotated the opposite way to a Merlin engined Spitfire which could cause confusion on take off swing. IIRC the reason it turned the other way was because the gears for contra rotation were present but the second propeller wasn’t.
BBMF have a Griffon engined PRXIX which has a single propellor.
Paul Costock, UK Plus Four 75th - Furka Rouge - Pip Disco 5 Teddy - 17h1 Irish Draught cross
George that's interesting, now I start to think about it I think all the Griffon engine one's had to have contra rotating props to counter the swing on take off due to the tremendous increase in power. They don't sound the same I totally agree.
Griffon engined Spitfires had a single prop but it rotated the opposite way to a Merlin engined Spitfire which could cause confusion on take off swing. IIRC the reason it turned the other way was because the gears for contra rotation were present but the second propeller wasn’t.
BBMF have a Griffon engined PRXIX which has a single propellor.
Here is the same model PRXIX with contra rotating props I remember posting it on here a while back.
My late father was on PR in a IX Spit with the Merlin for a while he never flew the Griffon engined planes.
Thanks for that clarification but it seems not all were single prop and I seem to remember the Shakletons had the Griffon with contra rotating props.
We saw them flying out of Ysterplaat SAAF base in Cape Town when we were picking up stores from there. They had Harvards too and that was nice as that was the last step in conversion to Spits for my Dad and many others in the war.
2009 4/4 Sport Henrietta 1999 Indigo Blue +8 2009 4/4 Sport Green prev 1993 Con Green +8 prev