Anyone fancy a Spitfire?

TaKeN said:
Dad always claimed that there's something similar at RAF Shawbury. Lots of stuff was bulldozed and buried there.

Would be very very interesting to dig it up!
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I think it may have had something to do with the Lend-Lease agreement with which they were acquired from the USA. I remember being told that at the end of WW2 the Royal Navy pushed most of it's F4U Corsair fighters off the back of their carriers into the sea as the Americans did not want them back, while the British could not afford to pay for the upkeep of the fighters so they were just pushed off into sea. While this is not the case with the Spitfires it may the why these Jeeps and other things were buried.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
It makes you wonder what the UK could come up with today given a blank cheque ? Could they build something to rival the F22 ? The ingenuity has always been there.
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Didn't Britain have a lot of input in the Concorde and harrier? They were pretty special. Although not exactly recent.
 
It's the price that must be paid for that P&W Double Wasp engine.

Most high performance prop planes suffer from it though, even the later mark Spits were fitted with counter-rotating propeller to counter it.
 
While I've (obviously) not flown in either, I have sat in a genuine Spitfire (MH434) and a Corsair (the one owned by Graham Warner). Cramped is a good word for fighter cockpits. Even modern jets.
 
Meridian said:
While I've (obviously) not flown in either, I have sat in a genuine Spitfire (MH434) and a Corsair (the one owned by Graham Warner). Cramped is a good word for fighter cockpits. Even modern jets.
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I guess we can now call you an Ace. :D
 
Crafty said:
Most spitfires were made at the Castle Bromwich factory, near Birmingham (later became the Rover car factory).
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No it didn't; after Spitfire and Lancaster production ceased in 1946 it was taken over by Fisher and Ludlow who wre sheet metal pressers for Triumph and Morris. In the early 50s they became part of the British Leyland Group as Pressed Steel Fisher. The plant was then taken over by Jaguar in 1980 who still run it to this day.

Just by the plant is a roundabout which holds probably my favourite sculpture of all time.

SpitfireIsland.jpg
 
I'm so pleased about that as the thought of Spitfire building Dudes ending up as Rover builders makes my head hurt.
 
I bought a book on the Spitfire from it first being thought of through to production and until they stopped making them. It's an awesome read.

Interesting that when the Fw-190 came along it was a superior plane to the Spit and it had to be updated to match. That might have been the mk IX version as a result.
 
Looking forward to this.
If the actual finds are as good as the rumours and suggestions it will be quite spectacular.
 
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