were there ever any spit9's in the pacific?

[Citabria]

Ive found references and pictures of spit5's seafires apitXIV's but no spit9's in the pacific.

were there ever any? even a few?

[thrila]

None as far as i know.  Though there were spit VIIIs that many pilots prefered over the the IX.

[Furball]

yeah the Spit VIII's were sent to pacific.  IX's kept in europe.

Entering service in August 1943, the Spitfire VIII combined the best of the engine and airframe advances made over the preceeding years. Some were powered by the Merlin 70, some by the Merlin 61 or 63, and some with the Merlin 66. C-type wings (which could accommodate either two cannon, one cannon and two machine guns, or four machine guns) were used on many of the Mk VIII's, along with added fuel tanks, while many late-production aircraft featured a pointed rudder. In many ways the Mk VIII was the best of the Spitfires, but as it never saw service in Northern Europe, its capabilities largely went unrecognized. There were two reasons for this: firstly it was overtaken by events, being overshadowed by the numerically later, but operationally earlier, Mk IX; secondly, the performance-reducing Vokes filter fitted to the tropical Mk VC was long gone. Filters were now incorporated in the intake as standard, which made the Mk VIII eminently suitable for hot climes, and they were all sent overseas. Two interesting modifications were tried on individual Mk VIII's: the first was a six-bladed, contra-rotating propeller; the second was a teardrop canopy to improve the pilot's rearward view. Both these features were adopted as standard on later production variants.
Production: (Merlin 70) 160; (Merlin 61/63) 267; (Merlin 66) 1,231

[Guppy35]

Spit VIII was 'tropicalized' for the Med and the Far East.  Spit IX was kept for home use only at first, although some did make it to the Med.  VIIIs saw extensive use in China Burma India as well as with the Aussie AF.

Performance was similar to the IX but the VIII was more refined and the better of the two aircraft because of this according to Jeffrey Quill.

Spit Vcs were the first in the Pacific with the Aussies too.  Some Spit XIV made it at the end of the war.

The profile is one I did of a Spitfire VIII of 79 Squadron that was flown by F/L Barney Newman who'd flown Spit XIIs with 41 Squadron in England before returning home.  He was killed in a strafing run in August of 45 in the Halhameras Islands.

Dan/Slack