Originally posted by Squire
So what was that Guppy a IXE wing with 4 303s and 2 20mm? Or is it a IXC with a modified wing that carries bomb racks? I beleive you posted on that before, that a few IXCs did carry wing bombs, although not as standard? N. Africa wasnt it?
The E wing was capable of carrying 2 20mm and 4 303s. Its just they normally did not. Seems thats likely the answer, especially May 44 when the E wing was coming into service but some perhaps were not armed yet with the .50 calibers.
Wheel blisters:
"According to Rolf Meum, who has accumulated 100+ hrs of Spitfire flying with the Old Flying Machine Company, Duxford, the teardrop-shaped blisters above the wheel wells correlate to a modified wheel axle geometry adapted to tarmac/concrete runway operation; the original "grassfield" undercarriage has a substantial toe-in which results in severe wear on the port mainwheel when flying from tarmac/concrete airfields. With the modification the wheels no longer lie flat in the wheel wells and need more space. This may explain why the blisters are frequently seen on surviving warbirds and other post-war Spitfires while being rare on pictures taken during the war."
So it looks like they may be correct. Who knows as to the rarity.
E wing was a July entry at earliest and it was purely an E wing, no provisions for the 4 303s. That was the Universal Wing or "C" wing as everyone calls it.
So this is a Universal Wing with the three hard points in May of 44.
The other photos I saw of Universal Wing Spits with wing racks were in the MTO and in late 44-45 so I assumed they were field mods, but this photo seems to imply they were doing it earlier at least in small numbers as this was from a Polish Wing that was flying lots of bombing runs in May 44 and afterwards.
