AH Spitfire Mk. IX Engine and Armament

[funkedup]

I'm very sensitive and you have wounded my inner dweebfire!!!  

[Tony Williams]

Originally posted by Freelancer:


What I'd be interested in seeing is the Hurricane Mk. IID. It was reported to have 30mm cannon and in some cases 40mm, for exclusive use in ground attack as the Hurc became more obsolete during the war. The Mk. IIDs served in the mediterrainian theater, if I recall.

Two 40mm Vickers Class S guns with fifteen-round drum magazines.  They served in North Africa, SE Asia and even Russia (where the confused Russians tried to use them for air combat - not very successfully!).

There's an article and pictures about the Vickers, including the experimental Littlejohn squeezebore version, on my website

Tony Williams
Author: Rapid Fire - The Development of Automatic Cannon, Heavy Machine Guns and their Ammunition for Armies, Navies and Air Forces.
Details on my military gun and ammunition website: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~autogun/

[straffo]

Originally posted by funkedup:
Remember not all the XVI's had the bubble canopy.  The one in my first post for example.

I do like the French one pictured above though!

what french plane ??
they all have brit marking no ?

[funkedup]

I think this one has the markings of one of the French RAF squadrons.

 

I could be wrong.  

[GRUNHERZ]

Stop posting such ugly picures!!!  There might be children reading these pages, do you want to make them blind????    

[funkedup]

Straffo I was wrong.  I have another picture of that plane where it looks like it has a badge that I've seen on 341 Sqn planes.  But it's actually the 41 Sqn badge which is fairly similar.

[ 07-02-2001: Message edited by: funkedup ]

[straffo]

Originally posted by funkedup:
Straffo I was wrong.  I have another picture of that plane where it looks like it has a badge that I've seen on 341 Sqn planes.  But it's actually the 41 Sqn badge which is fairly similar.

[ 07-02-2001: Message edited by: funkedup ]

Yep  
The 341 was one on my virtual squad  

Escadrille de chasse n°1 (disbanded the 01/09/41) (Africa)

 03/41-08/41  Hawker Hurricane

Groupe de Chasse n°1 "Alsace" (Africa)

 09/41-01/42  Morane-Salunier 406
 09/41-01/42  Dewoitine 520
 09/41-01/42  Curtiss H-75
 01/42-10/42  Hawker Hurricane

341 Squadron (Europe)

 29/01/43-18/03/43  Spitfire mkV
 20/03/43-10/43  Spitfire mkIX
 10/43-02/44  Spitfire mkV
 02/44-03/45  Spitfire mkIX
here nothing is sure  
 29/06/44-  Spitfire mkXIV (?)
 03/45-  Spitfire mkXVI
 
Markings
Group :  
Flight A :  
Flight B :  

the crest :  

[funkedup]

Yep both 41 and 341 have a vertical bar with two crosses on their badge.

 

[ 07-02-2001: Message edited by: funkedup ]

[straffo]

The cross come from the Anjou cross my original region if ever you come to France be sure to visit Angers and around It's simply the best place to live ... lot of good foof & wine and the climat is GREAT      
 http://www.ville-angers.fr/

in bonus you can visit the king of Poland house,the castle of the king René
 
The cross was used as a "symbol" by the bon roi Réné (king of Anjou and a lot of others places from italia to Jerusalem ... and Praha (Prague))

       
       

Have a look to (I know you can read french      ) http://www.multimania.com/abauge/lacroix2.htm

     
<edit>transformed this post in advertissement for Angers  

[ 07-02-2001: Message edited by: straffo ]

[ 08-08-2001: Message edited by: straffo ]

[funkedup]

Thanks for the info!

Here is what RAF has to say about the cross on the 41 Sqn badge:
 

The badge originated from the Squadron's association with St Omer, France during World War I, the cross being part of the town's arms.

I wonder if it is the same cross then?

[straffo]

It's perhaps related to the order of the Templier ...
I will search a bit tomorrow ...

[Guppy35]

The Spit XVI with the silver and red markings and the 41 Squadron crest is based on an actual paint scheme that was carried on a postwar 41 Squadron Spitfire 21.  I corresponded with and met a number of former 41 squadron Spit drivers and they are quite proud of that Cross of Lorraine.  For the Spit fanatics if any of you have Spitfire at War:2 by Alfred Price, you'll even see the 41 Squadron crest on a 79 Squadron RAAF Spit VIII as it is pictured in the book(page 83) and is the mount of a former 41 Squadron Spit XII driver who was killed in the last days of the Pacific war.

As for the Spit, if you really want to be representative you'd probably want the LFIXE since it was the most produced and was in combat from roughly 44 on if not a bit sooner.  The XVI is essentially the exact same as the LFIXE.  Both were used in the ground attack role in particular post D-Day.

And of course there were the low level attacks in Holland against V2 sites as well as the famous run by 6 602 Squadron LFXVIEs against the V2 research facilities in the Hague.

Of course for the scenario fans, the LFIXE makes sense too since the Russians received 1186 LFIXEs in 44-45.  Not that the Luftwaffe junkies would want to see all those Spits in a Russian based scenario  

Dan

[funkedup]

Shane Lechler

[Angus]

Bringing the Hurricane into this thread again, I read a book by a Hurry pilot who served in Burma. When supplied with Hurry2B's they were horrified with this 12 gun fiddle and had 4 of them removed to restore the Hurricanes maneuverability.  Guess you could call that a Hurricane 2A then. Would like to try that one, would be a bit faster then the Hurricane 1...