Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Wishlist => Topic started by: Bronk on September 02, 2009, 03:48:24 PM
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All that needs doing is change the .50 cal to .303 on the XVI.
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I think you mean IXc, it was the E wing which contained .50cals. ;)
I would love a LF IX- for some people it's a difficult concept that a XVI is simply a IX, built in the US, with US tooling.
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You just want to mess with people. :)
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You just want to mess with people. :)
Me? Perish the thought.
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All that needs doing is change the .50 cal to .303 on the XVI.
And the engine down rated.
http://ram-home.com/ram-old/spitfire-9.html
With the arrival of the Fw 190A on the Channel coast late in 1941 the RAF faced a serious dilemma. The new German fighter outclassed the Spitfire Mk.V on nearly every count, so the need for an improved Spitfire variant became paramount. But it was also felt that the introduction of a radically changed development would take too long and seriously interrupt production and operations at a critical stage of the war. So an interim solution had to be chosen, which was basically a more powerful Mk.V and could be produced and delivered to the squadrons with the least possible delay.
This interim type was designated Spitfire Mk.IX and consisted of a basic Mk.V airframe married to a two-speed two-stage supercharged Merlin 61 engine rated at 1,565hp which drove a four-blade Rotol propeller. Apart from the changes necessary to install this engine no other changes were made to the basic Spitfire V airframe. Externally the Spitfire IX could be distinguished from its predecessor by its four-blade propeller, the six individual exhaust stubs on each side, the symmetrical radiators under the wings and (late aircraft only) the enlarged vertical fin. These differences normally could not be recognized at combat range which provided Spitfire IX pilots with some tactical advantage at first, when their machines were mistaken for the inferior Spitfire Vs by their adversaries. The Mk.IX entered service with the RAF in July 1942. Later in its service life this variant was employed primarily as a fighter-bomber, having been replaced as an interceptor by Spitfire models with Rolls-Royce Griffon engines.
Depending on the particular version of the Merlin fitted, the Spitfire IX was built in three sub-types:
L.F.Mk.IX, a low-altitude fighter with 1,580hp Merlin 66 (4,010 built)
F.Mk.IX, a medium-altitude fighter with 1,565hp Merlin 61 or 1,650hp Merlin 63 (1,255 built)
H.F.Mk.IX, a high-altitude fighter with 1,475hp Merlin 70 (400 built)
The L.F.s frequently had clipped wings, which improved performance at low altitudes, but apart from this feature the three sub-types were externally indistinguishable.
As with the Spitfire V the wing/armament layout was denoted by a suffix letter to the designation. Besides the "B" (only on a few early machines) and "C" wings already used on the Mk.V the Spitfire IX introduced the so-called "E" wing. This wing had the two 7.7mm machine guns replaced by a single 12.7mm Browning gun. This gun was installed in what had been the inner cannon bay of the "C" wing and the 20mm cannon was moved to the outboard position. So the total of 5,665 Spitfire IXs delivered consisted of the following sub-types (source: Profile Publications, No.206):
L.F.Mk.IXB, L.F.Mk.IXC, L.F.Mk.IXE
F.Mk.IXB, F.Mk.IXC, F.Mk.IXE
H.F.Mk.IXC, H.F.Mk.IXE
In later years some Spitfire IXs depending on their role received the designations F.B.Mk.IX (fighter-bomber), F.R.Mk.IX (fighter-reconnaissance), T.T.Mk.IX (target towing) or MET.Mk.IX (meteorological). A further development of the Spitfire IX and the last major production variant (1,054 built from 1944 onwards) with Merlin engine was the Spitfire L.F.Mk.XVIC or E (with a Packard-built Merlin 266 of 1,705hp), a fighter-bomber which in its later versions had a cut-down rear fuselage and an all-round-vision cockpit canopy (one source quotes that this modification was made on some late Spitfire IXs also).
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Bustr, the merlin 66 (and 266) has a 2 speed, 2 stage supercharger- this has 2 critical altitudes, with differnet amounts of power available at them. For some reason the author has quoted the stop speed in MS gear for the LF IX, but FS gear for the XVI.
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bustr, that website is so full of inaccuracies it's scary.
F IXc - Never officially a designation for the 'c' wing F IX. Just plain F IX.
F IXe - Don't belive any F IX ever flew with an 'e' wing. (Been replaced by LF IX by May 1944, 1st use of the 'e' wing)
F IXb - Bet you he is getting confused by the pilots 'nicknames' for the F IX and LF IX in their log books.
A Merlin 61 F IX was quite often referred to as a IXA in pilot log books.
A Merlin 66 Spit was quite often referred to as a IXB in pilot log books.
Dan (Guppy) can tell you how much Spit VIII pilots loved there VIIIB's. (i.e Spit with Merlin 66)
LF IXc / LF IXe - More than likely just LF IX and LF IXe.
LF XVIc - Nope, XVIs were all LF so the LF designation wasn't needed. Only a handfull of early XVI had the 'c' wing (for a short time). In this case as all were regarded as 'e' wings the e was dropped also. So it was quite simply a Spitfire XVI.
LFs = Frequently clipped wings. Totally wrong.
LF designated the altitude range that the Merlin was best suited for (not wing tip type).
There were unclipped LF's, and conversely there were clipped F's and HF's.
As has been pointed out -
LF IX = XVI without .50cals
LF IXe = XVI (only difference is where the Merlin was produced).
[edit] It appears that after the V's the 'c' designation for a wing was dropped as it became the standard wing for Spits up to the introduction of the 'e' wing in May/June 44. After this only Spits with 'e' wings were given a wing type designation.
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And the engine down rated.
The power quoted in your block of text is wrong. As a matter of fact, the Spitfire Mk XVI in AH is powered by a Merlin 66, not a Merlin 266, as is revealed by it's performance curves. The Spitfire Mk XVI in AH is a Spitfire LF.Mk IXe, not a Spitfire Mk XVI. The Spitfire Mk VIII in AH is also powered by a Merlin 66.
If the Spitfire Mk XVI were powered by a Merlin 266 its critical altitude would be 1000ft higher than the Spitfire Mk VIII's, but they are they same.
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Snip
Think you should have a look here.
http://www.spitfireperformance.com/spitfire-IX.html
You are just a bit off. :O
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Spitfire thread. :aok
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Kev is correct on the Wing designations. The A, B and C Wings were all used on the Spitfire V. The "C" wing was the Universal wing and the Spitfire IX was produced with this wing from the beginning as was the Spitfire VII, VIII, XII and XIV. With the introduction of the E wing with the 2 50 cals there was a wing designation added to the IX, XVI and XIV. Pilots in their logbooks noted the changed from XIV to XIVe for example. The VII and XII never had an E wing being they were only limited production runs.
Bustr's quote about the "C" wing vs "E" wing is also wrong as the internal structure of the E Wing was different from the C Wing. While the C or Universal wing was set up to either have 4 303s, 4 20mms or 2 20mm and 4 303s, The E Wing was not built that way. It only had the 2 50s and 2 20s.
A long winded debate on this about 5 years ago or so on the Flypast Forum. The proof is in the image as well The photo below is from the official publications on the Spit IX/XVI. Note the sentence "The Mk XVI is the designation given to the Mk IX airframe when fitted with an American built Merlin engine."
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=20000&page=2
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s199/guppy35/email0214.jpg)
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HFIXe's of 124 Squadron RAF. Merlin 70 engines
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s199/guppy35/HFIXe.jpg)