Spitfire wing tips

[Guppy35]

Jacko Andrieux is the guy second from left.  Jean Maridor is standing behind the German Shepard with his hands in front showing.  Johnnie Round on his left and Easby on his right all of 91 Squadron.  The Shepard is Ray Harries dog.  Joe Birbeck of 41 is on Jacko's right.  Birbeck lied about his age and got in a 16.  Herb Wagner is on Jacko's left.  Wag was an American flying with 41 Squadron.

[gripen]

Thanks Mike and Dan. I was thinking Jean Maridor; there is a site dedicated for him and there is also something on Jacques Andrieux.

http://www.jean-maridor.org/

[Angus]

I do recall reading a pilot's account of allowing 190s bounce their XII's because they were so confident of their spitfires superiority.

That was Harris. I have that in a book somewhere...I`ll dig it up for you

[Guppy35]

That was Harris. I have that in a book somewhere...I`ll dig it up for you

<Smacks Angus for not reading the replies>  Wing Leader, Johnnie Johnson 

[Guppy35]

Thanks Mike and Dan. I was thinking Jean Maridor; there is a site dedicated for him and there is also something on Jacques Andrieux.

http://www.jean-maridor.org/

There are a lot of great Maridor stories going back to his early days with 91 Squadron.  He was apparently a great practical joker that had the guys on edge all the time waiting for his next prank.  The story of his death was that he was out of ammo chasing a Diver (V-1) and it was headed for a Hospital.  He deliberately rammed the V-1 destroying it, and himself.  He died 8 days before he was supposed to be married.

Andrieux finished up as a French Air Force General and wrote a couple of books about his experiences.  I had a chance to correspond with him briefly back in the mid 80s.  I have a bunch of photos of his DFC ceremony I got from another 91 pilot.  Both had kills in the Spit XII

[SgtPappy]

I've seen pilots carry 500 pounders in the Spit XII's before... were the XII's fresh out the factory with the option to mount wing hardpoints with no modification? How about the Mk.VIII? I've seen VIII's with such wing racks too, but never checked if they had those wing racks as an actual, out-of-factory option.

Karnak,
The only reason I'm not flying the Mosquito is because I wish for it to be fully updated first. I feel uncomfortable in non-updated planes.

[Guppy35]

I've seen pilots carry 500 pounders in the Spit XII's before... were the XII's fresh out the factory with the option to mount wing hardpoints with no modification? How about the Mk.VIII? I've seen VIII's with such wing racks too, but never checked if they had those wing racks as an actual, out-of-factory option.

Karnak,
The only reason I'm not flying the Mosquito is because I wish for it to be fully updated first. I feel uncomfortable in non-updated planes.

The only photos out there of Spit XIIs are all MB878 during the trials with bombs.  They never carried them operationally.  91 squadron flew practice dive bombing sorties on two different occasions. They lost one Spit when the wings buckled pulling out when the bomb didn't come off.  This was a problem with the Spit IXs with the universal wings too.  The E Wing was strengthened because of this problem.

I don't believe the Spit VIII came from the factory with bomb racks.  The production run never saw the E wing added and I imagine was finished before the E wing started showing up on the IXe, XIVe and XVIe so any wing racks would have been field mods. 

[Shifty]

I don't have a dog in this hunt, but I do have a question about the clipped wing changing the flight model.
Doesn't the flight model change on aircraft in the sim already as in the case of the  BF-109G-6 when you take the R6 version with the wing gondolas?

Just asking...

[MiloMorai]

Dan,

in the image you posted of the Mk V wing tip it shows 4 lugs for the screws to attach the tip but the text from the manual says only 2 screws per tip. Did they mean 2 screws per side (as in top and bottom)? thanks

[Mike Williams]

Thanks for the interesting link Harri.  I wish there was more published information about the Free French Spitfire units and their pilots.  I have the Mouchotte Diaries which was an interesting read.  I’m not a big fan of Clostermann, but he wrote some good, if somewhat fanciful at times, stories. I’ve also obtained copies of Combat Reports and Operations Record Books for 340, 341, 326 and 327 Squadrons but I wish someone would write a book on this subject and give it some life.  Anyone have any tips on good bio’s or units histories for the Free French units?

Thanks for the additional info Dan.

[Angus]

That was Harris. I have that in a book somewhere...I`ll dig it up for you

Sorry, didn+t see that. Anyway, I was betting on Johnnie or Duncan Smith.
Have Wing leader, nice read.
BTW Johnny mentions "beer" runs to Normandy in that book. 65th sqn did that as well, but not by strapping kegs to a Spitfire, but by using specialized (coated on the inside) droptanks on a Mustang. Result: much more beer. One tank dark ale, one tank light ale

[Guppy35]

Thanks for the interesting link Harri.  I wish there was more published information about the Free French Spitfire units and their pilots.  I have the Mouchotte Diaries which was an interesting read.  I’m not a big fan of Clostermann, but he wrote some good, if somewhat fanciful at times, stories. I’ve also obtained copies of Combat Reports and Operations Record Books for 340, 341, 326 and 327 Squadrons but I wish someone would write a book on this subject and give it some life.  Anyone have any tips on good bio’s or units histories for the Free French units?

Thanks for the additional info Dan.

When I was hunting the XII stuff, Andreieux was kind enough to send me a copy of his book.  Trouble was I don't read French!   Agreed on the Mouchotte Diaries.  I have a little paperback that's also in French that is a small photo history of the French Spits.  "Les Spitfire Francais" by Claude Pierquet.  Nice photos, but again, the captions give me trouble

[Mike Williams]

Hi Dan, great tips on the books – thanks!   Which book did Andrieux send you?  I found two titles by Jacques Andrieux;  LE CIEL ET L'ENFER, FRANCE LIBRE 1940-1945 and Une poignee d'as.   I’m wondering if they may be the same book, the latter a reprint of the former under different title?  I just ordered Le ciel et l'enfer.  It appears to be a diary of sorts, not unlike Mouchotte’s book.  Une poignee d'as appears to be hard to come by. 

[Angus]

So the diaries of Rene Mouchotte are available?
No wonder of his form, he died in WW2. Clostermann flew with him if I recall correctly.

[Mike Williams]

Hi Angus. There are plenty of them at ABE Books, inexpensive too.  I know that both Mouchotte and Clostermann were with 341 (Free French) Squadron at Biggin Hill flying Spitfire IXs during the summer of 1943.

Here’s a couple of their combat reports that might be of interest:

R. Mouchotte, 17 May 43

P. Clostermann, 27 July 43

I just noticed in the appendices of Mouchotte’s book another book mentioned along the same lines that may be of interest -  La vieille équipe by Bernard Dupérier (looks good, I’ll have to get that one).

Another somewhat related book, i.e. Spitfire LF IX (Merlin 66) equipped units flying out of Biggin Hill during the summer of 1943, is Johnny Checketts’ book.  He was with 485 (New Zealand) Squadron which flew with 341 Squadron as the Biggin Hill wing.   Here’s one of Checketts’ Combat Reports J. Checketts, 9 August 43 that may be of interest.