PINK SPITFIRE

[stona]

How did the PR Spits differ from standard ones? The AZ Model box art looks like it's a fairly unmodified Mk. I except for the camera behind the canopy (on both sides?). Weird wing roundel position, too.

There were numerous variations of PR Spitfires. Many but not all were unarmed. They carried fuel and cameras in all sorts of positions, including under wing blisters.

The one on the box art is a Type G. This type retained the eight machine gun armament and laminated 'armoured' glass windshield. It had a 29 gallon fuel tank fitted behind the pilot's seat. It carried an obliquely mounted F.24 camera with a 14" focal length behind the cockpit looking either to port or starboard. It carried two more F.24s looking downwards, one with a 5" and the other a 14" focal length.

The oblique mounted F.24 was used for photographing from altitudes below 2,000ft. The downward looking F.24 with the 5" lens was used between 2,000 and 10,000ft. The final, downward looking, F.24 with the 14" lens was used above 10,000ft.

The aircraft were to photograph from just below the cloud base and this camera set up allowed considerable flexibility. The pale pink camouflage was discovered to be more effective than either the early 'Camotint' (identical to Sky) or the later PR Blue for these operations.

PR units seem to have been a law unto themselves so far as national and other markings went. They were often of odd sizes and in odd positions or omitted altogether.

Cheers

Steve

[The Migrant]

Thanks Steve, I need to do a bit more research as to the placement of the various cameras etc, but that's a very helpful overview. I have an Airfix Spit I in the stash and like the look of the pink scheme...

[stona]

Camera installation.





And the regulation markings for PR Spitfires, but they don't always seem to have followed them.



EDIT:

I think you may have mentioned the odd, inboard, roundel position.



Cheers

Steve

[spanner570]

I remember there being a pink Spitfire displayed at the entrance to an airfield near Harlech and close to what is now Shell Island, on the West Wales coast. I believe this airfield was used for training pilots during WW2 - over to you Steve - and I remember seeing the aircraft as I drove past on my way for a spot of surfing down on the Llyn Peninsula during the '60s

The spit is long gone now, but it was a strange sight sat there on the grass.

[stona]

Llanbedr airfield?

I don't know which Spitfire that would have been. They were all brought in from the xold in the 1970s, sometimes replaced with replicas, because the newly formed BBMF needed spares and because someone figured out that they were becoming valuable

Cheers

Steve

[spanner570]

Llanbedr airfield?I don't know which Spitfire that would have been. They were all brought in from the xold in the 1970s, sometimes replaced with replicas, because the newly formed BBMF needed spares and because someone figured out that they were becoming valuable

Cheers

Steve

That's the place Steve...It was a fair time ago and the aircraft was some distance away from the main road, but it deffo. was a very pale pink Spitfire....can't add much more, but the airfield is spot -on!

[flyjoe180]

Another difference between the regular Mk1 and the Mk1G is the canopy. The main hood has bulges either side. Falcon Canopies do a vacformed replacement for a Mk1G conversion in 1/72

[eddiesolo]

Some great info regarding this type of aircraft, thanks to Steve.

So, anybody having a crack at one?

Si

[Guest]

ive got a tin but it will cost him

That's a clever bit of photography. I'm trying to think how to do it (the tartan bit). Any ideas? (And it looks like my family tartan: Mackay.)

One way could be to print the design on to transparent plastic, place it in position on some water and over the bristles, and clone some clean bristles over the fuzzy edge.

[PaulTRose]

steve, photoshop is a wonderful thing

[The Migrant]

Some great info regarding this type of aircraft, thanks to Steve.So, anybody having a crack at one?

Si

I plan to, I have a Mk. I kit so I guess I just need that vac canopy.

Here's another question for the Spit buffs. Steve's colour profile shows sooty trails from the cannon ports, right across the underside span. I often see models with heavy trails, both above and below the wings. Are these authentic?

[Ian M]

I will be careful and say sort of. The guns did give off 'soot' when used but on landing and prep, they would of been cleaned down as good as possible. A dirty aircraft is a slow aircraft...and all that.

I think that most modellers do it to show its a fighter and has just done a sortie. Some do it very well some a bit heavy. ( ops: ) So yes its often there but often shown just a bit heavy.

Well thats my take on the matter.

And Yes I could find myself doing one.

Ian M

[Guest]

I plan to, I have a Mk. I kit so I guess I just need that vac canopy.Here's another question for the Spit buffs. Steve's colour profile shows sooty trails from the cannon ports, right across the underside span. I often see models with heavy trails, both above and below the wings. Are these authentic?

Most definitely not; a combination of grease and gun residue often came out of the ejection slots underneath, creating streaks, but the ammunition did not use black powder, so over-wing emissions were minimal.

During times of high use, as in 1940, it could happen, but the standard interval, between services (when, among other items, residue was cleaned off and paint repaired) was 25 hours, or around 12 flights, which would have included some without any contact with the enemy, so you need to ask yourself how many rounds would be fired, and how the armourer could get the self-adhesive fabric patches to stick to a mucky surface.

[stona]

You see a lot of nice clean ones:





But sometimes evidence of the sort of deposits Edgar describes.





A forced landing behind enemy lines, definitely not cleaned !



These are all fighters. A 'pink' PR Spitfire would only use its armament as a last resort, they were not there to fight, they were there to take photographs and bring them back. You have to ask how likely is it that my PR Spitfire has been engaged in combat?

Cheers

Steve

[The Migrant]

Thanks for those replies to my question. When I do my pink Spit I'll keep it clean...