Spitfire Piccies

[delta7]

Some nice pictures of oneof the , if not the , most beautiful plane ever made

http://www.ukar.co.uk/cgi-bin/ukarboard ... 36;t=13740

[Blairgowrie]

So how come you like to fly that German crap all the time?

[delta7]

So how come you like to fly that German crap all the time?

because I started out on original IL2 by flying Bf 109s and have stuck with it. By the time we got spits- Aces addon I think- it was a long time before we got decent off line campaigns so I stuck with 109s.

went online and everyone flew red so I flew blue to balance teams so Im stuck with them. about the only red I fly outside our co-ops are spits - cant get the hang of mustang or thunderbolt although for some reason the lightning is ok

[Dubbo]

Nice pics. Nice plane. Except for the twin seater. Some things just should never be done. That is one of those things. Unfortunately it's probably the only chance, as slim as it is, that most of us would ever get a flight in one.

[JensenPark]

pretty cool!

don't often see Spit V or clipped wing ones.

thanks...

[Blairgowrie]

I think some chickie owns the two seater Spit or at least flies it. I think I saw it when I visited Duxford last summer.

Rog would know.

[B16Enk]

I think some chickie owns the two seater Spit or at least flies it. I think I saw it when I visited Duxford last summer.

Rog would know.

Carolyn Grace, she crashed it whislt taxiing at Duxford into a helicopter, writing off the helicopter and causing £100k damage to the Spit.

Whilst the two seat conversion seems blasphemous, it did save the aircraft from being scrapped and has contributed to more people getting Spitfire rating in similarly adapted airframes.

Dug this up from Aviation Today:

September 1, 2003

Restoration: Carolyn Grace’s Stellar Spitfire

The legacy of one of World War II’s most famous fighters is kept alive by owner and pilot Carolyn Grace and a dedicated group of enthusiasts.

By Thierry Dubois, European Contributing Editor

Carolyn Grace has been flying a Spitfire, notably at airshows, for more than 10 years. She took over from her husband Nick Grace in the early 1990s, a short period of time after he died in a road accident. Nick had rebuilt Supermarine Spitfire serial number ML407. He even designed a special, nice-looking canopy for the two-seat conversion. Since, Carolyn has successfully striven to keep the aircraft flying. Thanks to a team of skilled enthusiasts, ML407 is now maintained in flight condition after having made it through an amazing history during World War II.

In 1979, Nick Grace heard of the sale by the Strathallan Museum of two two-seat conversions of the Supermarine Spitfire. These two were Mk IXs, "just what he wanted," Carolyn Grace told Aviation Maintenance. He bought both and brought them to Cornwall, where the couple was living at the time. There, the aircraft found a home in St. Merryn Airfield, in a small shed. He then started the rebuild.

Nick Grace had a significant background in "working with machinery," as Carolyn put it. He used to have a Rolls-Royce car workshop. He also had designed, built, and raced racing cars. When Nick started the rebuild, "the fuselage was as one," Carolyn said. However, Nick had to re-rivet a significant part of it. All internal parts were in boxes. Strathallan had started to disassemble the parts in order to rebuild ML407.

But Nick wanted to do a complete rebuild by himself. "He took all parts apart, back to bare metal, and put them on to jigs," Carolyn said. All parts were treated with modern anti-corrosive products. "He did a good job, as I have never had any corrosion problem," she said.

Once the fuselage was rebuilt, he put the systems in it. Some 80 percent are original. "Original fuel pipes did not meet modern safety standards," Carolyn said. The wiring, hoses, and all the copper piping had to be replaced to comply with modern standards. "Some of the original piping might have been cleaned but this was too tough a job," Carolyn pointed out. Apart from that, only the radio and the transponder are not original equipment. For example, the compass is a wartime instrument. The battery, obviously, is not original. On the contrary, "the painting is the original scheme," Carolyn said.

The propeller hub is original, but the blades were built in the late 1980s. Hoffman, in Germany, still builds them. History is sometimes ironic: a German company now builds some components of the Messerschmit 109’s chief enemy!

Early in the rebuild, Nick got in touch with Dick Melton, a licensed maintenance technician who was experienced in working on Spitfires. He now works with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. According to Carolyn, he was very helpful throughout the rebuild, giving advice on aircraft airworthiness. One of his first jobs was to help Nick identify and inspect every part.

Being a two-seater, this particular aircraft was significantly more complicated to rebuild than a single-seater, as many systems were in double. In addition, the second canopy was considered horrible by Nick, Carolyn recalled. Not forgetting that the speed was down 20 percent when compared to the original single-seat version. "So Nick designed an in-line, two-seat conversion," Carolyn said.

Engine runs started in January 1985. Of course, the CAA came to inspect prior to flying. The rebuilt ML407 made its first flight on April 16, 1985. Some time before, the second Spitfire, serial number PV202, was sold "in order to provide us with some funds," Carolyn explained.

Nick had completed the rebuild and had been flying his Spitfire for three years (notably in airshows and other public exhibitions) when, on October 14, 1988, he died in a road accident. At the time, Nick and Carolyn’s two boys were respectively four and five years old.

"I wanted to keep the aircraft flying; it was a matter of keeping a Grace in the cockpit," Carolyn said. She had already been flying a Stampe for some time, so she just decided she would learn flying the Spitfire. She started learning in July 1990 and went solo after 4.5 hours of instruction. She had her first display authorization in 1991 at Walham Airfield.

Carolyn claims to be the only woman in the world to fly a Spitfire currently. According to her, between 35 and 40 of these warbirds are operational in the world, although 56 are airworthy. But the cost of keeping the aircraft flying is phenomenal, as Carolyn put it. So she has secured a sponsorship by insurance company AON, which had been supporting ML407 since January 1987. "Without them, we would not be flying," Carolyn said. Seven people (not including Carolyn) work on the Spitfire in their spare time. In addition, a supporters group is doing its best in order to bring in money. Most of the income comes from corporate usage, airshows, and film work.

Carolyn said she is happy with engine reliability. "Overhauls occur every 500 flight hours; we have done two, and the current engine has logged some 180 hours," Carolyn said. The engine uses 100LL avgas. She is also having a spare engine made by PNA Wood. According to her, the key components to remain operational are the engine, the propeller, ("ground clearance is very small, so you need a spare propeller"), and some undercarriage components.

Maintaining a Spitfire requires some special tooling, for the Merlin engine, for example. The Graces also designed and made special jacks and wing trestles to test gear retraction on the ground.

"Of all the Spitfires that are flying today, ML407 is the one with the highest number of takeoffs and landings, more than 1,800 since the rebuild," Carolyn said. She displays her aircraft "in average in 20 to 25 airshows a year, mostly in the United Kingdom." The Spitfire airshow business "is a competitive one," she added.

Fuel capacity is 160 gallons, "40 in the main tank and 60 in each wing," Carolyn said. This gives a three-hour endurance in cruise. The former ammunition bay is now used as a fuel tank, in order to compensate for the one that used to exist before the second seat was installed.

Carolyn described power settings as follows: cruise settings are 1950 rpm, +1 to 1.5 boost and give the Spitfire a speed of 205 knots. A typical display setting is 2400 rpm, +4 boost. This can reach 2650 rpm and +8 to 10 boost in tail chase formation flight. Oil pressure sits at 75 psi.

Speeds are around 65 knots at takeoff (a bit less on the grass, a bit more on tarmac runways), 150 knots at climb and 80 to 85 knots on final approach. Field length should be "650 meters at least in order to feel comfortable," she said. More important, runway width should be about 45 meters. "A 30-meter-wide runway is usable but not comfortable at all," Carolyn said. Crosswind limitation is 17 knots.

Both of her children have flown the airplane with an instructor. Carolyn’s will for "keeping a Grace in the cockpit" has now reasonable chances to be successful even in the long term.

Spitfire Serial Number ML407’s Amazing History

Nick Grace was two or three years into the rebuild of ML 407 when a historian came and discovered ML407’s fascinating background.

On April 29, 1944 Spitfire serial number ML407 was delivered to the 485 New Zealand Squadron. It was registered OU-V, where OU stood for the 485 Squadron. The "V" nicely matched the nickname of pilot Johnny "Vicky" Houlton. It was delivered by a woman pilot of the Air Transport Auxiliary, Jacky Moggridge. Many of the ferry pilots were women at the time.

On D-Day (June 6, 1944), ML407 was over Omaha Beach, France. There, it shot its first enemy. "ML407 was on the front line from delivery until the end of the war," Carolyn Grace noted. ML407 logged 176 operational sorties, some 200 combat hours, and 3.5 victories. "It was used mostly for ground strikes; it is miraculous she survived," Carolyn said. These ground strikes were called "strafing," meaning every enemy objective was bombed and/or machine-gunned.

When the 341 Free French Squadron of the Royal Air Force in Antwerp, Belgium lost all its aircraft in an attack, ML407 was transferred there. It was at the end of December, 1944 and Vicky Houlton was out training young pilots in an Operational Training Unit. The aircraft was available. In Antwerp, Jean de Deurne became ML407’s new pilot. Just after the transfer, an attack on the New Zealand Squadron, ML407’s former family, destroyed all its aircraft. Our hero then went successively to the 308 Polish Squadron in Gant, Belgium, the 349 Belgium Squadron" in Grimbergen, the 345 Free French Squadron in Schijndel, and finally the 322 Norwegian Squadron, in Schijndel as well. ML407 rejoined the 485 New Zealand Squadron on April 22, 1945.

ML407 was saved from being scrapped when Supermarine bought it in 1950. The reason for the purchase was an order from the Irish Air Corps for 20 advanced two-seat trainers. This was why a conversion to a twin-seat configuration was designed and made. The remodelled aircraft was first flown on July 24, 1951. Baldonnel, Ireland became ML407’s new base. There, it flew some 700 hours in ten years. It was grounded in 1960 and then used as a ground airframe for instruction purposes. It was stored disassembled at Baldonnel from 1962 to 1968 when it was sold on March 4 to N. Samuelson for use in the movie "Battle of Britain" (although it did not appear). The aircraft was sold in 1970 to Sir William Roberts and moved to Shoreham, from where it moved several times before it became part of the Strathallan Collection. The aircraft remained in storage in a disassembled state until Nick Grace bought it in 1979.

[delta7]

Truthfully guys- I know it doesnt look quiet right but how much would you give for a wee flight in it ????

Imagine at the controls of a spitfire

[Dubbo]

Truthfully guys- I know it doesnt look quiet right but how much would you give for a wee flight in it ????

Imagine at the controls of a spitfire

Yeah. I agree with you. It looks like there are more than one 2 seat conversion.

[JensenPark]

This is going on in Comox...just a short drive north of us in Victoria.

Going to head out soon.

Emann is coming to Victoria for a band trip...maybe I'll drag him along...

http://www.y2kspitfire.com/the_project.htm

[Arsenal]

If anyone ever comes to Atlanta, we can take a flight in a:

RAF Expediter

P-51

SBD

or

AT-6

Provided you have $500+ that is :thumbleft:

http://www.dixiewing.org/aircraft_rides/index.htm

[JensenPark]

$795 for 20 minutes in a Mustang?

They must think we are BG to ask for that kind of money.

[Blairgowrie]

You are all in my will.

[B16Enk]

You are all in my will.

Knowing you that is probably true...