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This week saw the 70th anniversary of the first Spitfire flight.

The importance of this iconic plane in helping this Island nation avoid a Nazi invasion cannot be overstated.

I used to live in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham where my mom still lives. This is where Spitfires were built during the War and its significance is acknowleged locally at The Spitfire pub and in the form of a huge sculpture featuring Spitfires with vapour trails entwined outside the Jaguar Car Plant.

The legendary Spitfire test pilot Alex Henshaw, now in his 80's, was present at the unveiling, and it was nice to see that he was up in the fighter again this week as part of the anniversary celebrations.

Attached files

very interesting Kram! The Spitfire Society Home Page

http://www.queenvic.demon.co.uk/gpig.htm

In 1940, when The Battle of Britain began, Hurricane and Spitfire pilots, suffering from burns were taken to what was to become the world famous hospital in East Grinstead. On the 20th of July 1941, some of these airmen were passing their time chatting in a newly erected hut at the hospital. One of them suggested forming a Club. Someone suggested the name “Guinea Pig Club”. Burns and reconstructive surgery was in its infancy. It was recognised by the burned airmen that much of the surgery was experimental.


If you want to get an american viewpoint

http://www.historybookshop.com/book-tem ... 1574888447

In 1941, before America entered World War II, determined young LeRoy Gover signed on with Britain's Royal Air Force to fly the plane of his dreams, the fast, sleek Spitfire. When America joined the fight, he transitioned to the powerful P-47 Thunderbolt. Former USAF pilot and aviation historian Philip D. Caine has skillfully selected from the young flyer's letters and diary entries to create a vivid portrait of the kind of man who helped win the war. A story of great courage, Spitfires, Thunderbolts, and Warm Beer is a testament to the many other brave men who served


It's the culture shock that makes it interesting.

Gee we even let the americans have a shot in them. After all somebody had to teach them how to fly properly:sneaky:

http://www.removablemedia.com/northweald/eagle1.htm

Some interesting links there LC and gmc.

Made me think of the old Canadian Air Force hospital which was about 2 miles from Castle Bromwich. It was only meant to be a temporary hospital but eventually became a maternity hospital after the War. My daughter was one of the last kids to be born there as it closed a couple of weeks after. It now has a housing estate built on it as does the old Spitfire aerodrome.

SnoozeControl wrote: Being affiliated with the USAF for many years, I've seen a lot of artwork of planes, and some of the best of the best were of Spitfires. They were actually giving away framed reproductions when the last base I worked at closed, but I figured they'd clash with all my kitten pictures.

(Joking! The only things on my apartment walls are photos of Uncle Kram. It's not an obsession. Really.)


No point in me sending you the pic of me grinning out of my Spitfire cockpit window in the middle of a victory roll then?

Clancy wrote: ....is that the one with you in the white scarf billowing majestically


That's the one - a limited edition and a veritable collectors item

I used to work for a Fine Art publisher who published the work of David Shepherd and Gerald Coulson, both great artists who have captured the magic of The Spitfire

Fantastic plane. Every august, the small airport near me has a RAFA air show and there is always spitfires doing there stuff....they fly right over my house and the sound is so unique you know what's coming.



CHECK THESE PICS OUT FROM THE SHOW...



www.ashtonlamont.co.uk/. ../015crw_5067.htm

Bez wrote: Fantastic plane. Every august, the small airport near me has a RAFA air show and there is always spitfires doing there stuff....they fly right over my house and the sound is so unique you know what's coming.



CHECK THESE PICS OUT FROM THE SHOW...



www.ashtonlamont.co.uk/. ../015crw_5067.htm


Some great pix there Bez.

It's always an arresting sight when you see a Spitfire. Despite what it represents it fills the average Brit with great pride.



The pix made me remember that I was particularly close to my Grandads brother and once I took him to RAF Cosford for the day to have a look at all the aircraft there.

He had worked on Lancaster bombers during the War and was momentarily transported back in time. I also remember him going very quiet as we passed the Japanese planes as his brother had fallen in Burma.

Bothwell is a very knowledgable historian, we were just discussing the war museum in london yesterday...so i mailed him this thread Kram. oh, and only last week i watched a two-hour programme on the blitz, i learned a lot. ..............Welcome to the Imperial War Museum.

London took a real hammering in the Blitz, but a fact that often goes unmentioned is that other cities came under attack too.

My hometown of Birmingham at the centre of the Industrial heartland was severely bombed night after night, especially with targets like the Spitfire factory. After hearing stories as a kid, I always think of my Mom emerging from her Air raid shelter and surveying the destruction and death around her as a young girl.

The first house I bought had an underground air raid shelter and an incredibly strong Andersen shelter in the garden which took forever to break up.

In the city centre they have recently erected a monument to acknowledge the many lives lost here in the Blitz. The bombing of nearby Coventry is better known due to the destruction of it's Cathedral

It's always an arresting sight when you see a Spitfire. Despite what it represents it fills the average Brit with great pride. - Quote Uncle Kram

Absolutely agree. Its a part of our heritage

Oh, what a cool link, Arnold!

Doodlebug!

The Hawker Typhoon. Not that great as a fighter but then there was no better way to make your average Jerry run for cover when he saw something with wings over France or in the desert campaign.



I like the Typhoon as well, great big brutal thing like a flying tank, as Scrat says, not a great fighter but an excellent ground attack plane. Alas there aren't any left flying, I would have liked to have heard its 24 cylinder 36 litre Napier Sabre engine!

Thank you dubs.

If this aircraft thread's extending, may I mention my favourite Canadian of all time, Wop May?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wop_May

I've read many biographies, but very few who came close to that man. Actually doing something useful with aircraft seems to have been his speciality.

I love going to airshows, and my favourite plane has allways been the Spitfire.

The sight of that eliptical wing is sheer beauty, whilst the sound of that merlin engine just sends shivers down my spine:)

Thank you Uncle Kram for the thread. And I totally agree with stewartcumming and Woppy. There are only a few things that really get me going. Right up there is the Spitfire. Whenever I see one, either on the ground or, rarely, in the air my eyes fill up.

Out of interest, I thought that they were made in Southampton- I guess they made them, or parts of them, all over.

JayDee wrote: Thank you Uncle Kram for the thread. And I totally agree with stewartcumming and Woppy. There are only a few things that really get me going. Right up there is the Spitfire. Whenever I see one, either on the ground or, rarely, in the air my eyes fill up.

Out of interest, I thought that they were made in Southampton- I guess they made them, or parts of them, all over.


You're probably right JayDee. Castle Bromwich would have been the final assembly and they were certainly tested there on the aerodrome. Incidentally, Vickers also produced the Lancaster here which is something I only discovered this week.

Supermarine was down south, but they decided to build a second production line at Castle Bromwich to meet production requirements, which was called the Shadow works. Both sites had their own engineers and test pilots, after the war Jaguar cars bought the Spitfire factory!:)

dubs wrote: Supermarine was down south, but they decided to build a second production line at Castle Bromwich to meet production requirements, which was called the Shadow works. Both sites had their own engineers and test pilots, after the war Jaguar cars bought the Spitfire factory!:)


The roundabout outside the Jaguar plant is known as Spitfire Island and this is the sculpture on the roundabout that I pass every night

Attached files

Uncle Kram wrote: The roundabout outside the Jaguar plant is known as Spitfire Island and this is the sculpture on the roundabout that I pass every night
It's an excellent sculpture Uncle, I've been by it a few times as well, the last time was a couple of weeks ago (when I went to that Chinese place on the Tyburn road) cheers! Dubs...:driving:

You can find out everything about it here!

www.angelfire.com/sd2/spitfirefactory/

Uncle Kram wrote: This week saw the 70th anniversary of the first Spitfire flight.

The importance of this iconic plane in helping this Island nation avoid a Nazi invasion cannot be overstated.

I used to live in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham where my mom still lives. This is where Spitfires were built during the War and its significance is acknowleged locally at The Spitfire pub and in the form of a huge sculpture featuring Spitfires with vapour trails entwined outside the Jaguar Car Plant.

The legendary Spitfire test pilot Alex Henshaw, now in his 80's, was present at the unveiling, and it was nice to see that he was up in the fighter again this week as part of the anniversary celebrations.
Let us not forget the Hurricane which with the sopwith camel holds the record for shooting down more enemy aircraft that any other aircraft in the world far more than the Spitfire

Yes Twizzel, you're absolutely right, it was the Hurricane that saved our bacon in 1940, though the Spitfire gets all the praise. Lots of people know of RJ Mitchell and his elegant design, not many know of Sir Sydney Camm, Designer for Hawker aircraft. He designed aircraft such as the biplanes Audax, fury and hind. The Hurricane, Typhoon, Tempest and Sea Fury. Also jets, the Hunter, P1127 which became the Harrier, and also had some design input into the Multi Role Combat Aircraft, (MRCA), which became the Tornado! Bloke was a genius!

BTW did you know how the Sopwith Camel got it's name?

There was a fairing built over the gun breeches, in the form of a hump!

Straight up...!

Suffolk was at the forefront of Bomber operations against Germany, when the US entered the war. The US Eighth air force, "The Mighty Eighth" was based in England, and at that time there were 22 airfields in Suffolk!

Bungay...310th and 446th bomb group.

Bury st Edmunds...47th, 322nd and 94th bomb group.

Debach...493rd bomb group.

Debden...4th fighter group.

Eye...490th bomb group.

Framlingham...95th and 390th bomb group.

Gt Ashfield...385th bomb group.

Halesworth...56th fighter group and 489th bomb group.

Honington...364th fighter group.

Horham...47th, 323rd and 95th bomb group.

Knettishall...388th bomb group.

Lavenham...487th bomb group.

Leiston...357th and 358th fighter group.

Martlesham Heath...356th fighter group.

Mendlesham...34th bomb group.

Metfield...353rd fighter group and 491st bomb group.

Rattlesden...322nd and 447th bomb group.

Raydon...357th, 358th and 353rd fighter group.

Ridgewell...381st bomb group.

Sudbury...486th bomb group.

Little Walden...409th light bomb group, 361st fighter group, 493rd bomb group.

Wattisham...479th fighter group.

Just off the top of me head!!!! LOL!

I've lost the lifelong love of the Spitfire as a warbird and now see it as a work of art.

magenta flame;661240 wrote: I met a gentleman down at the areodrome about a year back that was a pilot in the battle of Britain air strikes. I'm like ...what you flew int he battle of Britain? WOW! Oh my god! I understand him to be a legand but he just smiled bowed his head and walked off.:-3
it is true most people who risked their lives during the war in all three services are very modest about thir achievements. sorry it has taken so long to reply this is my sons internet I no longer have the net