Spitfire Mk Vb EP120 roars into the Duxford sky
The mainwheels are still spinning after the take-off run.
So, this is a Spitfire LF Mk Vb with wing tips removed or 'clipped'.
The Mk V was a Mk I or Mk II airframe fitted with the heavier and more powerful RR Merlin 45 engine. The Mk Vs are are hard to tell apart from the earlier marks visually - the oil cooler visible under the port wing is a slightly different shape. The best way to tell is to Google the serial number!
This aircraft is fitted with a 'b' wing that could take one 20mm cannon and 2 Browning 0.303 machines guns each side. (The original 'a' wing had 4 machine guns each side.)
This Spitfire is an LF model which means the engine supercharger was optimised (ie had the impeller blades cropped to 9.5 inches) for low level performance. LF models often flew with clipped wings which allowed a higher roll rate at lower altitudes at the expense of climb rate and higher altitude performance. Confusingly, not all clipped wing Spitfires were LF models - but this one is. In simulated dog fights between a regular winged and clipped winged Mk V Spitfire, the clipped wing version always out-manoeuvred the regular winged one.
Note the small '100' stencilled on the lower engine side panel. Use of 100 octane fuel (mostly imported from the USA) was pivotal to getting the best performance out of the Spitfire. The Luftwaffe couldn't access such high grade fuel and performance of their fighter aircraft was sub-optimal as a result. One of those unsung little details on which so much hung.
Final point; note the yellow band on the leading edge of the wing. This was another ‘friend or foe’ identification method; if a pilot saw an aircraft head-on or in his rear view mirror it was an aid to telling if it was one of us or one of them!
Spitfire Mk Vb EP120 roars into the Duxford sky
The mainwheels are still spinning after the take-off run.
So, this is a Spitfire LF Mk Vb with wing tips removed or 'clipped'.
The Mk V was a Mk I or Mk II airframe fitted with the heavier and more powerful RR Merlin 45 engine. The Mk Vs are are hard to tell apart from the earlier marks visually - the oil cooler visible under the port wing is a slightly different shape. The best way to tell is to Google the serial number!
This aircraft is fitted with a 'b' wing that could take one 20mm cannon and 2 Browning 0.303 machines guns each side. (The original 'a' wing had 4 machine guns each side.)
This Spitfire is an LF model which means the engine supercharger was optimised (ie had the impeller blades cropped to 9.5 inches) for low level performance. LF models often flew with clipped wings which allowed a higher roll rate at lower altitudes at the expense of climb rate and higher altitude performance. Confusingly, not all clipped wing Spitfires were LF models - but this one is. In simulated dog fights between a regular winged and clipped winged Mk V Spitfire, the clipped wing version always out-manoeuvred the regular winged one.
Note the small '100' stencilled on the lower engine side panel. Use of 100 octane fuel (mostly imported from the USA) was pivotal to getting the best performance out of the Spitfire. The Luftwaffe couldn't access such high grade fuel and performance of their fighter aircraft was sub-optimal as a result. One of those unsung little details on which so much hung.
Final point; note the yellow band on the leading edge of the wing. This was another ‘friend or foe’ identification method; if a pilot saw an aircraft head-on or in his rear view mirror it was an aid to telling if it was one of us or one of them!