By: SimonDav - 8th May 2007 at 19:47
Funnily enough I was just reading about this story yesterday in ‘Spitfire – the Biography’ by Jonathan Glancey. He reached a max height of 51,550 feet at 690 mph/Mach 0.94. According to the book he did indeed suffer pressurisation failure. He only got out of the dive by pushing the stick forward which worked apparently because of aileron reversal.
By: DaveF68 - 5th May 2007 at 23:31
The story was repeated in the issue ofWings of Fame as well.
Flt Lt Powes was also the pilot who flew the Spit XIX on penetration flights over the Chinese mainland.
By: Spiteful - 5th May 2007 at 14:43
I remember the Article – sure it was in Aeroplane, must be 15 years ago at least. Detailed the story and had a dramtic picture of the aircraft in the subsequent high speed dive. I believe the article was written by or contributed by Flt Lt Powles.
The aircraft was PS852, and the flight was on the 5th Feb 1952 from Kai Tak. Apparently after completing his meteorological task, he decided to see how high his aircraft could go. He reached a height in excess of 51000 ft, then I believe had a problem with the pressurisation system which caused him to decend rapidly – I recall from the Aeroplane article a decent figure of 49000 feet in a minute, in which he reached about Mach 0.94. He recovered from the dive and landed safely.
By: Dan Johnson - 27th April 2007 at 18:16
Alfred Price talks about post-war Spitfire PR19s coming over England at 49,000 feet during Operation Dagger in 1948. First generation jets couldn’t get up to them apparently.
By: bazv - 27th April 2007 at 18:12
Ted Powles
Ted P wrote an article ref this flight in one of the uk aircraft mags some years ago(flypast or similar) sorry cant remember when.
By: Newforest - 27th April 2007 at 07:46
History of War.org quotes a ceiling of 42,600 feet.
The PR Mk XIX was the only Griffon powered reconnaissance Spitfire. It was produced by taking combining the Mk XIV fuselage, PR Mk XI wings and PR Mk X cabin. It could carry up to 254 gallons of fuel internally, using space in the wings that had originally held cameras. It could carry a 170 gallon drop tank, although the largest size used on operations was 90 gallons. It had a top speed of 445 mph and a service ceiling of 42,600 feet, making it almost impossible for the Luftwaffe to catch it. All but the first 22 of the 225 produced had a pressurised cockpit.
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April 27, 2007 at 2:28 am