?Spitfire part on ebay

Hello All,

I bought this item out of curiosity, but I’m still none the wiser as to whether it may have come from a Spitfire.
Here are some more photos – perhaps some of you can help?

Mike

Always wondered why the uni wing couldn,t have both B and C wing armament.Would have really given the Butcher Birds something to worry about.Was it structural integrity under load for the wing,hassles with gun warming or positioning of ammo.Just curious.Cheers.

thankyou MK 12 🙂

The second pot of the leading edge ‘Chimney pot’ casting is capped when the four .303 Browning machine gun option per aircraft is fitted.

Mark

Hi Mark 12,

Was my guess about the stumpy barrells correct?

The ‘Universal Wing’ either or but not both.

Whilst we’re in Spitfire mode, the latest desert HF Spitfire has a four cannon wing set-up IIRC. Can’t remember the wing designation b, c etc.

Some IX’s I have seen with two cannons have stumpy redundant barrels next to them. Were these intended for two additional cannons, but deleted, leaving the stubs as dumb to save re-design or what is the correct story?

Thanks

Both Mk. 1 & Mk. II Spitfires could have wooden elevators and rudders. Spitfire Mod. 265 (rudder) and 286 (elevator) introduced wooden controls as an alternative material.
Something new every day!

Hi Elliott,

Definately not Spitfire, the only wood used on a Spitfire is a strip of spruce about 5/8″ square bolted to the lower tailplane ribs on the earlier models to screw the lower skins to.

The elevators on ML427 in the Birmingham Museum must have been made for display.The ribs on e-bay may be from a Miles aeroplane.

Ken

Ken,

Thanks for putting us right on the wooden elevator.

As Bruce mentioned there is wood in various amounts all over the Spitfire right up to Mk 24, which can have a large filler block on the rudder horn. The rad flaps can have wooden ribs and the structure of the rad boats on some marks are wood. There was clearly variation between Supermarine, CBAF and the shadow factories.

The Mk IX/XVI elevator with extended horn was built in four distinct design construction styles.

1) Tubular ribs to the rear of the spar and fabric covered.

2) Tubular ribs to the rear of the spar, angle plates and metal skinned.

3) Sheet metal ribs to rear of spar and fully metal skinned.

and I would suggest

4) All wood construction and fabric covered. See images below.

Mark

There is rather more wood in a Spitfire than that.

On early aircraft, the underside of wing ribs 19 and 21 were spruce, as were the underside of the tailplane ribs as suggested. Also, in a similar position on the fin, and lastly, the wing tips have a wooden frame with aluminium skins screwed on.

Bruce

Hi Elliott,

Definately not Spitfire, the only wood used on a Spitfire is a strip of spruce about 5/8″ square bolted to the lower tailplane ribs on the earlier models to screw the lower skins to.

The elevators on ML427 in the Birmingham Museum must have been made for display.

The ribs on e-bay may be from a Miles aeroplane.

Ken

Yes, I remember that from Aeroplane Monthly I think… No part numbers on it apart from the number quoted in the ebay blurb.

I am not suggesting this part is from a Spitfire but was surprised to see that during the restoration of Mk IX ML427 for the Birmingham museum, the entire elevator, with extended horn, was made of wood.

Mark

Not Spitfire – there was some wood in the Spit, but not ribs constructed like this.

Bruce

End cap from an aileron?