British Rear view mirrors

I don’t think Spitfires or Hurricanes were fitted with them as standard until sometime in 1940 – could be wrong, of course.

I did see a pic somewhere of a Spitfire with THREE mirrors – one on top, and one either side of the windscreen.

Originally posted by Col. Gibbon
Thanks guys!

I was interested to know, as on all of the recent pictures of Spits, I’ve seen here, had round mirrors, and I was wondering if these were first, or the rectangle ones. I’d like to know if possible, at what time the RAF changed to the round mirrors, and what marks of fighters used them? or was it the case older marks were refitted from a certain date.

Rectangular mirrors were fitted as standard on Spitfires (all Marks then in production) until late 1942/early 1943. Then they changed to the round ones, and these were subsequently retro-fitted to aircraft in service. I have seen photos of font-line service Spitfires as late as 1945 still with the rectangular ones. Not impossible, though, that some pilots simply preferred these.

V.

Try the SE5a circa 1917. Not standard but a few SE5 pilots mounted a mirror on the upper wing centre section

I think they changed to the round mirrors with the fairing because they weren’t as draggy as the rectangular type.

Thanks guys!

I was interested to know, as on all of the recent pictures of Spits, I’ve seen here, had round mirrors, and I was wondering if these were first, or the rectangle ones. I’d like to know if possible, at what time the RAF changed to the round mirrors, and what marks of fighters used them? or was it the case older marks were refitted from a certain date.

The rectangular ones came first and are now quite rare. Most early war Hurricanes (39/early 40) do not seem to have them but there are examples of Hurricanes sporting them Battle of Britain era.

Wasn’t it the other way round? It think they were first installed on the Spitfire Mk.I (not sure about that, the Hurricane might have been first) and I’m not sure they were ever standard. First round mirrors were seen on Mk.V.

Did a quick scan on the net. The first plane with a mirror might have been the Vultee BT-13.