Spitfire cockpit pictures

Looking through wartime colour shots for another thread, I came across this one. Again, not much detail, but the hues may be of interest.
It is an FAA Spitfire I or V.

Puukka

Paxolin and Tufnol, are trade names for SRBP.

Hadex – probably so but I would need to check it out.

Mark

Hey guys, you´re doing great!
The Seafire 46 panel looks great and quite similar to a Mk XIV.
Also interesting story about the material of the Spit panels.
Heard also about the name Paxoline, Tufnol, Hadex,…

I like this forum more and more (even there seem to be another opinion – D. Bader Conspiracy Theory) 😀
Thanks a lot,
Herbert 😎

Seafire 46 panel

Puukka,

Here is a panel for a Seafire 46 that was scratch built about 30 years ago.

At that time the the test point for the the vac or air system had still to be located.

You will see the warning lights for both the tail wheel and the arrestor hook.

The material used was 10swg full hard aluminium. In reality they were SRBP – Synthetic Resin Bonded Paper. Spitfires seemed to be made in a murky matt brown/black finish. On later Seafires, and certainly on the Mk XVII, the surface finish of the panel was gloss shiny black.

Mark

As promised…

Some cockpit photos from BM597 taken today.

I have the full quality ones, so private message me if you want them. I hope these help.

Glenn

Herbert – anything of any use on this webpage?

Its some sort of vacuum powered instrument – probably a gyroscope – but not a standard DI by the look of things.

Ahhh…Ohhhh….I feel like a child in front of the christmas tree.
😮
Thanks a lot, the last two pictures seems to be of an early Mk IX I didn´t have in my archive yet.
Sorry, no idea about the interesting item instead of the gunsight.
Regards,
Herbert

Or

Any help?

and the other side.

another shot of the same cockpit…

But…
I have also found three photos that I have copied a long time ago. Are you able to tell me what is this thing in place of the gunsight, and why is it there?

The only other standard Spitfire cockpit photo I found is this 1941 shot of a Mk II. Even less can be seen…

Hello VoyTech

It´s not bad at all, since I can verify the layout of the panel.
It seems to have the Mk VIII oxygen regulator together with the Gyro gunsight and a bigger supercharger panel (for three items).
Also good to recognize are the Supermarine starter flap covers and the early art. horizon.
Great, thanks!

Herbert

You are not fogotten, Puukka!

The closest I got is this drawing of a Mk IX cockpit, made by a Polish Spitfire pilot, Sgt Jerzy Glowczewski, in November 1944. Does it help at all?

ehmm… no more cockpit shots?
Mk V cockpits and instrument panels would be very helpful, too.
Come on, friends, make another silly Spitfire fanatic happy!
Cheers,
Herbert

Thanks again for your help.
It´s like 682al wrote. It´s interesting to see how much fantasy some of the restorers are having. But I can imagine how difficult it is, to restore such a piece with almost no money.
So I´d like to share some detail facts with you, that I would like to confirm with the missing pictures. In my opinion the production line MK IX panels didn´t have the cutout for landing light switch, gunsight on/off switchbox and field generator switchbox anymore.
I would also guess, that the NAV switchbox was mount from the front, even till Mk V all switchboxes were mount from behind. But I have no wartime Mk IX panel picture yet for confirmation. Also I´m not sure, if the labels and supercharger panel were engraved and the letters painted in white or only engraved. On the airworthy Spits you can see all kind of labels, since they manufactured them postwar.
So I enjoy all pictures I could get.
Cheers, Herbert

The IWM holds original photos taken of aircraft when they entered service – dunno about Spitfires (I’m usually after rarer meat) but that gets round most of the above problems. Genuine wartime cockpit shots showing the panel as used in service are very rare, but the Crown Copyright Official ones are nearly as good. No warbird mods, guarenteed!

www.iwm.org.uk

The photos of PL965 post-restoration are interesting but only serve to illustrate Herberts problem. The panel has been fitted with various non-authentic instruments (for very good airworthiness reasons, etc) and is not now representative of a wartime Spitfire. The same goes for most of the Spitfire cockpit photos which abound on the web (and most other warbirds, too).

Good reference material does seem hard to come by. Pilots Notes are a good starting point but they are often heavily re-touched and detail is lost. Plus they only illustrate the one panel and leave you wondering whether panels from other contractors might have differed, or what effect mods will have had on its appearance, over time.

For those concerned with authenticity, modellers, panel collectors, etc, it can be a real nightmare.

I didn’t follow the thread about Spitfire wings because I have little or no interest in them, but if this Forum could unearth a few really accurate Spitfire panel lay-outs, I’m sure Herbert and l would be very grateful!

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that PL965 also appears to have a most unusual spade grip on the control column. Never seen one like it before, and I wonder if it’s not a newly manufactured item because originals are so scarce?