Hello Folks,
I have come into possesion of this piece of aircraft skin. It apparently is from a Mk.1 Spitfire that was shot down during the Battle of Britain. It was picked up on the surface of the crash site in the 70’s I believe, and has been in a collection until I bought it yesterday. I have yet to have it in hand, but was wondering if anyone of you knowledgable chaps could i.d. what part it is from the pic’s I have available at the mo. It has green paint remaining on one side. Any help or info regarding it would be gratefully received.
Many thanks, Ned.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]215892[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]215893[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]215894[/ATTACH]
By: big ned - 6th May 2013 at 19:52
If it’s green Big Ned, it could well be Spitfire and and as described. It’s not a bit I recognise but there’s plenty I don’t know! Was it the ‘red background’ vendor?
The guy who sold it me was a member on another forum, I can’t honestly say if he is this ‘red background’ character or not i’m afraid. I live close to RAF Cosford and will try and get down there to compare the piece with a Mk1 Spit they have there on display in the museum. It’s worth a try I guess. Any ideas or thoughts regarding the ‘M’ or possibly ‘W’ stamp?
Thanks, Ned.
By: ian_ - 6th May 2013 at 19:17
If it’s green Big Ned, it could well be Spitfire and and as described. It’s not a bit I recognise but there’s plenty I don’t know! Was it the ‘red background’ vendor?
By: big ned - 6th May 2013 at 14:23
Hello Ned. Battle of Britain Spits would have been painted dark green, dark brown and sky. This looks grey to me. It also looks to have buried rather than surface recovered at the time. There is an ebay seller who regularly displays his wares on a red background, including parts of the mythical radial engined Spitfire (listed with full BoB history). That said I’m hellish colour blind and have real trouble with green.
I’ve now got the piece in hand. It’s most definitely green, and under a loup has what appears to be very slight metallic flecking, although I guess it could be the aluminium showing through, but it is minute and just visible under 250x mag. On the reverse side there is a capital letter ‘M’ (or ‘W’?) next to one of the rivet holes that are around the edge of the port. The whole piece does show the indisputable signs of being in a very high speed impact. It was apparently picked up from a place South East of Maidstone called Kingswood in the early 1970’s. That’s all the info I could get.
Regards, Ned.
By: big ned - 28th April 2013 at 23:35
Oh dear…It appears I may have been sold a pup.:(
Does anyone else have an opinion on what part it may be, assuming it is part of a Spit. I’ll post some more pic’s when I get it if that helps, and i’ll try and get a bit more background info on the piece and it’s history from the vendor if I can.
Thanks for the replies so far!:)
Regards, Ned.
By: Foray - 28th April 2013 at 17:12
This would be the same seller who has just sold a couple of broken pieces of Merlin engine casing from Hurricane P3175, while the aircraft lies displayed in the BofB hall at Hendon complete with its intact Merlin!
By: ian_ - 28th April 2013 at 15:06
Hello Ned. Battle of Britain Spits would have been painted dark green, dark brown and sky. This looks grey to me. It also looks to have buried rather than surface recovered at the time. There is an ebay seller who regularly displays his wares on a red background, including parts of the mythical radial engined Spitfire (listed with full BoB history). That said I’m hellish colour blind and have real trouble with green.
By: DarkWingDuck - 28th April 2013 at 15:00
Possibly skin around gun camera port
By: Trolly Aux - 28th April 2013 at 13:26
It looks like a fillet/faring part, but what I cannot help sorry.
The professionals will be along very soon
Sign In
April 28, 2013 at 12:25 pm