Current state of early Spitfire ( I of II) projects?

I expect we’ll see P9372 take flight this year.

Like many of you, I used to visit this forum on a daily basis and was always amazed by the wealth of knowledge and people’s willingness to share.  I never understood exactly what caused what can only be called its near-death experience – was it an attempt to monetise it? – but it was so sad to see so many of the posters and so much of the accumulated wisdom disappear.  I enjoyed reading the musings of powerandpassion’s above and concur with the gist of what they had to say and especially agree with Prop Strike in regard to the pernicious effects of Facebook.  

Anyway, there have been increasing signs of vigour over the past couple of years or so and there’s cause for hope this forum might one day become again what it once was.   

Welcome back Cees!

Regards,

Mathieu.

Hi all

I take a look at the forum from time to time obviously not as often as before, but I have noticed over the last month or so there has been a little more activity, I’ve tried posting over the last couple of years but with little response, let’s hope that it can pick up slowly as time goes on, I’ve certainly missed a few of the former threads.

Please keep posting as I’ve enjoyed some of the recent threads.  

Simply Spitfire are getting close to finishing their MkII static build.In paint shop at moment finishing the wings.

That was a dense and weighty post,  a lot to digest, but some engaging philosophical avenues offered. 

There have been a few loyal ( or stubborn) participants here who have kept blowing on the embers, keeping the lights on,  trying to maintain enough activity to make it worth checking in, just to see.  With some success, I think, and having been stuck in first gear for quite a while, are now up into third, and making quite good progress.

I always saw this forum as a sort of ‘clearing house’ for info and news, a single go-to point to keep up to speed with what is going on, and draw together the interesting links and news scattered around the internet.  The growth of Facebook has been the most destructive force, as it has splintered the arena into a thousand ( more?) specialist interest groups, which have great content from time to time, but most you never see, because you are not on them. Furthermore, their content is momentary, very hard to retain or collate. A forum such as this was, and remains, a much more effective way to draw together and offer up contemporary happenings,  or explore historical events.  

Onwards and upwards !

Brexit was thought up in the forum admins bedroom, that’s why they were busy. There is a rather isolationist mien in the air, a decoupling from the globalisation consensus. You can’t even buy a Big Mac in Moscow anymore. I do recall reading Churchill where he defined the great need for Conferencing to head off the  quiet currents that eventually become great rivers of resentment. It worked, in the context of participants with lived experience of two great Wars to keep people at the table. I asked one of this generation, who ended up in the UN, what good the UN did. He laid out a comprehensive list of anonymous fundamental ‘marrow’ for peaceful co-existence : unification of marine buoy warning symbols and other myriad aspects of Maritime Law, unification of Air Law to allow the modern Air Travel miracle to send tourists into hitherto inaccessible regions, where negotiating overflight rights and uniform air traffic control gave us cheap holidays. Literally thousands of patient, thoughtful arrangements that allowed billions of people a better life. We are now in a post Conferencing period, suspicious of the concept, talking without surprise about a ‘pre conflict world’, as if we have totally forgotten what it is to receive a telegram on your threshold, instead of the return of a child or partner.  The key forum itself was part of this new mien of careless disregard, mashed into corporate trend,  the unconscious decent into stupidity, so easy to pick afterward. The damage has been done. The duty of those of know how to contribute is to contribute, for this means less trouble for the angels. To work ! Type ! And I don’t mean you AI bots, picking out the peas and carrots from old posts, serving up a reheated pie. On the topic of early Spitfires, there are probably more Merlin IIIs in Australia and Canada available for this purpose, due to the dumping of Fairey Battles into these fine lands. A Merlin III would not feel out of place being hand fettled back into fitness by craftsman, as they were back then. Somebody needs to centrifugally cast big end copper lead bearings, or maybe just fit a newer conrod arrangement.  Certainly a fixed pitch Watts prop is easier to make that a Rotol or dH constant speed unit, so there should be more possibility to get a result in the front end. There is something Edwardian and attractive about a Spitfire I, a little closer to Reg, a little closer to 1940, to Dunkirk, to when differences disappeared between wharf labourers and stockbrokers in a place called Great Britain. 

Still here and log in most days.It just seems that there is a lack of input from Mods ,Admin on the “official side ” of this forum. 

Welcome back CeBro

I’m still here albeit I had to create a new user as for some reason I suddenly couldn’t log in just after new year.

Its so much busier now than a couple of years back.

Not really sure why everyone got so upset and left, UKAR is a pain to use , this is far easier, all in one place.

No idea why the Duxford diary 2019 is still up.

I check in every other day just in case!

I’m one of the old timers, but haven’t been active for a while. Maybe things will change. I’m glad there is some good stuff coming in.Cheers.

Laurence

There’s some life,  Cees, more than for a long time, though still not a great deal. Good news about TFCs Beaufighter, though…

Just checking if my account has been made live again.

Boy, that has been a long time.

Cheers

Cees

Most people didn’t hang around at UKAR either – whether the moderation level put them off or what I don’t know, but there’s four threads in Historic there that have been posted on in the last week, and then nothing since the 3rd. This on the 75th anniversary of VJ Day and in the 80th anniversary year of the BoB.

Mk12 popped up in Flypast?Aeroplane a couple of months ago giving the contents of his garage an airing  – I won’t say what as I can’t remember the mark, never mind even whether Spit- or Seafire…

Ps, good idea for a thread, I would like to know also

I think those who took the stance to leave still look in  from time to time and its hard for them to swallow their pride and return, once a couple start to return others will follow, I never left but could not post so just created a new account. Many hated loosing their thread counts, to me it means nothing, I stayed but just spend less time here for the obvious reasons but Its going ok just in the 30mph roads not the 150mph autobahns 

Yes it appears that is the case Cees. I looked at your original post and wondered what sort of feedback you’d receive and now we know. Such a pity.

My goodness, this forum is effectively dead. RIP.

Pity,

Cees