Flt Lt Tony Hills PR Spitfire

Hi Wojtek,

Glad to be of help. It appears that things I seldom straight forward with regards to early PR Spitfires.

Mark did drop me a line about his forthcoming opus.

Cheers

Andy

Andy, thanks for the clarification re. PR.VII/XIII gunsights. Hopefully that’ll teach me to look carefully in the AP before I write something about PR Spitfires.

I understand Mark is working on THE book.

But I thought the question related to a PR Mk IV not a PR MkVII ?

Tony Hill was flying a PR.IV on 05 Dec 41 as stated in my original post.

References to armed PR Spitfires (Type G (PR.VII) and PR.XIII) and their gun sights were to provide additional info to Mark12’s post about gun sights being rare on PR Spitfires which indeed they were. I believe only ~45 Type G Spitfires were built.

Mark12

May I ask what book you are working on.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

No gunsight on my PR IV…the last time I looked. 😉

Mark

‘It’ll all be in the book’ 🙂

If it’s PR.IV it has no weapons. The leading edge D box is all fuel tank (wet).

But I thought the question related to a PR Mk IV not a PR MkVII ?

No, it didn’t retain the reflector gunsight. It featured only a very simple gunsight consisting of a ring applied on the surface of the windscreen and a bead mounted on top of the bulkhead.

Hi Wojtek,

AP.1565M,P,Q&R Vol I states the following:

Spitfire PR.Mk.VII

49. Gun sights – A reflector gun sight is mounted on a bracket above the instrument panel….

Spitfire PR.MK.XIII

63. Gun sights – A special gun sight is fitted consisting of a ring stencilled on the windscreen and a bead sight fitted on top ot the fire proof bulkhead…

So it would appear the Type G (PR.VII) did have a reflector gun sight, at least as an official standard.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

Hi Wojtek,

Thank you for clarifying, just shows you shouldn’t assume, though as I suspected the must have been some form of sight.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

The Type G retained its armament and presumably its gunsight.

No, it didn’t retain the reflector gunsight. It featured only a very simple gunsight consisting of a ring applied on the surface of the windscreen and a bead mounted on top of the bulkhead.

Thanks wonderfully guys..Looks like I don,t have to do a sacrifice of a virgin to the Spitfire gods after all. 🙂

Hey guys was wondering if any of you chaps have an idea what colour Flt Lt Tony Hills PR Spitfire was when he took the famous pic of the Wurzburg radar.Am helping a mate with his Spitfire cockpit section for his flight sim..Pics here..
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/start-finish-builds/spitfire-ix-cockpit-1-1-a-17217-25.html

F/L A.E. Hill flew R7044 on the 05 Dec 41 sortie, it was a PR.IV, these would normally have been PRU blue. To have taken an oblique photo it must have had “X” Type camera installation which included an F.24 oblique camera.

The Spitfire PR Type G was usually used for low level dicing, these were still in general use with 1 PRU at the time and were often Green in colour. The Type G retained its armament and presumably its gunsight.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

A gunsight on a PR Spitfire is quite rare.

Mark