So you think you know your Spitfires?

This is on my desk and used as a paperweight.

It is made of brass and is thought to be from around the war period. It has been in the family for many years.

I know nothing else about it but was struck by the similarity of the cockpit shape.

Model idea.

I would suggest that the areas that don’t look quite right are the areas where there is a practical chance of making an aerodynamic change on the production line – the windscreen and fillet areas etc.

You make the model undersize in these areas to permit add-ons in solid or modelling clay so that these variations and their respective effect can be studied singly and in combination.

Mark

ps Although the top engine cover has the appearance of the Griffon cam cover bulges, the nose profile and exhaust line is pure ‘Merlin’. Here I suspect that slimming the top cowl is being considered as a possibility. With the base model built this way, with modelling clay the proposed change can be fully studied and compared with the original profile

JDK thank you also, I think we must have been typing at the same time.
It’s the rocker covers combined with the small tail that intrigue me.
Does that suggest that the model was constructed when the physical instalation of the Griffon was being studied predated the aerodynamic implications of that engine?
P.S. i’m not flameproof, but reasonably thick skinned

Thank you merlin70. I’ve been a “lurker” for a looooong time, and regsitered to answer a specific point on a thread, but by the time the registration was completed, the thread had “drifted”. But I’ll stay as long as you all can put up with me’

Welcome Aviosaurus! Don’t worry about flaming, it was a perfectly good guess (but wrong, I’m afraid! 😀 )

The answer is here and the text reads:

“Wind tunnel model of Spitfire Mark I, 1941.

This was the first all metal wind tunnel model built and used at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), Farnborough, Hampshire, and was used in trials investigating high speed aircraft performance approaching the speed of sound, during World War II. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire was integral to Britain’s front-line air defences during World War II, and, together with the Hawker Hurricane fighter, played a crucial role in the Battle of Britain, fought over Britain between the 10th July and 31st October 1940.

Picture Reference: 10313117″

The model is on display in one of the upper side galleries of the Science Museum, in the ‘Making of the Modern World’ exhibition.

Those who feel their guesses merit it, please have a warm feeling. 😎

Given that it’s representing a Mk.I, I agree with those who are a bit suspicious about the dimensions and look of the thing. If it wasn’t an RAE model, I’d have said it was made in incomplete info… The canopy certainly wasn’t that shape after the prototype example, and both stypes of Mk.I canopy were notably different. As ever, we don’t have the full story!

Cheers

General view. wind tunnel model.
Tail, early style.
Rocker covers, 36 litre rather than 28? so possibly RR “r” rather than Merlin?
An early idea for the “Speed Spitfire”?
First post = ready to be flamed.

Aviosaurus

Welcome to the slighty zany but highly informative forum, for aviation junkies.

General view. wind tunnel model.
Tail, early style.
Rocker covers, 36 litre rather than 28? so possibly RR “r” rather than Merlin?
An early idea for the “Speed Spitfire”?
First post = ready to be flamed.

Nope. The model made to commemorate this feat had cannon and was posed in a different position. There’s a photo of it in, I think, Spitfire – The History or The Spitfire Story.

I didn’t mean as a cemmoration, but as an airflow wind tunnel model. It has “RAE” written all over it, to my eye…

It is just about the right size to act as a paper weight for my desk. Not that I am suggesting that I might be a little behind on some admin. 😀

Is this something to do with the high speed diving trials in 1944 with the Spit XI flown by S/L Martindale? As I recall this machine lost the propeller and reduction gear in a near-sonic dive and it was only Martindale’s skill as a pilot that enabled him to not only be able to recover the aircraft and glide it home (to Farnboro) for a faultless deadstick landing.

Nope. The model made to commemorate this feat had cannon and was posed in a different position. There’s a photo of it in, I think, Spitfire – The History or The Spitfire Story.

Is this something to do with the high speed diving trials in 1944 with the Spit XI flown by S/L Martindale? As I recall this machine lost the propeller and reduction gear in a near-sonic dive and it was only Martindale’s skill as a pilot that enabled him to not only be able to recover the aircraft and glide it home (to Farnboro) for a faultless deadstick landing.

Here’s another clue.

Wind tunnel model at the Science Museum ?

Ok then, is it an Luftwaffe model of the arch enemy and thats why its in-accurate ?

Well you never know…

Ah, except its not a preproduction model, as much as I thought it might be. It’s innaccurate for a good reason…

The nose shape looks very much like the S6 family and as its a PRE PRODUCTION MODEL it wouldnt have the definitive nose shape would it.

but those look like Griffon rocker cover bulges.

Sooooo… I guess I don’t actually know! 🙂

Lynn

That’s what I thought, but the shape of the nose doesn’t look altogether right, either… :confused:

I’m tempted to say it’s an original Model 300 wind tunnel test shape (no fillets, as pointed out by another poster), but those look like Griffon rocker cover bulges.

Sooooo… I guess I don’t actually know! 🙂

Lynn

Wind tunnel model at the Science Museum ?

OK, own up. Who googled “spitfire wind tunnel model”?

Hmm, strange cockpit shape and no wing fillets. Some sort of pre-final design Supermarine wind tunnel model?

Wind tunnel model at the Science Museum ?