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Spitfire R6915 – movie star??

When I bought my copy of the book Spitfire Survivors Vol.1, I noticed a photo of surviving Spitfire Ia R6915, wearing the codes LO-B of 602 “City of Glasgow” Squadron, captured at Prestwick in 1941.

I knew, from a photo in the book American Eagles in the RAF, that the Spitfire scramble sequences for the feature film A Yank in the RAF were shot at Prestwick in early 1941. Indeed, much of the footage used in the fighter scenes from that film has popped up elsewhere over the years.

Fast forward to today, and I decided to watch the film while I was working on a couple of model projects. While I was watching, I never thought to actually look to see if I could spot the Spitfire in question, but afterwards I decided to check the book for the codes and see if, at the very least, R6915 appeared in the background anywhere.

As it happens, a Spitfire marked LO-B does indeed appear in the scramble sequence, but at quite a distance from the camera:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]246886[/ATTACH]

Later on, when the fighters are airborne, two Spitfires, marked LO-Q and LO-B, appear in the shot:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]246887[/ATTACH]

When the squadron leader calls the break, LO-B appears in the background:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]246888[/ATTACH]

As the squadron dives down to defend the troops stuck at Dunkirk, LO-B appears very clearly:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]246889[/ATTACH]

Now, you might be thinking that it could be ANY Spitfire marked LO-B that happened to be on the squadron at the time, but the photo in Spitfire Survivors Vol.1 showed R6915 with the small wingtip roundels on the underside of the starboard wing. And the aircraft in the photo above has the same markings.

I’d like to think this is definitely R6915, but I could well be wrong.

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By: DazDaMan - 8th July 2016 at 22:10

If I remember right, the cockpit shots were done in Hollywood, with the Spitfire stuff projected in the background.

The film company also produced some full-scale mock-ups of Spitfires and Messerschmitts for the last sequence. They’re not what I would call “accurate”.

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By: Robert Whitton - 8th July 2016 at 21:50

The cockpits in the 2 close ups look a bit suspect. I havn’t seen the film.

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