Tea Time at Biggin Hill, Summer 1940

I agree as the second visible letter can’t be a ‘T’ as they didn’t have a loop at the top. (I can’t believe I knew such a useless bit of information, I must get out more…)

“Must get out more….” Yep, I keep telling myself the same.

My kids have written it on the notice board in my office!

Paul

Yes, that’s the one

I have a photo of it taken from the other side. It was coded QJ-J.

Peter

This one ?

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/album/showphoto.php?photo=2708&size=big&cat=all&si=Spitfire

I agree as the second visible letter can’t be a ‘T’ as they didn’t have a loop at the top. (I can’t believe I knew such a useless bit of information, I must get out more…)

Its upgrade to a Mk V standard now makes sense in the context of this image, and I agree that R7161 is therefore the more likely.

Any ideas, anyone, as to what that fillet strip is on the back frame of the sliding canopy might be??

Tangmere

You could well be right about the pilot on the left being Jamie Rankin – I don’t recognise the other two.

Of the two Spitfires I think R7161 is the more likely and Rankin did fly this aircraft a number of times commencing in April 1941.

R7161 was a Mark Ib which joined 92 Squadron in March 41 and was flown to Hucknall at the end of the month to be up-graded to Mark V standard. I have a photo of it taken from the other side. It was coded QJ-J.

Peter

Well spotted, Posart. You really ought to spend more time working rather than looking at things like this to distract you from earning a crust!

However…now that pot has finished calling kettle black, we have on 92 Sqn:

Mesopotamia, a Mk Vb, W3326

or

Mombasa, a Mk 1a, R7161

There may be others, of course.

As to the boots, Stuart, they appear to be the leather bottom/canvas upper 1939 pattern and not the Escape Pattern I think you have thought them to be.

The apperture on the stb cowling for hand-cranking with the rectangular warning label beneath is absent on, I think, Mk I’s and IIa’s but start to appear on the V’s. Mind you..if the photo we are discussing here is Mombasa (R7161) then that theory gets blown away immediately.

The pilot standing on the left could easily be Jamie Rankin, the CO of 92 during the 1941 Biggin Hill period.

It looks like a presentation Spitfire with the Eastleigh style of script. First letter appears to be M with either an L or a B about four letters along. I’ve had a quick scan through all the ‘M’s in Gifts of War without success but then reminded myself I should be working!

Recently a forum member has sold (on ebay) the seat attachment bracket for the hand crank handle,(I seem to remember it was for the mkI; perhaps he can shed some light on the subject.

The pilot on the left is wearing the “detachable uppers” flying boots; what period were they from?

The thing that caught my eye was the cannon blister, much flatter than the late types, and 2 piece construction.

Is there any chance that this is a mk1b, I note (from elsewhere on the web)that they were issued to 92 sqn; the hood doesn’t appear to have a top blister, and is definately slab sided.

Never thought of it being a Ib. The top of the canopy could be bulged, but the lighter background makes it less visible (IIRC, the cannon fit on the Ib was introduced after the “blown” hood).

The windscreen appears to be missing the rearview mirror as well? :confused:

The hood certainly looks slab-sided, granted. But what is that strange strip on the rear rail of the sliding canopy?

As far as I know, the small alloy warning plate for HAND TURNING GEAR below the aperture on the stbd cowling was only on II’s onwards to V’s. But I stand to be corrected.

Is there any chance that this is a mk1b, I note (from elsewhere on the web)that they were issued to 92 sqn; the hood doesn’t appear to have a top blister, and is definately slab sided.

The engine exhausts and the cannons would seem to point to 41 and a Vb.

Yes indeed! Had not noticed the cannon! I think we can now be pretty sure this is 1941, not 1940. A lovely shot, though.

Roundel

Nothing special about the roundel, except that it has been modified from the original three-colour one to four-colour with the addition of yellow. Orthocromatic film, very popular during those days, turned yellow and red tones into very dark greys. Note how Dark Earth areas (angled patch from aerial to roundel, top right hand corner) is darker than Dark Green which, visually, is considered darker. This is due to the high percentage of yellow in Dark Earth.

The engine exhausts and the cannons would seem to point to 41 and a Vb.

Spitfire is 92 Squadron and, I believe, the film used is orthochromatic which makes the yellow come out a very dark shade. 92 were at Biggin from early Sept 40 to Jan 41, then back there again from Feb to Sept 1941. I do wonder if the photo actually dates from the 1941 period?

Looks like it Peter, in which case I kinda answered my own question!
The outer ring looks broader in the pics though.

Could this explain it?? Yellow??

http://www.hyperscale.com/2008/reviews/decals/p7hg_img_65/fullsize/0_0_CLNP_fs.jpg

Excellent picture.

Funny thing about the roundels, I’ve just noticed them in a book I’m currently reading.
They do appear to be four colours (red, white, blue and ?), and seems to have been applied just pre-war and early war period.
So what is the fourth colour?

Daz, Ortho something is Orthochromatic, makes yellow appear as black on B&W pics.

DC,
when you click onto quick reply there is a small icon of a globe with a chain link on it. Click that and copy and paste the URL into the popup window that opens. Next, click OK on the pop url window and then click post quick reply..

Thanks again Peter. That is how I was trying to do it, but it just wouldn’t work. I now realize the “Automatically parse links in text” option was checked and that all I had to do was simply paste in the URL in plain text and it would recognize it automatically. It only took about 20 tries to figure that out! 😮

Here is the large picture link:

http://www.avweb.com/newspics/potw/large/potw01_1510.jpg