Regarding Triumph Spitfires, when BMW put forward the idea of using old British car names, it was reported round here that the Triumph car brand turned out to be owned by Jaguar rather than BMW/Rover (maybe when Jag was privatised it was envisaged that they would use the former Triumph facilities in Coventry and the brand was given to Jaguar to make this easier). Not sure if that’s true but either way I don’t envisage seeing a Spitfire car anytime soon. Happily, you can still buy a late-model Mustang but sadly the Bristol Fighter has apprently ceased production.

BMW acquired the rights to all the constituent companies when they bought Austin/Rover. I think I read that they kept them when they sold off Longbridge and Land-Rover.

I believe the Triumph car brand names still belong to Jaguar which was sold to Ford in the 1980s rather than staying part of Rover (luckily for Jaguar some might say). Are there any classic car experts out there who can clarify who owns the Triumph car rights?

My understanding of intellectual property law is that trade marks tend to give you rights in only certain areas, so perhaps the Swiss businessman can use Spitfire as a trademark for luxury items but has no rights in respect of other (essential) items like model kits and beer. BSA made a Spitfire motorbike and also a Sptifire rifle. I think that the tradenames for Triumph cars are owned by Jaguar (now under Ford) so presumably they have the right to use Spitfire as a name for cars but (sadly) no longer make such cars.

Anyone who enjoyed Johnny Red might enjoy reading recently published graphic novel “Ministry Of Space” by Warren Ellis with art by Chris Weston. It’s an alternative history of a post-war Britain where we captured Werner Von Braun (not the USA) and put him to work in a space programme headed by a cantakerous Douglas Bader figure. The artwork of the aircraft involved includes some excellent paintings of Canberras, Meteors and some of your WW2 favourites. Well worth a read. Thanks for the post, Snapper.

Norman Franks’ book “Battle of the Airfields” is probably the most well-known on the subject (the 50th anniversary edition is the best version to have). I gather there has been more recent publishing on the operation but I don’t have copies of this.

Foo Fighters?!?!

I’ll put forward Westland Whirlwinds. If it had been available in time for the BofB the Whirlwind could have taken a toll on German bombers (which is what fighters are for?) and had the range to harass bombers over their bases. The Whirlwind was capable of mixing it with 190s so would it have been even more effective against the 109s and 110s acting as bomber escorts? Instead, the Whirlwind arrived too late for BofB and often spent it’s time being employed at relatively isolated airfields like Drem with less chance to prove itself. It also missed out on the massive air-battles at Dieppe.

With the FW190, I gather there was enough room for a member of the groundcrew to travel in the fuselage and that’s what squadrons did when transferring to new airfields.