I really don’t understand the problem. The link is fine, you have to download the file.

Flying boat, not seaplane IMHO. 🙂

“Wings on my Sleeve” must have been re-published as I’ve had my copy for years. Highly recommended for anybody that’s never read it before.

It was the first Griffon Spitfire, DP845 which was also Quill’s fvaourite aircraft.

It wasn’t during test flights. Supermarine were asked to send a Spitfire to Boscombe Down for a test. Jeffrey Quill noticed they didn’t say which sort of Spitfire so they decided to give everybody a shock, which worked.

It was the FW190 engine that blew up or otherwise failed.

I would stick with Mark12’s RR report.

I wasn’t aware the difference was so major.
Ford was set up for mass-production of one type with dedicated machinery. The many variations of engines were all done by Rolls-Royce, mainly at Derby and Crewe, less so at Glasgow. Removable heads, in production terms, means a major re-jig of the factory.

I stand, or more accurately, sit corrected. 🙂

30-odd thousand of one type from Ford seemed a lot, but I suppose if you bolt them to airframes in fours you would get through a few.

A memorial has been mooted several times in the past.

IIRC, display pilots are not generally in favour.

As James said, interesting thread.

In defence of the Spitfire, as the 109 was improved with more power, better armament etc and later with the arrival of the FW190, the Spitfire was also developed to fight on equal or better terms.
Cannon apart, this was largely due to Rolls-Royce continually improving the Merlin, but I’m fairly confident there wasn’t another airframe available that could have used all the benefits this brought.

In modern terms, the Spitfire was an air superiority fighter and it remained the best we had, for that particular task, through the war until the arrival of the Tempest I guess.

I’ll add to that, the balance swung on the Merlin. Admittedly development on other engines was halted or slowed down when it was realised how good the Merlin was but there was no other engine, even as a designer’s idea, that could have replaced it.