Creaking Door has it. The Bristol Belvedere it is. Tested at Boscombe Down in October 1962.
[ATTACH]164817[/ATTACH]

Here’s another tease along the same lines.
[ATTACH]164818[/ATTACH]

To put Scouse out of his misery, the Lancaster (R5660 was used for the trials) was given a clearance by the AFEE to drop paratroops in December 1942. Strange though its seems the Manchester (L7392) was given a similar clearance later the same month based partly on the results of the Lancaster’s trials.

not strange at all as the fuselages are identical

Cheers

Cees

Jeffrey Quill mentions in his autobiography that they were well aware
about problems with the spit and info from the squadrons was readily
available. he himself joined a squadron to find out himself

cheers

Cees

Well, it would be a good candidate for Cosford but space will be a problem. Apart from that Hendon (National museum) did have one and look what happened to it. Size does matter in this case (not on a positive scale unfortunately). Look at most large aircraft that are “preserved”. The majority are on outside display (Vulcans, Victors etc. and for example the XC99 in the US).

Let’s hope she will kept in good shape for the time being.

Cheers

Cees

That prop looks to be a bit crumpled, did the goat had a go at it perhaps?

Cheers

Cees

Nice pics, any news on the plans for the LA-11 and CR-42?

Seems like the collection is getting better and better with a P-40F on
the way too.

Cheers

Cees

New build around an Australian dataplate…with an an estimated RAF number.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Wasn’t this airframe dubbed a late production prototype using many superior design components from later Spits (Mk VIII ailerons etc IIRC). Dick Melton also said that this aircraft could do things operational Spits couldn’t do (something to do with the roll rate) Read this in an old FlyPast issue in the late eighties.
Sorry for the delay, just got back from a few days holiday. Nice thread by the way.

Cheers

Cees

They are accepting new built Spitfires as new nowadays so there should be no problem in that. There are various groups: the rivetcounters, the pure stock lovers, the that’s-no-real-aeroplane-combatants, the I-don’t-care squad etc. Must be many more. Look at the recent past. The ME262’s FW190, Hayabusha’s, Zeroes etc are already (almost) dubbed the real thing, in a few years time the reconstruction/reproduction designation will fade away and nobody knows the difference anymore. The bottom line is, people are willing to spend a lot of time, effort and money to build something unique, let them. We all benefit from it.
That also means that original/historic aircraft are cared for in museums instead of having the majority of the structure replace to suit airworthy specifications or lose them in crashes. There is no black or white area, that ceased to exist many moons ago. The present day is very exciting considering what’s alle being done now. Many types are now under restoration/reconstruction that couldn’t be dreamt of a decade ago.

Cheers

Cees