Based my RAF movements on the records – however with my exp. over the years these cannot always be trusted. Then again if the RAF converted the aircraft by simply changing the engine etc – why would they write this on the card.
R7143, X4555, and X4492 movement cards are a nightmare to read and there is handwritten revisions all over them. If you guys can make better sense of them drop me a line. Here is a scan of her movement card.
Believe me, many movement cards are a nightmare to read, these three are not that special in this.
Yes, at the top of the card you have:
IPR (‘Mark I PR’, which it was in the early PRU nomenclature, being a PR conversion of Mark I fighter; individual variants of these Mk I PR conversions were designated by letters, X4492 was a type F)
MK VI (‘Mark VI’, which it was – but not the Mk VI fighter! – when the initial letter designations were replaced by equivalent letters, when type C became PR.III, type D PR.IV and type F PR.VI, for example)
VA (‘Mark VA’, which it wasn’t because it did not have the ‘A’ wing with machine guns when it was fitted with the Merlin 45; this note seems to be crossed with a zigzag in the same colour as the ‘Mk VI’ beside, perhaps this was a correction applied in red?)
PRIV W TYPE (‘PR.IV’, which it wasn’t because type D/PR.IV had the ‘wet wing’ design which was never fitted to X4492; ‘W type’ referred to camera layout in th fuselage, this also seems to be crossed out)
VPR (‘Mark V PR’, which it was in the early PRU nomenclature the moment it was re-engined with Merlin 45, essentialy becoming a PR conversion of the Mark V rather than Mark I)
MARKPR7 (‘Mark PR.VII’, which it wasn’t because type G/PR.VII was armed and had armoured windscreen – see R7143 and X4555)
It was a ‘PR.I type F’ conversion of Mark I fighter in 1940, the ‘F’ identifying the variant which featured cameras in rear fuselage and two large fuel tanks in/under wings (you can see the tear-drop shaped fairing under the wing in the photo provided by Mark 12).
Then it was re-engined with Merlin 45 (Rolls-Royce 18.4.41), becoming ‘PR.V type F’.
Then, with the changed designation system it became PR.VI.
The entries in the Movement Card seem to be as follows:
14.11.40 PRU [delivered as PR.I type F]
18.4.41 Rolls-Royce [converted to PR.V type F by fitting Merlin 45]
29.4.41 1 PRU [delivered as PR.V type F]
15.11.41 8 MU [probably handed over from 1 PRU as the latter converted to PR.IVs as the time]
12.2.42 140 Sqn [by then probably re-designated PR.VI]
22.4.42 cat. B
20.6.42 ?
21.6.42 9 MU
no date 140 Sqn
27.7.42 12 MU
29.10.42 Stn Benson
5.12.42 47 MU
9.1.43 Manchester
16.1.43 ss “Manchester Progress” Canada
?.?.43 Arr. Canada
I am not sure where your other conversion dates came from but converting an early PR Mk I conversion (as delivered in 1940) into a PR.IV, then a Mk VA, then PR.VII, then PR.VI was simply not feasible in engineering terms. And there were no PR.IVs before late 1941 anyway.
Also, you mention a ‘Merlin XIV’. Was there ever such an engine? Not in Spitfires. This must be Merlin XLV, as Merlin 45 was often labelled at the time when Roman numerals still prevailed.
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