so the legend goes, when the Valiant fleet were being scrapped en masse, XD818 was due to be the next in the line for the chop until someone of a substantial rank happened to recognize the serial of the aircraft as having been the first to drop a British atomic weapon and ordered the aircraft be placed aside untouched until it could be properly cleared with theyre Lordships for preservation

XD818 was the first to drop a thermonuclear device during Op Grapple on 15 May 1957 off Malden Island – the first airdrop of a British nuclear weapon was from WZ366 during Op Buffalo at Marilinga on 11 Oct 56.

I write this, not to trash Aeroplane Monthly, but to confirm if I was the only one who received a dodgy DVD? My copy only plays in Black and White. Has anyone else received a dude DVD? What do I do?

Mine was fine, the only problem being that it did not automatically run in 4:3 aspect ratio I had to set the TV manually.

There is a news item with photographs on the Airbus Military web-site at: http://airbusmilitary.com/press.html

Hi Qldspitty, drawing i quoted – 30027 sht 79-is for reinforcing at fr18/fr18A, i just cant see how chute was fitted or deployed. The top longeron is cut fwd of fr18 & aft of fr18A & 2 angles positioned there instead of longeron. There are doublers & other brks in there to.

In Morgan & Shacklady p 46 there is a picture of K9787 from the left rear where you can see what appears to be a separate panel ( doors ? ) in the upper fuselage between those frames. The rudder horn balance guard also seems to be fitted. The text says:

The Air Ministry was not completely satisfied with the spin recovery of the Spitfire, and at a meeting on 17 January 1938, chaired by Air Cdr. Verney, Supermarine persuaded those in attendance that no modifications be made to production aircraft apart from the addition of an anti-spin parachute. For the Air Ministry Verney said that based upon model tests at Farnborough production aircraft could not be passed for spinning even with a tail parachute. Supermarine then pointed out that Jeffrey Quill had made sixteen successful spins of eight turns in the prototype. After more discussion the DTD agreed to accept the Supermarine proposal and that the first 20 production models should be fitted with the tail parachute and undergo further spinning trials. He, DTD, would be satisfied with recovery at 15,000 ft. When the first production Mk 1 Spitfire, K9787, was completed at the beginning of May 1938 an anti-spin parachute was duly fitted and the aircraft made its first flight from Eastleigh, piloted by Quill, on 14th of the same month .

There is also a picture of K9791 on p 51 which clearly shows tge rudder balance horn guards.

Fantastic news got any links to the site for conformation?

That announcement was about a month ago, see:

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/EquipmentAndLogistics/BrownePurchaseOfExtraC17WillsignificantlyBoostUkMilitaryOperations.htm

After repairs were made it was given to 91 Squadron for Air Service Training. On the 14th February 1941 118 Squadron took the plane over with the serial number NK – T .

On the 4th of August 1941 P7505 was again used for Air Service Training, until the 2nd of September 1941 when the plane was converted to a Mk VB and fitted with a Merlin 45 engine. It was then delivered back to 54 Squadron until 5th January 1942?

I think you are misinterpreting ‘Air Service Training’ here. Air Service Training (AST) at Hamble and other locations were a company that formed part of the Civilian Repair Organisation, what this is actually saying is that the aircraft went to AST for the repairs to the Cat 2 damage and later for conversion to Mk.Vb.

My brother in law has a photograph of a Spitfire with the letters RA in front of the roundel and GJ after it. I told him it was evidently a senior officer as they were allowed to use their initials as codes. Has anyone any idea how I can trace who it was?

Ken

Not quite sure what this is doing in this thread, but four character squadron codes were used postwar by Royal Auxiliary Air Force units when they were part of Reserve Command, RAG was used by 600 (City of London) Sqn R.Aux.A.F at Biggin Hill on its Spitfires between 1946 and 1949. See http://www.rafweb.org/Sqn600-604.htm

Great Pics,

Thanks a lot.

They will help answer some of my detailing questions. It is those pesky shots from above that are the hard to get ones!

I was not sure if the A/C was still there. I had heard rumor that it had been lent to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola (only a 9 hour drive from me!) I’ve got to get up to DC sometime and see the NASM Collection. There, and the collection at Dayton.

Those pictures were taken on 23 Dec 06 so it was definately still there then

Being that it is the only existing model of that make, I believe it was built from spares. Most of them were lost when the Akron and Macon went down.

Well, built from the best parts of several surviving aircraft, according to the description on the NASM web site – http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/curtiss_f9c.htm