So, which way up is the Hispano engine? are the exhausts high as the Merlin engine or low as the German one? ( I’ve had no dealing with the 109)

Nice to hear someone’s smelt the coffee at last!;)

Pretty broad statement that Alexis, How can you ‘Hate Spitfires’ when three items ago you posted..

I only said add the wingtips because of the photo. Personally the only Spitfires i like are clipped winged griffon engined ones .

Sounds a bit like what comes from under a Mustangs tail! 😉 & I ain’t talking aircraft! 😀 😀 😀

Originally posted by SteveYoung

Just out of interest, what’s the preferred way of stopping the tips from digging in during power checks on one of these?
Would be intrigued to know what the answer is.

Steve, On our Spitifire Mk9 it went something like this….
Pre oil, Start up, stick ALWAYS held right back, warm up @ 850rpm, Mag check at around 1200rpm anything over that drape two bodies over the tail! Prop check at 1800rpm, don’t go over 1800rpm without the tail tied down & chocks tied into the tail strap, this is for an engineer ground running. A pilot will do his power checks as he sees fit. I have done one engine run up to 2400rpm with it all tied down & it has to be one of the most scary thing I have ever done, all though I would not have missed it for the world.
We did have a pilot who on the take off roll removed most of the yellow paint from the prop tips unfortunatly the wood from the blade went with it! & flew back to base 170 miles away without knowing! (he did not fly it again)
I have to say that ground running a Mk9 Spitfire on Biggin Hill Airfield has to be the highlight of my aviation career (so far)

Having brain fade at the moment but was zinc chromate used in those days? I’m sure some of you will know!

Just a quickie,

Looks more like some sort of a coolant leak to me Damien. I think that port behind the exhaust is where the glycol header tank vents

This is probably caused by an overfill of the cooling system & not having enough expansion space for the coolant once it gets hot so the pressure relief valve (a bit like you car radiator cap) will allow some liquid to escape until there is a large enough air space.
Again about the Hurricane, I would also like to add that If you are not getting green lights showing on the panel the last thing you want to do is move the aeroplane around on the ground, You jack it up off the wheels to give it some stability & find the problem, even pushing the aircraft with a possible U/C lock problem can have horrific results if a leg starts to fold, do you really want people to take that risk just so you can get some pictures of it outside? having had a Spitfire land & the wheels walk very slowly back up into the wheel wells during the roll out causing thousands of pounds worth of damage, trust me, you take no chances! But, I see all was not lost as where else could you have got the great pictures that I have seen posted here of a Hurricane being worked on? Remember, for every negative there is a positive, you just have to find it!
Iwould just ask that the folks out there who get worked up when they can’t see the aircraft that they want to see flying spare a thought to the ground crews that most of the time are there looking after these aircraft for NO wages & sometimes even having to pay their own expenses to get there to do it, mostly the only thing they get from an Airshow is the satisfaction that they got ‘their’ aircraft to the field so people could see it. I have been one of the lucky ones who have been paid to be there in the past but I take my hat off to the volunteers who work to give YOU the show so that some of you complain about, without them, most of the time there would be no show!
(Right, I’m off me soap box!)
Cheers for now

Locking pins?? this is a WW2 aircraft not an F16!