Well, it has taken nearly two years of backwards and forwards but I think we have solved the mystery.

Richard from Airtech pointed out the other night that he couldn’t see evidence of a Kygas Priming Pump on Frame 8 on the Prototype, even though there is clearly a 3 way Primingcock on the frame. That got me thinking and after a long night of searching I stumbled across an old Tractor Fuel priming pump that looked almost exactly like this:

This satisfies the three main conditions that I had on identifying the item vis

1. The need for a hole in the panel for wiring/piping to go through forward.

2. The retaining rings are bolt held, indicating a relatively “permanent” attachment

3. The bracket, towel rack, whatever you want to call it…is physically bolted TO the instrument panel, indicating the need for a certain amount of rigidity.

So it would appear that this is a priming pump, predating the use of the more familiar Kygas and, at least for my purposes, I’m calling this one “solved”. The only question I have is whether that pump was fitted to all early Spitfires and removed in favour of the Kygas, or whether the bracket was included on early production Spitfires but the Kygas was introduced in the meantime. On that point, “Spitfire Knuckle” has always mystified me a little as there really doesn’t seem to be any significant furniture in the way to hit. But if this pump was in the early production Spits.. it would have conceivably been in the way of the main pump handle.

The most significant clue would probably be had from the early drawings of Frame 8 (lacking the Kygas hole??) but alas, I have only ever found later drawings for the Spitfire I, including the automatic hydraulic landing gear pump. So it won’t show that anyhow (nor does it show the Bowden cable routing of the Landing Lamp Control Dipping Lever)

Anyway, if anybody is interested, that is my new theory.

I’m not sure any of the pilots who flew well before the war are still with us to ask, or if they would remember such a minor detail?

regards

Darryl

Cheers Stan.

Mine is already Khaki coloured, the same colour as P9374’s (for reference). Are you saying they should be a darker shade? “Buff” was Edgar’s description of what they should be but that, in British military terms, definitely IS too light for what the
real thing was.

But if coffee will stain the pebble weave then I think I should be able to dye it RAF blue if I can find more solid references to that colour being used early on.

best regards and thansk

Darryl

Thanks Mate,

Yes, I’ve seen that. Edgar is a great loss, that is for sure. I have a very large archive of clippings from his posts.

The “buff” is, I am confident, his interpretation of “my” Kharki Yellow. “Buff” in British Army parlance is a little lighter but still….

It is a great shame that the thread got derailed on the “back of the seat” argument and never really answered the original question. (But WE don’t have to worry about the back seat hole arguments, do we 🙂 🙂 🙂 )
There IS a small clue in that Edgar mentions the Airfix book and the position of the belts being confirmed on the IWM aircraft when taken down for cleaning. That book
lists the belts as RAF Blue and it is therefore highly probable that the “blue” reference comes from the same aircraft and time.

Last night I found a refueling picture where the belt is hanging out of the cockpit and the yellow outer ring is on the roundel. It is definitely not orthochromatic as the ring is light but the harness is definitely
very dark, at least as dark as the cam green. While that is no guarantee that the belt is blue it does sweeten the pot a little. As K9817 was only the 31st production aircraft, it is very likely that
any and all “early” quirks (with the exception of the original, unguarded starter switch) were present.

Quite another matter is whether my Sutton would take a dye in any case. My original parachute pack and harness (a 1960’s US one) certainly would not. Fortunately I was able
to source an RAF parachute from the 60’s which is of the original pattern but has brown straps and black fittings.

I still owe you some photos of the “mystery fitting” now it think of it!