I wondered whether any of you have any tips on how to determine what particular mark of Spitfire or Seafire one is looking at. There are so many different variations I get muddled.

I can think of the following recognition points, but maybe the cognoscenti can suggest others.

1. Number of prop blades.
2. Cockpit: Malcolm hood or bubble
3. Armament: 20 mm cannon or machine guns.
4. Wing tips: clipped or not
5. Number of engine exhaust covers

I thought of building my own spreadsheet or flowchart, but wondered if this sort of thing in print or on the internet somewhere.

Bob

Unfortunately, none of those bullet points are all that helpful in actually determining the specific mark, especially given the number of frankenfire rebuilds that have played musical wingtips, pass the merlin power pack and broad-chord rudder shennanigans….

According to two of the survivors, Sgts Dryhurst and Hughes, BB214 was on her return leg when she had her tail shot off and crashed, so she should be bombfree.

A quick google also indicates the University of Bonn recently recovered some human remains from the lake that might have belonged to to one of the crew, so wether she’s completely undisturbed is unknown.

Missed a couple. 😉

R1038 AA-H
X3164 AA-V

Dave, have you tried the RAF Feltwell site? Lots of these serials are mentioned there, some with accompanying photographs.

Feltwell link

As I remember it, in about 1973, there were a couple of chopped up Mosquito fuselages at the Boremwood Film Studio lot. I think they were the residue after the engines had been removed to be wind machines.

One of the ones acquired for 633 squadron maybe? One that they chopped up for cockpit filming? And wasn’t one of the cockpits also recovered after they’d reused it in Mosquito Squadron?

I suspect it’s not just stresses that are a factor but wear and tear too. Delamination is tricky to detect in modern composites it must be a nightmare in more traditional laminates, especially when the technical knowledge is rapidly dying out.

Cracking aircraft and a cracking job on the paint scheme. But seeing the latter on the former makes me wince like seeing a fat woman in a neon thong.