Silver Spitfire round-the-world trip

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...5c0ff6-b792-11e9-8e83-4e6687e99814_story.html

 

Saw this on the news last night, I agree with you von Poop, being silver does look strange.
It is a pity they don't seem to have a list of where they are going, it would be great to see it fly into Maryborough aerodrome!
regards

Robert

 

If you go to their website as per von Poop's link, there is a tab for Expedition which opens to Flight Tracker of this aircraft.
Currently appears to have returned back to Lossiemouth, which might indicate an issue in flight, having got past the north of Scotland before turning back when nearly level with Stromness. Live Flight Tracker - Silver Spitfire

It also indicates the planned flight path, always subject to change as circumstances develop.

I'm convinced that yesterday something akin to the silver Spitfire flew north past my home from the coast near Bexhill, but that doesn't show on the flight path, so must have been something similar.....

 

Around the World, Around the Corner > Vintage Wings of Canada

 

Your link doesn't work for me, but this one: Live Flight Tracker - Silver Spitfire

...gives me this, but I don't see any flight path, only the current location:



I think the only delay has been due to bad weather in Iceland, which now means they are about 4 days behind schedule.

The Silver Spitfire on Instagram: “#Repost @petwoodbear • • • • • • Well what a day! What a shot of @typhoondisplayteam typhoon and G-IRTY @thesilverspitfire over…”

 

I believe that the lack of a flight path is simply because the plane is on the ground - meaning the current 'flight' has finished. The 'next flight' will show as a separate 'flight' and so on - it's a live tracking app so doesn't show previous flights.

 

Steve, as above, there's a clue in "flight" tracker Currently on the ground and if you zoom in it does show some taxying movement currently.
The link DID work on 6th August and you can still link in to the website Flight Tracker section.

If you scroll down below the map, it displays the itinerary and (anticipated) dates of arrival and departure.
Hope that helps!

 

Yes Kevin, I did get the clue. Its just that when I clicked on "View Tracks" I'd wondered whether it would show the journey so far (e.g. like "tracks" on a GPS device). It certainly would be useful if it did.

My computer is set to be as tight on incoming security threats as my wallet is for outgoing cash leaks. So sometimes I don't see the full picture (as seen by others) generated by all these dreadful Javascripts.

Your link gives me error 404, probably because someone has fiddled with the site layout in the last day or two.

 

Silver Spitfire back in Chichester - ‘Home are the heroes’ as Goodwood pilots complete round-the-world trip

 

Spitfire Mark 1X a very good performing aircraft which started out as a stop gap from the development of the Spitfire Mark V in early 1942 after it proved that the Mark V to be incapable of competing against the FW 190.

A converted Spitfire Mark VC with the new version of the Merlin,the 61 was performance tested in April 1942 by the Air Fighting Development Unit at Duxford and gave impressionable results.A few months later the now Spitfire 1X was tried and tested against a captured FW 190 with the conclusion that the Mark 1X was capable of competing against the FW 190.Both aircraft were evenly matched and combat victory,it was recorded would probably be with the aircraft that gained and held the initiative.

All In all,5710 Mark 1X were rolled out at Castle Bromwich with 1055 Mark XV1s and 280 Mark Vs converted to Mark 1Xs on the production line at a time when it was critical to get the Mark 1X into squadron service.These Marks represented the most numerous of the Spitfire variants built.

 

Less a stop gap and more a compromise between advanced design and production reality. The Spitfire Mks VII and VIII were actually better and the Mk IX sacrificed some of their more advanced .
features in favour of simplified production

 

I only learned recently of Alex Henshaw, who served from 1940-1946 as the chief test pilot at Castle Bromwich. He flew over 3,000 planes during his time there. He had a team of 25 pilots who all flew a total of 12,767 aircraft of all types in approx. 37,023 test flights totalling 9,116 hrs and 10 min. There were two pilots killed and a total of 127-130 forced landings.

 

Yes started out as a stop gap to combat the FW 190 and proved more than useful against the high altitude Junker 88R bomber intruder which appeared over the south coast in September 1942.The Mark 1X Spitfire ensured that these enemy aircraft were longer immune from interception and the Luftwaffe high altitude raids were discontinued.

As any engineering system a question of continuous improvement to counter any deficiencies found, in this case in the realm of air superiority.

Mark V11 ...only 140 produced by Supermarine with output as low as 4 per month.No 124 Squadron was the only squadron equipped with the type and was down to 7 of the type by May 1943. Armour and cannons were removed and machine guns reduced to 4 in an effort to match the Mark 1X. Altogether 6 squadrons were so equipped and the production run ceased in early 1944.

Mark V111 Fitted with the Merlin 66 or the Merlin 70...in each case performance was approximately the same as the Mark 1X...reported to be a beautiful aircraft to fly as recorded by Jeffrey Quill and others.This type was used extensively in the Med and Far East theatres of operation.

 

No adopted as a compromise when the Mk VII and VII could not be produced in sufficient quantities

 

I think you ought to read some performance test notes and put some flesh on your scant submissions