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A Spitfire Mk IX to Build

This is the spitfire I have chosen to model, courtesy of Paul Moore.  Mr. Moore has been more than helpful in providing me with the negatives of this photo he found.   More of Mr. Moore's photo's can be viewed at The Paul Moore Collection on the Web Birds site.

Mr. Moore found this particular photograph in box of his wife's Uncle Herbert Johnston RCAF momentoes.  Hervert Johnston had been a flight Sargeant during the war and a warrant officer in the post war RCAF.  He was one of those charged with the job of keeping the aircraft in the air.

Specifications

Aircraft History

YO-B was ordered as a batch of 2,190 Mk. V/IX ordered from Vickers-Armstrong, Castle Bromwich on May 28^th, 1942 and delivered as follows from July 1, 1943 to May 22^nd 1944.  It served as a squadron aircraft and was flown by many different pilots.   Mr. Moore was able to meet on of these pilots, Cliff Wyman, and managed to snap a few photos of his log book recording flights in YO-B.

The Serial No of this Airframe was MJ565.  It was delivered to 46 Maintenance Unit ont April 27 1944.  On June 14, 1944 it was sent to the Miles Aircraft Ltd. where it stayed for approximately 2 months.  On August 8, 1944 it was sent to the 401 Squadron for another 2 months.  It was during this time that the above photo must have been taken.  On Oct 16, 1944 it was sent to Air Service Training where it spent 7 months.   On May 10, 1945 Number 3 Flight Preparation Unit took charge of the airframe for yet another 2 months.  On July 16, 1945 it was sent to the Mediterainean Allied Air Force, where it stayed until it was Struck Off Charge on August 28, 1947.   Information was taken from "Spitfire the History" by Morgan and Shacklady.

Painting

I plan on using the paint chips  in a book titled: Aircraft Camouflage and Markings 1907-1954 by Bruce Robertson, Published by Harleyford Publication, UK. In the back of the book are paintchips. There is also a book which cross references FS standards to the British Standards. It can be purchased at Wright Air Museum at Wright Patterson Ohio, Dayton, Ohio USA.

The color scheme is as follows:

• Undersurface - Light Grey
• Uppersurface - Camouflage pattern of Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey
• Fuselage Band - Sky
• Spinner - Sky
• Unit Markings - Sky
• A Yellow stripe along the leading edge of wing- Yellow

Detail Photos

Unfortunatelly, I was unable to find any other photo's of MJ565.  However, I still plan to make as close of a replica as I can.  I intend on using photos from other aircraft for the scale detail.

Cockpit.zip	This is a Corel Draw file of the cockpit that can be used as a template for constructing an instrument panel.  Thank you for all of the hard work Bob Tomlinson.  Bob is also building a spitfire.
	Cockpit Detail
	Cockpit Detail
	Rear canopy
	Rear Canopy again
	Harness Anchor point
	View behind the seat
	Antena detail
	"b" wing, wing tip underside
	MK V wing center section underside
	MK V wing center section underside
	Port cowling of a MK V (I think)
	Elevator Underside shot
	Wheel detail

On Fabric, vs Metal Ailerons

I was curious about some spitfires having metal ailerons and some having fabric, so I posted a message on deja news and got this response from Peter Croser: (thank you Peter)

During the testing of the Spitfire 1 and 2 the high speed operations showed signs of aileron reversal and very heavy loads for the pilot and flutter in the dive i.e. 450mph plus I think. At low speed there was no such indication and it handled smoothly. They tried many methods including shape changes, and balance weights etc. They metalized a fabric covered aileron and found that the problems dramatically reduced. Fabric ailerons, elevators and rudders balloon due to suction or pressure on the surface and the loads can change the shape minutely and cause trim problems. Small change large effect. In the mark III and V they went to metal ailerons which derived directly from the fabric covered version and I think I have a drawing of how to metal cover the aileron and the elevator. The subsequent ailerons were metal covered but at this stage the elevators were all fabric covered in 1941-42.

Another problem arose with the elevator in the early 3's and 5's that was partially solved by "Bob-weights" being fitted to the elevator cables behind the pilot. The aim was under high loads to counterbalance the load on the elevator, as there were some dangerous elevator loads applied causing structural failure and breakup during tests. Pickering the test pilot had such a break up in the air and I think he never flew again. The early marks 1 to early 5's had a smaller counter balance area on the front outer corner of the elevator. This was changed in later mark V's after testing to increase the area and the requirement for "bob weights" disappeared. So from the mark V later series to the Merlin marks 9,11,16 they essentially had fabric covered, large balance area non-bob weighted elevators of the same design and part number, although there were some minor changes at times. The original production rudder on the other hand survived through all the marks 1,2,3,5,9,11 in Merlin series in fabric with the same round top balance tip. As the power increased in the merlin and griffon series aircraft the yaw loads increased and so the rudder changed in area. This initially occurred at the mark 9's half way through their production series. You can utilize an early rudder or a "broad chord rudder" on mark 9's and 16's. Now the Griffon powered Spits had an even larger weight and also power and so changes were made by: increasing the size of the elevator area and the balance area, further increasing the area of the rudder and shortening the aileron length. These changes coincided with testing carried out to find the best solutions for the particular mark. With any weight change or stiffening of the wing or power change these caused changes to all three surfaces in design requirement. The Griffon engined Spits had metal ailerons, metal elevators and predominantly fabric rudder and I think late in the series they went to metal covered rudder. Thats all for now I am sure there are some inaccuracies due memory but this can all be looked at in many of the excellent books out there. Regards Peter

In Spitfire the History by Morgan and Shacklady, they report that in November of 1940, all spitfire mk V's were ordered with metal covered ailerons.  However production did not start producing metal covered ailerons until June 18, 1941.

Or, A Spitfire MK VB

Special thanks to Peter and Mike for providing these great detail shots!  To see more, visit their web pages at their web pages

Original Photo

Images copyright 2000
Photos by P.Croser

Making Airplane Noises!  

Images copyright 2000
Photos by P.Croser

Now this is an office!

Images copyright 2000
Photos by P.Croser

I am really considering changing subjects.  The MkVb is one of my favorites.   I will have to shorten the nose a little but essentially the Mk IX and the MkV were the same airframe from an appearance standpoint.  And at this point I only have the wing done.  The only real change will be the size of the fake cannon blisters.

Specifications