Spitfire Two Seat Trainers

[DazDaMan]

Neil, here it is, from Aeroplane Monthly.

[Tony Kearns]

Hello,
According to my records Spitfire PV202 Irish Air Corps 161 was G-15-174 as listed by Alex.
Regarding the interchange of wings. There is no record of the wings being interchanged at Baldonnel during their Irish Air Corps service and possibly occured when MJ627 IAC158 and MJ772 IAC159 returned to the UK from Belgium (Cogea) in a dismantled state. It is possible, during rebuilding that MJ772 IAC159 had the wings of MJ627 IAC158 fitted.
Irish Spitfires are listed as Type 502. Type 509 may apply to other Air Forces.
Tony K

[PeterA]

Hello,
According to my records Spitfire PV202 Irish Air Corps 161 was G-15-174 as listed by Alex.
Regarding the interchange of wings. There is no record of the wings being interchanged at Baldonnel during their Irish Air Corps service and possibly occured when MJ627 IAC158 and MJ772 IAC159 returned to the UK from Belgium (Cogea) in a dismantled state. It is possible, during rebuilding that MJ772 IAC159 had the wings of MJ627 IAC158 fitted.
Irish Spitfires are listed as Type 502. Type 509 may apply to other Air Forces.
Tony K

Tony,
I could go with that.
It is the interchange of major assemeblies between 159 and 163, as suggested by John lane above, that has no logic.
PeterA

[Bill Greenwood]

As for the wings on my Spitfire, which version do I believe? Two good guys, with a lot of Warbird experience. On the downside, decades of hang- ing out in pubs may have clouded Peter's memory. As for John, he had a near miss lighting strike at Midland in 05, that may have short circuited a few wires. Also he lives out in the desert and like Gary's cat, may have acquired a few rattlesnake bites, doing no further good to his mind. So here I got to go with the Brit. After all they invented the thing; as Peter said when I was ribbing him about the use of "keen", which is not a big macho word here, his reply, "We invented the language". Fellow Brit and pub crawler Ray Middleton, who has maintained my plane even before Don PLumb, told me the wing attach fittings are factory original and not oversize. I like my wings, they look good and fly well and I want to keep em. To quote Howard Pardue after flying the former CAF MKIX, "It's not that fast, but that's the finest wing ever put on a airplane." And Howard, being a Marine and a Texan, would never tell a lie.

[k5083]

Of interest is that TE308 (pictured above) originally started life as a low-back MkIX (like the SAAF Museum example that was severely damaged a few years ago).

Anyone know details of TE308's operational history (if any) as a single seater?

August

[Tony Kearns]

Hello August,
Spitfire TE308 had no RAF operational service. Built at the Castle Bromwich Factory it was taken on charge by 39 MU at Colerne on 9 June 1945. It went to 29 MU at High Ercall 26 January 1950. Sold to Vickers Armstrong on 31 July 1950 and converted to two seat trainer as type 502. It was delivered to the Irish Air Corps at Baldonnel on 30 July 1951 with a total of 5 hours 10 mins on the airframe, brand new!! It's last flight with the Irish Air Corps was on 8 September 1961 when it landed after a "spirited" flight by two pilots engaged in some "hedge trimming" over the Irish countryside.
HTH
Tony K

[PeterA]

"On the downside, decades of hang-ing out in pubs may have clouded Peter's memory"

Hanging out in pubs, indeed!!

TE308. No Operational service with the RAF but it had a major engagement with a 'Wild Strawberry' on its delivery flight to Ireland in the hands of Capt. Tim Healy, 30th July 1951.

Peter

[k5083]

Would TE308 have worn any unit codes with the MUs or just camo and roundels?

August

[PeterA]

Hello,
According to my records Spitfire PV202 Irish Air Corps 161 was G-15-174 as listed by Alex.
Regarding the interchange of wings. There is no record of the wings being interchanged at Baldonnel during their Irish Air Corps service and possibly occured when MJ627 IAC158 and MJ772 IAC159 returned to the UK from Belgium (Cogea) in a dismantled state. It is possible, during rebuilding that MJ772 IAC159 had the wings of MJ627 IAC158 fitted.
Irish Spitfires are listed as Type 502. Type 509 may apply to other Air Forces.
Tony K

This wing interchange.

158 was in store at Vendair at Biggin Hill and was sold to Tim Davies, owner and operator of MH434 based at Elstree. At that time it was seen just as a source of spares. 158 was roaded to Elstree for storage.

159 was restored to flight by Simpsons Aeroservices at Elstree in the mid 1960's.

With flying Spitfires only commanding a value of c£4,000 in 1964 and with 158 being a spares ship, this will be where the wing change happened to reduce engineering restoration costs.

PeterA

[PeterA]

Would TE308 have worn any unit codes with the MUs or just camo and roundels?

August

K5083,

TE308 - No unit codes.

It was however painted in Egyptian livery as a single seater low back but the sale was not completed.

Our mystery two-seater G.15-75 is almost certainly a delivery to Egypt as recent reports indicate that Egyptian Air Force '670' was a two seater as well as '684', the more widely known and photographed example and said to be the sole example.

PeterA

[bdk]

http://www.barnstormers.com/ad_detail.php?ID=848508

MJ722 is on the block!

http://hangar10.de/en/aircraft-sales

[RobC]

Does that mean Brad's cheque didn't clear?