Question on scrambling

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KaptajnKjuk
Airman First Class
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Joined: 27 Jan 2011, 12:36

Question on scrambling

Post by KaptajnKjuk »

I often wonder, how they get the Spitties of the ground that fast, when scrambling. Was just watching a scene from BoB, and the time from the guy is running out the door to the first spit is taxiing away is only around 10-15 seconds.

Now I know it's just a film, but how did they accomplish it so fast? Would they be fully configured for take off, eg. 1 division down, fuelled, loaded guns and open radiator, just waiting for a push of the starter button? And what about priming? My bit of mechanical logic tells me they couln't have them pre-primed as the fuel probably would evaporate after a relatively short timespan?

Hope somebody knows, as I'd find the details interesting :D

/Lasse

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Killratio
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Re: Question on scrambling

Post by Killratio »

Pretty much as you have described.

The engines were started and warmed by the Acks if necessary (say on a cold English morning) and then shut down. Periodically they would be restarted and rewarmed if any length of time elapsed but a scramble was possible. Of course during BoB it is unlikely that this would happen as the scramble intervals were quite small..particularly at the height of the battle.

In any event the engines would have been test started first thing in the morning.

So with everything set, the scramble bell would ring and the pilots would dash to the aircraft. As this was happenning an ack would switch the radio "master" and "heat" on (behind cockpit) and get ready to help the pilot with his harness and parachute, another would be plugging in the Trolley acc (Mk I). Sometimes another would be starting the Merlin, others this would be left to the pilot (depending on urgency, how warm the engine was etc). The aircraft would be manually swung into wind (if not already there).

So the pilot would be free to start to taxi (which may only be a few yards) giving the prop and throttle a quick check and switching on pressure head heat etc then up to full boost (confirm it is happening) and you're on your takeoff run.

A good squadron could be airborne in about a minute.


Darryl
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Mitchell - A2A
Aviation Writer and Pilot
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Joined: 22 Feb 2005, 13:29

Re: Question on scrambling

Post by Mitchell - A2A »

With regard to scrambles, See A2A Spitfire Pilot's Notes, P.48.

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