My take on 'High Speed Spitfire'

[bladerunner900]

This has probably been done to death, but for what it's worth, here is my version of the High Speed Spitfire.







Download link.

"Share and enjoy".
Steve.

UPDATED: 20/11/2014

[Lewis - A2A]

Shes a beut!

[Scott - A2A]

Gorgeous

[maubrenta]

Beautiful!

[Dooga]

Beautiful!

Would this work on a mark 2 as well?

[bladerunner900]

Thanks guys!

Would this work on a mark 2 as well?

It should do. Try it, I did.
Cheers.
Steve.

[Dogsbody55]

Very nice indeed. Thanks for this one, Steve. Here's some more info about this unusual Spitfire.

In July 1937, a modified Messerschmitt 109 claimed a new world speed record, and the RAF rose to the challenge. N17 (K9834) originally had a flat canopy and highly streamlined windscreen, modified wings and cooling system together with a highly modified engine developing about 2,100hp at 3,200rpm driving either a 4 bladed Watts fixed pitch prop or DH 3 blade two pitch propellor. The paint was highly polished for the record attempt to increase speed. By July 1938, doubts about the performance of N17 were raised and the attempt reluctantly abandoned. K9834 continued to be used as a research aircraft for another year or so. By November 1940, she was converted to MkII standard and fitted with a Merlin XII and a PR MkIII camera installed, and used by the PDU unit at Heston. The aircraft retained it's blue and silver paint scheme, and it later went to PRU Benson as the personal aircraft of Air Commodore J N Boothman, who flew it over the beach head at Normandy on 6th June 1944. At this time, she had a Merlin 45 fitted, driving a Rotol 3 bladed prop. It was finally struck off charge by Coastal Command as Cat E on 14th June 1946.

As N17, if fitted with a fixed pith prop, the prop and spinner should be black. If fitted with the 3 blade VP prop, it should be natural metal prop and spinner. If depicted as K9834, the prop and spinner should be black. Fuselage roundels should be standard late 1940 A type roundels, and the fin flash should be half it's usual height. Later on , fuselage roundels were the B type (blue/red) and the later fin flash with the thin white stripe should half size, positioned close to the rudder post at the base of the fin. No RAF serial number was displayed later. As originally used by the PDU, she still had a polished surface, but by 1944, was looking decidedly second-hand.

Cheers,
Mike

[cflord]

Now that's a beautiful spitfire! Simple but elegant! Makes you want to take her on a date!

Keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down!

Ret SMSgt Cliff Lord - C-130 Flight Engineer & Mechanic

[ebo]

Mike, you certainly did some research on th.is one. Very intetesting reading.

BTW whaf was the world speed record of the Me 109?

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[Dogsbody55]

Hi Ebo,

A modified version of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 (V13) raised the speed record to 379.39mph or 611kmh on 11th November 1938. At the time, the British thought the Speed Spitfire would raise this to about 405mph, but while they were busy testing, the Germans were busy raising the bar with the Heinkel He 100 and Messerschmitt Me 209. In late March 1939, the He 100 raised the record to 463.92mph (746.6kmh), then on April 26, the Me 209 raised the record to 469.22mph, or 755.14kmh. This record stood until August 1969, when Darryl Greenamyer raised that record to 488.78mph or 776.45kmh in an extensively modified Grumman F8F Bearcat.

The Spitfire was a fairly standard aircraft, but with a highly boosted engine of 2100hp and specially designed prop. The German planes were developed for record breaking and to showcase Nazi technical superiority, so a lot more money was available to them. The Me 209 in particular, was a beast to fly, rather in the manner of the GeeBee racers, only scarily faster still. Later versions of the Spitfire, eg; the Mk XIV had a top speed of 454mph, and this was with a 2200hp RR Griffon engine, so it's possible that the British were in the ball park. This also highlights just what a great plane the Spitfire was. No other plane of that era was so amenable to development.


Cheers,
Mike

[ebo]

Thanks Mike for the fascinating read and history of these revord braking attempts. Any idea how much hp the Me109 and He 100 had. I guess that the weight of airframe of the Me might have been lighther than the Spit.

I am just guessing here.

Thanks for your insights.
Eberhard.

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[Dogsbody55]

The engines used in both German planes, He100 and Me209, was the Daimler Benz DB-601ARJ. The standard DB-601A or Aa had an output of about 1,175hp and maximum revs of 2,480. The DB-601ARJ had a maximum output of 1,550hp, but for 1 minute could be boosted to 2,300hp, at 3,000rpm. Gross weight for the tiny Me209 was 5,545lb, though much of the flight testing was done at 4,497lb, carrying only enough fuel and water for 15 minutes flight time. The Me209 had a wingspan of 25ft 7in, and a length of 23ft 9.5in, making it a very small plane for that amount of power. It was unstable in the climb, it went nose down in a bank and the rudder was not able to control it, banking at full throttle made the plane roll on it's back, stick forces were tiring, the controls went soft at speeds around 100 to 105mph, it was extremely dangerous to land in anything except windless conditions, and it swerved violently on touch down and if the brakes were used. As I said above, this plane was built only for speed.

The Heinkel He100, on the other hand, was a very different beast. This was intended as a production plane, as a rival to the Bf109. The Bf109E was a very draggy aircraft, and could achieve about 350mph from it's 1,175hp, whereas the He100 could achieve 416mph. This was a much cleaner aircraft, but it's potential was wasted by the Nazi hierarchy which believed it didn't need the He100. Ernst Heinkel was told to concentrate on his bombers, and the 12 He100D's that were built were repainted many times and used only as a ruse to make the allies think Germany had lots of them. This was all to the good of the allies, and the Battle of Britain might have had a different outcome had Germany been able to field a couple of Jagdgruppen of them. Interestingly, although the Germans weren't interested in it, the Japanese navy was. The war situation meant that Germany was not able to supply jigs, so the Japanese built their own version, which was the Kawasaki Type 63 Hien.


Cheers,
Mike

[ebo]

Thanks Mike. Again very interesting reading. Appreciate your research and wisdom.

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[Dogsbody55]

No problem, Ebo. I have a collection of books going back almost 50 years, almost entirely on WW2 fighters, though I also have a couple on Beavers, Constellations, Convairs and the Douglas prop liners. It's nice to pull them out I also have 17 (recount - 19 ) books on the Spitfire, so you can tell which is my favourite.


Cheers,
Mike

[ebo]

For sure. I did collect the series The Aircraff Files,I think and that is also a valuable resource.

Rgds
Eberhard.

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