Small Scale Military Headquarters

A question for you plane guys:

I'm watching a series called "Foley's War" about a police officer dealing with crime in England during WW2, while there was still a chance Germany could win. It's a BBC show. Very good detail.

The lead character's son is in the RAF and I thought they said he flew a Spitfire but when they show him with the plane it is shown as h aving a trap door in the side of the plane under the canopy. I thought that was on the Hurricane fighter.

Did the Spit also have this drop down side to ease entry and exit?

TTT

Yes the Spitfire has the small side door at the cockpit.
Todd

They have a door on the port side and it has a red tool diagonally inside.
Not sure what the tool is for since we never used it.
I have detail shots-somewhere.

Interesting note on Spits:
Tires, (or Tyres :p ) are only good for 6 landings on paved runways.
Imagine having to replace your tires after 3 trips to walmart.
This is on a Mk 8.

Thanks Todd. I knew you flyboys would give me an answer. I thought they were mixing in shots of the two planes but I remember the Hurricane cockpit canapy was straight, not bubble like the Spit and this character's plane had the bubble top.

Nice shots of the Spit in action and earlier episodes real and CG dogfights were well done.

TTT

interesting about the tires..

the red 'tool' is probably some kind of emergency device, since it's painted red, to stand out. Maybe some kind of emergency crank to open the canopy?? dunno.

Or, it could be an escape hatchet--the tool that is.
Aaron

The opening door and red tool are both faithfully replicated on the 21c 1:18 scale Spitfires and even the 1:32 FOV planes as well, if you're ever interested in getting one

The "red tool" on a Spits entry door is in fact an axe/pry bar.

Also the Hurri doesn't have any entry door like the Spit does.

The red bar is of course on the door of the Spit in the TV show. Funny, in this week's show the Spit crashes and the canopy jams and pilot is sererly burned.

I guess it would have been too simple to use the tool to escape as part of the story is the canopy jamming and a maintenance chief ignoring the request to fix the jam on an earlier flight.

Hey, what am I talking about this anyway, I can't get interested in planes, I only have room for my Stuka, an 21C Avenger and a 21C Warthog, if we ever see them And a 21C Me-110.....and a B-25......oh, never mind.

TTT

hi guys
i talked to a man who i know here that has a real MkIX at a Va. airport
the red tool is a holder that you put on control yoke when it is on the ground to lock the controls. i took a pix of his in hanger if anyone wants me to email it to them

That side hatch was the first and only thing to break on my NKK Spit. The hinges are alittle weak...

TJ

The red tool is a plane jack. Used to change tires every third flight! No roadside assistance back in those days.

The red tool (I think) is actually a pry bar of some type. Roy had mentioned somthing like that to me before in the past .(If I remember correctly)

it is a yoke lock i took a pix of it in action on an early Spitfire MkIX. it hooks to yoke then other long end goes to seat frame short end goes to right side bulkhead. if i could figure out how to post pix i would show you all how it works

I found a detailed picture of the escape crowbar on this site.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... n%26sa%3DN

Boy! that sure is a long string of code! check out the 4th picture down.

in the RAF manual dated '1941 /rev/ 42 Mk IX' flight manual it is called a Stout and shown how to hook to yoke and then in door catches so maybe it is a dual purpose tool,the manual has black & white pictures showing use

Thats what I was thinking.

if anybody has questions about Spitfires i'll be working this weekend in my hanger which is next to friends Spitfire hanger
i'm working on my 'almost' warbird that my wife said not to buy

KAGNEW wrote:if anybody has questions about Spitfires i'll be working this weekend in my hanger which is next to friends Spitfire hanger
i'm working on my 'almost' warbird that my wife said not to buy

You mean you'll be working in your "hangar"...

What kind of airplane do you have? I have a DHC-1 Chipmunk.

i have a PA24-400 1966 Comanche that we travel in, but i found a 1950
L-17B (better known as a Navion) about 90% complete that i'm redoing

That's interesting. We have quite a few Navions in our warbirds group. Even though none of them are true L-17s we still let them come play with us...

In fact I'm looking for a big-engined Nav right now so that I can join the formation group the "Fraser Blues".

Aside from the yokes instead of sticks, throttle in the wrong place and the wrong shape and no tailwheel the plane is pretty impressive, especially with a lot of horsepower.

this one has a 20+hour since OH fresh Contiental in it.
i have the logs from the military plus last owners. it looks as best i can tell
it was a generals personal plane then in storage for 35 years.
the guy i got it from told me a found in barn type story.
he found it started working on it, then he got sick and sold to me.
wife doesn't like it, said i don't need 2 aircraft. what i didn't tell her was if i can get Navion right i'll sell Comanche.
i have Jas Hartzell Scimitar 3 blade prop and 400hp in Com. they only made 148 PA24-400's this one has less then 1900 hour total time on airframe so i think i can sell it for a good price

So what year is it? I show L-17s only being built by NA in 1947 and Ryan in 1948.

Have you seen www.L-17.org?

logs i have start in 1950. i will look at ID plate saturday and let you know

wife pulled papers
says 6/47 with E-185-3 Cont.
but engine that i got with plane is 0-470-A Cont.
fus is sitting on saw horse in back of hanger.
only had her about 6 months