Considering color schemes...fortunately, the two British aircraft have basically similar schemes...a  dark green camo over an earth brown (depends upon whose earth we're talking about...Georgia, no...too red).  My recent project of recovering a peanut Buffalo utilized the ideal brown tissue.  Tissue came from a dollar store...worked out well.

So...after carefully disassembling the Hurricane...that's where I'll begin the process.

Neal

Another great looking set of bones!!!  She definitely looks like a Spitfire!  Well done!

Thanks Mike.  There’s certainly no doubting the beautiful lines of those elliptical wings.  Some Brits talk about them as though they were invented by Mitchell himself, Ernst Heinkel notwithstanding.  Just the same, so many curves…she is definitely a “looker.”  Throughout all the various Spitfire marks, those wings remained a constant…got clipped once, but really were the primary identifier of the aircraft.

There’s so much speculation about the importance of parts played by various aircraft during the Battle of Britain, but the most critical factor was the defensive strategy evolved by Sir Hugh Dowding and Sir Keith Park.  Their vital deployment of resources, coupled with the use of Chain Home (radar) proved critical in enabling “The Few” to get the job done.  It really was a “very near thing.”  One can argue the merits of aircraft all day long, but had it not been for the foresight and determination of those two men…in conjunction with the aid of radar, the hinge of history would indeed have swung the other way.  While the Luftwaffe assault came from the sky daily, these men also had to contend with the attack of naysayers and second-guesser from within their own ranks.  They weathered the storm on all counts.

Neal

The second wing panel certainly was less of a problem than the first...must be a learning curve...it's all in the approach. 

Neal

More Battle of Britain facts….

Like the Bf109 flown 10 months earlier, the Spitfire employed state-of-the-art all-metal stressed-skin monocoque structural techniques, and, similarly, it was the smallest practicable airframe that could be designed around a pilot, the chosen power plant and the specified armament.  Mitchell’s approach was perhaps more conservative than that of his German contemporaries in that he sought modest wing loadings whereas Messerschmitt gambled on appreciably higher loadings with a sophisticated arrangement of leading-edge slots and slotted trailing-edge flaps.

The Bf109 concept was the more advanced: it was to place the German fighter at a disadvantage to the Spitfire in agility, but it gave an edge in climbing, diving and in level speed below 20,000 ft.

In short, the Bf109 could out-dive, out-climb, and out-run the Spitfire in level flight…but it could not out-turn it in a dogfight.  In other words, with careful management of combat tactics, a German pilot could break off an engagement at a time of his choosing.  Furthermore, while the Daimler-Benz engine was fuel-injected, the Merlin was carbureted and could not execute negative-G maneuvers without interrupting fuel flow.  A common tactic when bounced was for a German pilot to violently push the stick forward into a steep turning dive…or to roll inverted and pull the stick back hard.  The Spitfire and Hurricane had a very difficult time following.  The vast majority of German losses during the Battle of Britain were bomber aircraft, not fighters.  In fact, it has been said that the German bomber forces never recovered from its Battle losses for the remainder of the war.

Incidentally, the Spitfire was NOT easy to manufacture and NOT easily maintained in the field.  The most prevalent complaint from ground personnel was that access to various system components was NOT at the forefront of Mitchell's design team.

Proceeding with Spit's wings....

Neal

Thanks Tom.

I recall reading Robert Johnson's wartime memoirs years ago...he related how on one mission his Thunderbolt was pretty badly shot up...so badly in fact that he found himself making all the preparations for abandoning the aircraft...contemplating how things would be as a POW. (In fact...he later found that he couldn't get the canopy open!) He had practically no oil pressure and the engine sounded terrible...ready to seize any moment.  One can imagine all these thoughts...and then...he began to calm down...decided to get as far on the return leg as possible.  Long story short...the 'Bolt just kept on going and going and eventually...he was over the channel and his airfield!  "Pratt and Whitney, take me home!"    Happy ending for Bob.

Hey, look at this photo...I just noticed the armored glass INSIDE the cockpit!  Interesting.

Neal

Spit has developed an empennage this morning...completely removable for ease of covering.

Watching various documentaries about the Spit...all are propaganda...but then, I suppose a documentary has to have a theme...and who would watch at documentary about the Spit's shortcomings? Everyone out there can easily realize that any in-line engine needs a dedicated cooling system...which in turn is a major weakness.  Disable the cooling system....  Spit, Mustang, Hurricane, Warhawk, Messerschmitt...didn't matter...if the cooling system ceased to function, the engine had at best 4 minutes until it seized...end program.  On the other hand, I've heard testimony that a radial engine could actually throw rods through the cowling...and continue to operate!  Stanford-Tuck became a POW as a result of ground fire...beating up an airfield...suddenly, on the deck with a seized engine.

Interestingly...armor protection when it was added...was a priority for the cooling system, as much as it was for the pilot in the afore-mentioned aircraft!

Neal