Supermarine Spitfire and Seafire

[GTX]

I had always wondered what a mid-engined Spitfire would look like, the pic below gives you a good idea of what a mid-engined Mustang would have.  A mid-engined Spitfire probably would look like an Attacker on a diet.

Now look what you made me do :

The first:



The last:



Regards,

Greg

[kitnut617]

The bottom one looks the part   

[PR19_Kit]

The bottom one looks the part    

Oh yes!  

Why do I feel this sudden urge to get up in The Loft and dig into the VAST box of Spitfire kits and bits I have???

Not sure I'd be too keen on having 2000 hp worth of prop shaft whistling around between my legs though! Can't imagine what my Dad would have said, he never liked the Griffon engined ones much anyway!

[elmayerle]

The top one looks like an experimental proof-of-concept aircraft while the bottom one looks like a purposeful production combat aircraft.  I could see that top one with yellow undersides and prominent "circle P" prototype markings.

[rickshaw]

They both look interesting.  Personally, I like the Griffon engined Spits over the Merlin ones which look too short in the nose to me.  I can't imagine having 2000hp between your legs is any worse than having 1200hp (as in the P-39).

[GTX]

Of course, the mid-engined layout was much appreceated by the RN FAA due to the better frontal visibility it gave on carrier approach.  The Seafang (or hunchback as it was more commonly known - due to the moving of air intakes to the rear spine) served briefly in the late '40s before jets were introduced.



Regards,

Greg

[Caveman]

Is that a camera situated just behind the exhausts? I would imagine that it would become pretty grubby quite quickly (unless it had some sort of windscreen wiper )

In all other aspects i really like the look of these mid engined spits. In a last ditch attempt to make them competitive with jets perhaps a turboprop powered version was developed?

edit: actually one thing has occurred to me, might the wings need shifting back a touch? Moving the engine so far must play havoc with the cg...

[GTX]

Is that a camera situated just behind the exhausts? I would imagine that it would become pretty grubby quite quickly (unless it had some sort of windscreen wiper )

In all other aspects i really like the look of these mid engined spits. In a last ditch attempt to make them competitive with jets perhaps a turboprop powered version was developed?

edit: actually one thing has occurred to me, might the wings need shifting back a touch? Moving the engine so far must play havoc with the cg...

Regards,

Greg

[Caveman]

 

[kitnut617]

In the RR Mustang FTB, the Griffon engine was just behind the cockpit with the center of the engine just over the main spar, the engine could be moved a bit further forward than how Greg has it.  In this photo you can see that the front of the engine is just under the rear of the canopy.  In the RR Mustang book I have, there's a couple of photos of the real thing (as real as the full scale mock-up can be  ) showing this.

[ysi_maniac]

A real world question:

Was there any in service Spitfire with following features: Merlin engine, bubble canopy, non clipped wings and wide chord tail fin? I have seen such thing in warbirds collections, but I am not sure if they existed as a service machine.

Thanks,
Carlos.

[apophenia]

Carlos: AFAIK, the only RW Merlin-engined Spits with bubble canopies were JF299 (a VIII prototype conversion) and the last production MkXIs and late XVIs. JF299 had a standard fin and rounded rudder. I believe that all production bubble-tops had pointed Mk.IX-style rudders but still with standard fins -- as opposed to the wider-chord XIV type.

[ysi_maniac]

^^^^^
Well I can be wrong in the fin issue . I probably meant that 'pointed' fin. Particularly I am speaking about a Mk XVI but with non clipped wings.

[kitnut617]

Carlos, this particular Mk.XVI has the pointed wings.  This was AVM Robbs personal Spitfire he used just after WW.II, it still exists and on top of that, it still flys and does regular around Eastern Canada.

[ysi_maniac]

Thanks!
BTW What is that colour? PRU blue?