Even though, aesthetically, Spitfires with 'clipped' wings are inferior (just my opinionI), clipping the wings did improve the roll rate. I've got one 'clipped' wing Spit in the collection, a Mk V in DAF colours, but then came across a later (Mk IX) model in more 'normal' camouflage colours. Needless to say what happened when I saw it on eBay (pesky finger couldn't keep still)...
During WWII, several pilots, including Johnnie Johnston, used Spitfires and other aircraft to carry kegs of beer to the squadrons based in France. This practice wasn't exactly stimulated by the powers that be, to put it mildly ...
Once I found out that there is a 1:24 diecast model of such a 'beer truck', I of course had to add one to the collection!
As to the pilot in the cockpit of the model, could it be Johnnie Johnston himself??
About a year ago, Penny, a friend of us, gave us a leaflet on the Shirley Spitfire Trail. And that sparked our interest in all things Spitfire, so far culminating in the Spitfire Makers plaque unveiled at the university yesterday.
Between xmas and new year, Penny said she had something for me. And that something was a brooch in the shape of a Spitfire that her father, Sidney Ody, made from an old penny for his wife Mary in 1940 (they were married earlier that year). At that time, the Battle of Britain had made sure that Spitfires were very much on people's minds. Penny isn't the sentimental type, and said she would much rather that someone who appreciates the brooch has it, rather than it being "thrown in the bin when I die".
Definitely a unique and very special brooch, and I proudly wore it at the unveiling of the university plaque yesterday.
So things have come full circle: Penny initially gave us the leaflet that triggered our interest in Spitfires, and now, a year on, I'm wearing a Spitfire brooch, made by her father ~84 years ago, at an official Spitfire ceremony.
Addition: the unveiling (and the brooch!) made the local news!
In an earlier blog post, I briefly mentioned the design department of Supermarine moving to huts on what is now the University of Southampton's Highfield Campus. Time for a plaque to be installed near where those huts were!
Because I am a lecturer at the university, Alan Matlock, the chairman of the Spitfire Makers, asked me to see if I could maybe get the ball rolling on permission and possibly even (part-)funding of the plaque 'from inside'. To make a short story even shorter, my first email to that effect was met with enthusiasm and permission as well as (full) funding was secured very quickly!
Today was the day of official unveiling.
Even though, aesthetically, Spitfires with 'clipped' wings are inferior (just my opinionI), clipping the wings did improve the roll ...
