Hurricane

Mon 20 Jun 2022, 14:33

The Enstone ones are scaled-down replicas, about 90% full size.  And they don't use Merlins - hence the non-authentic sound.

Mon 20 Jun 2022, 13:02

Final bit on this - forgot this: did anyone see, late on Saturday afternoon (5.30ish) a "Warbird" flying low and quite fast up the valley heading northwards? I'd forgotten about that. We were on the way back into town westwards along Hundley Way from Pintle Barn when spotted it low, just visible over the trees. Not one of the "usual" small planes and too far toff o hear, could have been either a Hurricane or a large-ruddered Spitfire, hard to tell. Anyone else spot an "exotic" Saturday?

Last winter we had a good view of a Spitfire flying quite low, elliptical wings unmistakeable - but totally the wrong soundine engine for any Rolls Royce. Someone said that reproduction Spitfires were being made in Enstone Airfield. Anything developing on this front? If any significant production would expect to see them more often.

Mon 20 Jun 2022, 02:00

Darn, missed the H! Haven't seen one for ages, and didn't hear it.

Sun 19 Jun 2022, 20:58

Both of you were right - both John's Hurricane and Malcom's clipped-wing Spitfire were flying round here this afternoon.  The Hurricane was presumably waiting for its scheduled slot for a display somewhere nearby, since it was circling over the valley for several minutes.  The Spitfire just flew over maybe an hour later, coming from the Burford direction.

Sun 19 Jun 2022, 19:43 (last edited on Mon 20 Jun 2022, 01:59)

Just thought about something - "clipped and cropped" Spitfires didn't use the same two-speed supercharger which gave the RR Merlin its characteristic whistle. "Cropped" because the (single-stage?) supercharger was optimised for low altitude boost to maximise low altitude speed. My mother recalls a clip-wing Spitfire hotly pursuing a FW 190 over Angmering-on-Sea heading seawards...

That would change the engine note?

And just remembered something else. Griffon engine marks had a much bigger, taller, rudder which came to a pointy end on top. The Hurricane had a markedly larger rudder than the Merlin engined Spitfires, another reason to potentially think it was not a Hurricane we saw. The very curved trailing edge of the wing leading up to the cropped end is another reason we thought it was a Spitfire, the other one - Hurricane - being a straighter chord.

My word, what an avalanche of memories from a fully fledged model-making member of the 50's "Airfix Generation", North American branch. Where is it all stored in the brain when can't remember what happened last week...

Sun 19 Jun 2022, 19:32

We saw it while walking back down Hundley Way from the copse (Pintle Barn).

We were sure it was a clipped-wing Spitfire.

Couldn't see any sign of the characteristic "hump" of a Hurricane (which my late Uncle, who served over here with the RCAF  (I'm a half-Canadian war-child who "came back" to Blighty in my teens) ... which my Uncle said enabled you to actually see what you were shooting at, unlike a Spitfire!

Also not convinced it was a Merlin engine. Had too much of a low-note growl.. A Griffon engine mark of a clip-winged??

Sun 19 Jun 2022, 15:52

Manage to see it so great

Sun 19 Jun 2022, 15:46

Nice fly past/ round and round by a Hurricane this afternoon.