Spitfire experts

[_rubinho_]

Hi all, hope this is the correct forum.

I'm looking for information on WWII Spitfires. Specifically mission records from the Far East (152 Hyderabad squadron) and also the manufacturing plants in South Africa. Can anybody point me at any good resources/forums/individuals who might have useful information for me?

Happy New Year!

[Eric Mc]

The RAF Museum would be my first port of call, followed by the National Archives at Kew. Here's a couple of links to get you started.




https://www.raf.mod.uk/history/152squadron.cfm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._152_Squadron_RAF

[FourWheelDrift]

_rubinho_ said:

Hi all, hope this is the correct forum.

I'm looking for information on WWII Spitfires. Specifically mission records from the Far East (152 Hyderabad squadron) and also the manufacturing plants in South Africa. Can anybody point me at any good resources/forums/individuals who might have useful information for me?

Happy New Year!

Have you seen this? - http://www.152hyderabad.co.uk/

[aeropilot]

_rubinho_ said:

Hi all, hope this is the correct forum.

I'm looking for information on WWII Spitfires. Specifically mission records from the Far East (152 Hyderabad squadron) and also the manufacturing plants in South Africa. Can anybody point me at any good resources/forums/individuals who might have useful information for me?

Not sure what connection there is between asking about information on WW2 Spitfires and asking about manufacturing plants in South Africa?
All Spitfire/Seafire production was in the UK.

However, if you register over on the Flypast forum here: https://forum.keypublishing.com/forumdisplay.php?4...
and post the same question you maybe lucky and get an answer from Peter Arnold, who is a regular poster on that forum and is regarded as probably the foremost historical authority on Spitfires.

[Total loss]

aeropilot said:

.......you maybe lucky and get an answer from Mark12 Peter Arnold, who is a regular poster on that forum and is regarded as probably the foremost historical authority on Spitfires.

[_rubinho_]

FourWheelDrift said:

Have you seen this? - http://www.152hyderabad.co.uk/

Thanks, I've spoken to Rob.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

For 'Mission Records' you need to access the Sqn's 'Operations Record Book (ORB) which is recorded on something called the RAF F540 Series of forms.

Copies of WWII ORBs are available from the National Archives at Kew. You will find that there are the monthly records on the F541 and periodic summaries on the F540.

A good place to start:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r...

Unfortunately not everything has yet been digitised and placed online. Additionally downloads get expensive at £3:50 a pop, so you might be better off visiting Kew and doing the research at first hand.

[_rubinho_]

aeropilot said:

Not sure what connection there is between asking about information on WW2 Spitfires and asking about manufacturing plants in South Africa?
All Spitfire/Seafire production was in the UK.

However, if you register over on the Flypast forum here: https://forum.keypublishing.com/forumdisplay.php?4...
and post the same question you maybe lucky and get an answer from Peter Arnold, who is a regular poster on that forum and is regarded as probably the foremost historical authority on Spitfires.

Thanks for your answer. I will try Flypast.

I have been led to believe that some Spitfires were manufactured/assembled in South Africa and then flown north to engage in Mediterranean, North African and Middle Eastern theatres. My grandfather got his wings in SA and he was delivering new planes from there to the north.

[Eric Mc]

I don't think any Spitfires were ever built in Africa but they may very well have been bolted together from main components which had arrived in crates. I know there was an operation in West Africa assembling Hurricanes from kits that arrived in crates. It effectively meant affixing wings, tailplanes and some other bits and bobs.

[aeropilot]

_rubinho_ said:

aeropilot said:

Not sure what connection there is between asking about information on WW2 Spitfires and asking about manufacturing plants in South Africa?
All Spitfire/Seafire production was in the UK.

However, if you register over on the Flypast forum here: https://forum.keypublishing.com/forumdisplay.php?4...
and post the same question you maybe lucky and get an answer from Peter Arnold, who is a regular poster on that forum and is regarded as probably the foremost historical authority on Spitfires.

Thanks for your answer. I will try Flypast.

I have been led to believe that some Spitfires were manufactured/assembled in South Africa and then flown north to engage in Mediterranean, North African and Middle Eastern theatres. My grandfather got his wings in SA and he was delivering new planes from there to the north.

As I said, every Spitfire & Seafire was manufactured in the UK.

As Eric says, to get them to the other theatres of war, they had to be shipped there. Once made and test flown by the factory TP's, they were flown to RAF Maintenance Units (usually airfield close to ports) where they were then partially dismantled (wings removed and a few other bits n bobs) and then packed into special shipping transport crates (one a/c per crate) and then loaded onto ships and sent to middle east, far east etc., where they were then unloaded and re-assembled by RAF fitters and test flown and then flown into theatre.

Here is a Spitfire being unpacked from its shipping crate at the dockside on the island of Malta.

[Dr Jekyll]

aeropilot said:

As I said, every Spitfire & Seafire was manufactured in the UK.

As Eric says, to get them to the other theatres of war, they had to be shipped there. Once made and test flown by the factory TP's, they were flown to RAF Maintenance Units (usually airfield close to ports) where they were then partially dismantled (wings removed and a few other bits n bobs) and then packed into special shipping transport crates (one a/c per crate) and then loaded onto ships and sent to middle east, far east etc., where they were then unloaded and re-assembled by RAF fitters and test flown and then flown into theatre.

There was an article in Pilot magazine about a Mk VIII Spitfire that had been flown from the factory at Eastleigh to Brize Norton, then dismantled and shipped East. It wasn't used in the war and when it was restored fairly recently it turned out to be virtually as new, the nuts and bolts were changed as a precaution but most of the other components kept original, even the propeller.
A pilot who flew it noticed a signature on the side of the cockpit which he correctly deduced to be that of the ferry pilot who flew it to Brize Norton, he then tracked her down (she was well into her 90s) and reunited her with the Spitfire which she still remembered signing.

[Unbusy]

I’m not a greedy, demanding, envious kind of guy. I’m happy having the ordinary things in life and I have now accepted that Kylie isn’t going to call me.
But for the love of God, let me find one of those crates that has been kept in a dry environment. Just one ...

[williamp]

Unbusy said:

I’m not a greedy, demanding, envious kind of guy. I’m happy having the ordinary things in life and I have now accepted that Kylie isn’t going to call me.
But for the love of God, let me find one of those crates that has been kept in a dry environment. Just one ...

All buried underground, I'm afraid. Youll need a ticket to Burma and a metal detector