Anyone help me out?

[Hagar]

It could have been a Sea Fury Bigger Me, and Hagar, I'm pretty sure it was an RN roundel like Woody shows in his pic of the Spit/Seafire, and I'm going to look into this Sea fury based at Bournemouth to see if it was one.

The one at Bournemouth is technically a Fury with no 'ook. It seems to be painted in Dutch & Canadian Navy markings on one side and Australian & RN on t'other. I can't find a wing view.
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1037056/M/

PS. That photo Woody posted is of Spitfire XIV SM832. It's in SEAC markings & the last I heard it was in Texas.

[flyboy 28]

I very much doubt that James. :-/

Whoops! I ment RAF. My bad. All this talk about the RN got me going.

This particular model I found on the 'net, I'm guessing it's in North Africa colors by the desert camo.. I've seen others in the olive drab though.

[Jakemaster]

Maybe it was a mini mustang or a kit like that, but in the style of the P-51B?

[Hagar]

Right. Let's recap & see what information we have to go on.

At first, I thought it was a Seafire, because of it's Spitfire-ness and the RN roundels and colours, but as it banked I saw that the wings were clipped. (As far as I know, no Seafires had their wings clipped, but this is a guess - all the Seafires I've seen have had elliptical wings) I didn't get to see the tail well or the cockpit, so I was completely baffled as to what it was.

I didn't get to see if it had an airintake underneath to see if it was a Mustang, and if it were a P-51, it would have been an P-51A or P-51B. I said I didn't get to see the cockpit well, but the shape I saw was most definately not the "tear-drop" cockpit on the P-51D.

Assuming it was a genuine warbird & not a scale replica or even a homebuilt with RAF/RN markings it would help if you can remember if it had a radial or inline engine.

[cspyro21]

Assuming it was a genuine warbird & not a scale replica or even a homebuilt with RAF/RN markings it would help if you can remember if it had a radial or inline engine.

Hagar, I don't mean to sound ignorant or anything, but might I ask what is an inline engine?  :-[  ::)

I'm also beginning to think that it may have been the Hawker Fury, if it was a genuine warbird. Considering Bournemouth isn't overly far from where I live (88 miles, okay, still rather far but taliing long-term distances it's pretty small ), plus the fact that it's shaping up to be one, it's looking like one. However, I seem to remember the tail being somewhat angular, but seeing as the mystery aircraft was going rather quick and my memory isn't the best, I could very well be wrong.

[Hagar]

[quote]Hagar, I don't mean to sound ignorant or anything, but might I ask what is an inline engine?

[town]

An inline engine is one where the cylinder bank is "inline" with the crankshaft of the engine roughly speaking "V" engines have two rows of "inline cylinder although every other is canted over between 30 and 90 degrees. A boxer engine is the ultimate "V" insofor as the cylinder banks are directly opposite each other. A radial engine has the cylinders all the way around the crankshaft.

Hope this helps

[cspyro21]

You mentioned it looked like a Spitfire but gave the radial-engined blunt-nosed Dauntless as an example which is a tad confusing.

It did; the Dauntless was just an example for colouration of what I saw. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

I'd imagine, based on what you and town have said, Hagar, that the Fury has a radial (with a big nose and all) but I do remember this mystery aircraft being somewhat slender. Perhaps it wasn't the Fury after all, it could have been somekind of US warbird perhaps?

[Hagar]

If it wasn't for the RAF/RN roundels & lack of a teardrop canopy you mentioned I would think it was more likely to be a P-51. There aren't too many clipped-wing Spitfires about. This is the only one I can think of right now. http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/spitfiremk2a/my-history-rn201.html

I'm not sure if it's still red & silver.

PS. I forgot this one. Not sure if it's currently airworthy.
http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/airshow05/rougham/rc/mk356.htm

[town]

Had another thought on this. Could the aircraft you saw be a modern trainer like a Tucano or something?

[cspyro21]

Had another thought on this. Could the aircraft you saw be a modern trainer like a Tucano or something?

I thought myself, and actually, after my Dad informed me he'd seen an aircraft which fitted the description of the same aircraft on the same day - apparently it had an "elongated canopy" like a Tucano....

[Hagar]

What colour was it? This is getting more & more confusing. LOL

[cspyro21]

What colour was it? This is getting more & more confusing. LOL  

All the Tucanos I've seen are black with RAF markings. They're also turboprops.

Yes - same here Hagar, I've never seen a Tucano in the UK without the usual RAF trainer colours....and yes, this is getting confusing....

[Hagar]

Yes - same here Hagar, I've never seen a Tucano in the UK without the usual RAF trainer colours....and yes, this is getting confusing....

So, what colour was it? Any distinguishing markings? Was it inline, radial or turboprop? You must have some idea.

Talk about frustrating.

[cspyro21]

So, what colour was it? Any distinguishing markings? Was it inline, radial or turboprop? You must have some idea.

Talk about frustrating.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention colour

Ok, it was definately that wierd bluey colour. Distinguishing markings - now I think about it, they probably were SEAC markings (looked like RN roundels but without the white side boxes like the pic that Woody posted.

As for it's engine, I'd probably say it was an inline. The nose looked far too slender for it to be a radial, and I'm fairly sure it didn't sound like a turboprop