Spitfire XVI at 41ft...

[C]

Sorry guys, I couldn't face having to go up as high as the rest of you


Past the tower at Boscombe Down...


Straight towards the tower...


Cruisin'...


...

Cheers

Charlie

[Hagar]

LOL They're all at it. Good one Charlie.

[Wing Nut]

You wouldn't have made it anyway in a clipped wing.  Nice pics though.  I have that plane and love it.  My only question is, it only has a 4-blade prop.  I thought the XVI had a 5-blade.

[Hagar]

The Mk XVI is basically a Mk IX fitted with a Packard Merlin & a 4-bladed prop. The Griffon engined Spitfires originally had 4 blades. Without checking I believe only the final Mk 20 series (& their Seafire equivalents) had 5 bladed props.

PS. According to this the 5-bladed prop was introduced on the Mk XIV. http://www.spitfiresociety.demon.co.uk/whatmark.htm

Type 373-Mk XIV
In classic Spitfire tradition, the new engine, a Griffon 61 (and later Griffon 65), was mated to an available airframe- in this case a Mk VIII. To absorb the power generated, a 5-bladed airscrew was introduced. Some of the Mk XIV were produced with a cut-down rear fuselage and "teardrop" canopy for increased visibility. 957 were produced.

[HawkerTempest5]

What a superb plane that is. And at tree top hight, just where a Spitfire should be.

[C]

Griffon Mk XII had 4 bladed prop (as did the Seafire Mk XV I believe)

Mk XIV, XVIII, XIX and there after had 5 bladed props...

Charlie

[fido]

According to Jane's Fighter Aircraft of World War II copyright 1946/7
Spitfire XVI  Packard-built Merlin 266 engine and four-blade airscrew. The Merlin 266 is the equivalent of the British-built Merlin 66.

                         Fido    :)