Recent content by Edgar Brooks

In WW2?

Destruction of government records is not permitted; at the end of a file's, or department's, life the records are parcelled up and sent to the National Archive (formerly Public Records Office,) where they remain hidden from view for a minimum of 25-30 years. Files from 1964 would not have been...

It also bears considering how often a pilot was taken by complete surprise, baled out, or struggled back to an airfield, without ever seeing the attacker who downed him.

Try "How the Spitfire Won the Battle of Britain," by Dilip Sarkar, who also refers to research, published in 1996, by John Alcorn; one thing they are at pains to point out is that, with the available information (which is unlikely to change,) it is utterly impossible to state, with total...

Now that there's been a decent interval, with other aircraft, racing cars, etc., getting an airing, perhaps we can return to the subject at hand, even if it is a British aircraft, and therefore of minimal interest. I'm not sure how they managed that (unless the Luftwaffe's mathematicians...

Unfortunately, you are also inaccurate; Brown compared the performance with the P.R.19 (there was no reconnaissance 21.) Since the P.R.19 didn't see service until 1944 (and the pressurised version even later than that, I'd say it qualifies as a late Spitfire.

Just a little wide of the mark, since Castle Bromwich was run by a management team supplied by Southampton, the present lot not being up to the job. Not generally known is that the 1940 delays were mostly due to a militant faction, who would order a strike at the drop of a hat; this only ended...

But they didn't, and there was, so that comment is utterly pointless.

The "new" wing was actually introduced on the Mk.21, which (just) saw service in 1945. The XIV was wanted for high-level interceptions, which is why the only clipped-wing version was the low-lever P.R. F.R.XIVe, and the C.O. of 11 Group refused to have the extra fuselage fuel tank (as fitted to...

It was certainly that; for a time I worked with a man who'd been on the first Squadron to get them, and they were puzzled to see three aircraft set up for QRA, but only two actually going, until, one day all three went. In the evening the CO came in, with a large photo, and said, "Here you are...

According to some pilots, it didn't do a lot for the performance, either; they said the extra drag virtually cancelled out the extra range.

It wouldn't have been so beautiful if it had been built to carry guns, bombs and cameras.

An engine capable of handling 100 octane at all times.

Testing times get no mention in the files; the Air Ministry reported to the government that Rolls-Royce had said that the engine would need so many modifications it would be a virtually new engine. They also said that it could only be built at one factory, and that each engine would cost 2 or 3...

You either believe Rolls-Royce, or you don't.