Spitfire Mk.I-a and Stuka at Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry

[T Bolt]

Took the kids to The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago last weekend and took some great detail shots of the Spitfire Mk. I-A and an early model Stuka they have hanging from the ceiling there. The Spit supposedly fought in the Battle of Britton and looks like its wearing its original paint. Pretty rare I think. I didn’t take a shot of the sign for the Stuka but I remember it was shot down in North Africa and the battle damage is still visible.
Hope the shots are helpful to someone.

[syscom3]

Great pics! Glad someone finally posted some pics from the museum.

[Wayne Little]

Excellent!

[lesofprimus]

Great stuff.....

Question tho: What were ur kids doin during the 2 1/2 hours it took u to take all those great shots???

[rochie]

nice pictures, i see the spit was changed from dark green/dark earth/sky paint scheme to the ocean grey/dark green/med sea grey one at some point in its service

[T Bolt]

nice pictures, i see the spit was changed from dark green/dark earth/sky paint scheme to the ocean grey/dark green/med sea grey one at some point in its service

Rochie made me doubt my comment about original paint scheme as I can remember taking pictures of the same spit years ago and thinking the bottom was “Sky”. Dug out the old 35mm pics and found the paint hadn’t changed, just the place in the museum the aircraft were hanging making for far better camera angles back then. I attached a few scans of the pics. Obviously it isn’t the original paint on at Mk.1, but my guess is that in was re-painted later in the war, but like I said that’s only a guess.

[timshatz]

Would rather have the Spit 1A than the Me109G that showed up on the forum this morning. Easier to fly.

[Gnomey]

Nice pics!

[DBII]

I have wanted to visit this museum for a long time. I thought the Stuka would be bigger. Thanks for the great photos.

DBII

[vikingBerserker]

Very nice!

[rochie]

sorry T bolt, didn't mean to cause you to question your info.
i was just remarking that the spitfire had a late war day fighter scheme painted on later in its service life, which is still original !

[Geedee]

Good set of useful pics there mate.

Interesting to note the kill markings on the Spittie are on the right hand side of the fuselage instead of the usual left hand side !. Bizarre !

[T Bolt]

You’re right Gary, I hadn’t realized that before. Maybe I was wrong about original paint. Either that or some guy at the museum way back when thought a spit didn’t look right without a few kills on it.
Rochie: I 'am rather doubting my original paint statement as I only have my one impression to back it up. I Know that that I've seen that spit hanging there since the early 70s' and my thought was that back in the 50s' or 60s' attention to detail in repainting a museum exhibit wouldn't be that high.
There’s a web site that has info in every USAAF aircraft. You type in the serial number and it shows some basic info in the aircraft. Is there anything like that someone knows about for British aircraft?

[rochie]

did a quick search and it seems P9306 was with 74 sqdrn during the BoB and was credited with at least two kills 1 bf 109 and 1 bf110 whilst being flown by two different pilots.
at work right now so cant search as far as i would like so will look further tomorow when i've got a day off, might be a good subject for the BoB group model build later this year !!!!

[T Bolt]

Thanks Rochie