via Here & Now/npr:
They pulled one from a museum in Blighty; dismantled (incl drilling out 80,000 rivets!) Everything a soupḉon-'off' was renewed; aka It's Cherry/it's a Time Machine.
Catch H&N because.. a brief and masterful summation of The Difference this plane made (and How exactly it was inspired/thence Created): by R. J. Mitchell after his trip to Germany revealed the New-tech of Their [offensive] planes.. Scenario: suffering from cancer he had been advised to 'take-it-easy' etc. Instead he conceived thence drew-up The Plans (dying/alas having seen only early trials of the then: Commissioned-new plane).
The narrator here pointed out that ~~ "Other warplanes were Offensive; the Spitfire was a Defensive-aircraft--AGAINST (the clearly impending pre-DJT-Nazism)". I thought this a moving snd pithy exact description, best yet..
Missed details re time/place--maybe in planning: but It Will Fly here in the dis-US ... sometime :-) Hope it gets to someplace I can get to. ...
Carrion ..sometimes it's something with a Spitfire coming-up-on.
Ahh.. the sound! .... of that R&R Merlin masterpiece of internal-combustion. Beats out even the steel-sheet-ripping screech of a Gilera-4 at full chat heading for Kate's Cottage/IOM.
Ed:PS Also too: Jay Leno (one of his n-videos) fired up That engine on a rather 'polished' test-bed.. for our aural endorphin creation. (At least he pisses away his Gadzillions on Good. Things. eh? ..Black Shadows too ;^>)
They pulled one from a museum in Blighty; dismantled (incl drilling out 80,000 rivets!) Everything a soupḉon-'off' was renewed; aka It's Cherry/it's a Time Machine.
Catch H&N because.. a brief and masterful summation of The Difference this plane made (and How exactly it was inspired/thence Created): by R. J. Mitchell after his trip to Germany revealed the New-tech of Their [offensive] planes.. Scenario: suffering from cancer he had been advised to 'take-it-easy' etc. Instead he conceived thence drew-up The Plans (dying/alas having seen only early trials of the then: Commissioned-new plane).
The narrator here pointed out that ~~ "Other warplanes were Offensive; the Spitfire was a Defensive-aircraft--AGAINST (the clearly impending pre-DJT-Nazism)". I thought this a moving snd pithy exact description, best yet..
If anybody ever tells you anything about an aeroplane which is so bloody complicated you can't understand it, take it from me: it's all balls.
--RJM
— R. J. Mitchell, advice given about his engineering staff to test pilot Jeffrey Quill during prototype trials[5]
The technical skill that Mitchell used in the design of the Spitfire was developed in the evolution of the Schneider Trophy seaplanes. The significance of the many earlier planes is often overlooked when people refer to Mitchell, as is the fact that he was very concerned about developments in Germany and feared that British defence needed to be strengthened, especially in the air.
In 1931 the Air Ministry issued specification F7/30 for a fighter aircraft to replace the Gloster Gauntlet. Mitchell's proposed design, the Type 224 was one of three designs for which the Air Ministry ordered prototypes.
The Type 224 first flew on 19 February 1934, but was eventually rejected by the RAF for unsatisfactory performance. While the 224 was being built, Mitchell was authorised by Supermarine in 1933 to proceed with a new design, the Type 300, an all-metal monoplane that became the Supermarine Spitfire. This was originally a private venture by Supermarine, but the RAF quickly became interested and the Air Ministry financed a prototype.
Many of the technical advances in the Spitfire had been made by others: the thin elliptical wings were designed by Canadian aerodynamicist Beverley Shenstone, and shared some similarities with the Heinkel He 70 Blitz; the under-wing radiators had been designed by the RAE, while monocoque construction had been first developed in the United States. Mitchell's genius was bringing it all together with his experience of high speed flight and the Type 224.
The first prototype Spitfire, serial K5054, flew for the first time on 5 March 1936 at Eastleigh, Hampshire. In later tests, it reached 349 mph; consequently, before the prototype had completed its official trials, the RAF ordered 310 production Spitfires. Mitchell is reported to have said that "Spitfire was just the sort of bloody silly name they would choose."[6]
[ oblig ;^> ]
Missed details re time/place--maybe in planning: but It Will Fly here in the dis-US ... sometime :-) Hope it gets to someplace I can get to. ...
Carrion ..sometimes it's something with a Spitfire coming-up-on.
Ahh.. the sound! .... of that R&R Merlin masterpiece of internal-combustion. Beats out even the steel-sheet-ripping screech of a Gilera-4 at full chat heading for Kate's Cottage/IOM.
Ed:PS Also too: Jay Leno (one of his n-videos) fired up That engine on a rather 'polished' test-bed.. for our aural endorphin creation. (At least he pisses away his Gadzillions on Good. Things. eh? ..Black Shadows too ;^>)