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Right then - the first part of @I_W_M's Spitfire's story.
11 July 1940 - #SpitfireR6915 makes its first flight at Eastleigh, near Southampton (now Southampton Airport). Test pilot George Pickering is at the controls. Its #57Sorties, at the hands of 13 pilots, lie ahead of it.
11 July 1940 - #SpitfireR6915 makes its first flight at Eastleigh, near Southampton (now Southampton Airport). Test pilot George Pickering is at the controls. Its #57Sorties, at the hands of 13 pilots, lie ahead of it.
Pickering is somewhat less well known than other Supermarine test pilots like 'Mutt' Summers or Jeffrey Quill. After a long flying career, in 1943 Pickering suffered a tragically accidental death, as @James1940 relates here https://www.griffonmerlin.com/2010/11/26/george-pickering-and-the-ss-fighter/
#SpitfireR6915 was built at Supermarine's Woolston works in Southampton, among a 50-aircraft batch of an order for 450 Spitfires, itself part of a 4000-Spitfire contract first placed with the company on 9 August 1939 - three weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War.
See http://www.airhistory.org.uk/ for masses of information on Spitfire production.
This contract puts #SpitfireR6915 in the first two thousand Spitfires - out of a total production of more than 20,000.
The Woolston works were well known to the German air force, the Luftwaffe, as the existence of this Luftwaffe target folder shows. Unfortunately I don't have the digitised version to hand. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1504009504
For more on Woolston before the war, see this informative article by @TheSupermariner https://supermariners.wordpress.com/the-places/southampton/the-supermarine-works-1936-1939/the-woolston-works-1934-1939/
#SpitfireR6915 was powered by a Rolls Royce Merlin III engine. A family of engines that I remember being surprised to learn was named after the bird of prey, not the famous wizard. The engine could generate up to 1300 horsepower.
Image © IWM 2020.205.1
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000064
Image © IWM 2020.205.1
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000064
This is not a picture of Merlin the wizard. This is Flight Lieutenant Taylor, described by the wartime caption as a 'Reconaissance Wizard' after being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
© IWM CH 2172
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205443340
© IWM CH 2172
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205443340
The Merlin III in the @I_W_M collection comes from a Hurricane flown by Squadron Leader Tom Gleave of 253 Squadron.
Photo: officers of 253 Sqn, with a Hurricane named Hyderabad City. The sqn had been sponsored by the Nizam of Hyderabad.
© IWM CH 4398
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205445029
Photo: officers of 253 Sqn, with a Hurricane named Hyderabad City. The sqn had been sponsored by the Nizam of Hyderabad.
© IWM CH 4398
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205445029
On 30 August 1940, Gleave claimed five Messerschmitt 109s but was only credited with one destroyed and four 'probables'. Post-war research showed that he had in fact shot down all five, making him an 'ace in a day'.
The very next day, 31 August 1940, Gleave was flying Hurricane P3115 when he intercepted a German bomber formation. After firing on and damaging two bombers, his aircraft was hit by a cannon shell and caught fire.
IWM CH 12304
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205451622
IWM CH 12304
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205451622
Badly burnt, Gleave bailed out. He survived his parachute descent and was taken to hospital. Later treated for his injuries by pioneering surgeon Archie McIndoe, and became a founder member of the 'Guinea Pig Club' of airmen treated with McIndoe's experimental plastic surgery.
Image above: the badge of the Guinea Pig Club. The club's name reflected the experimental nature of the treatment McIndoe's patients received.
© IWM INS 7536 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30076751
© IWM INS 7536 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30076751
In this 1944 painting by Anna Zinkeisen, we see McIndoe at work in an operating theatre at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead. A centre for reconstructive surgery, burns care and rehab to this day ( @QVH). https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/38944
Tom Gleave returned to flying duties in August 1941, a year after his injuries. He would go on to work in important staff roles before D-Day, and would have a hand in writing the official histories of the Second World War.
He died in 1993. See his full biography on the website of the Battle of Britain Monument. http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Gleave.htm
After its successful test flight, #SpitfireR6915 is passed to No.6 Maintenance Unit at RAF Brize Norton. For the time being, R6915 waits to be assigned to a fighter squadron. Along the English coast, the Kanalkampf - Channel Battle - is already underway.
More under the #SpitfireR6915 and #57Sorties hashtags as events unfold. All for now.
