Spitfire.

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Bellow

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Some beautifully filmed current day flying, wartime footage, current day still shots of the plane, and accounts from the pilots who fought in them adds up to one very impressive documentary. BBC4 delivers again.
BBC iPlayer - Spitfire

Here >> BBC iPlayer - Spitfire if it opens at 24m44s, there's a cockpit shot. On the upper right hand side of the fuselage's inside there is what appears to be sort of small shelf with two ball sort of things and (by the looks) provision for a third. Does anyone know what they are? In a subsequent shot (different plane) it can be seen again but whatever is on the 'shelf' is less spherical.
Also, there is a shot from the rear of a grounded plane of the control to the rudder. Either side there appear to be a metal lump. Masses to dampen an aero induced vibration?

Anyway, don't watch it to answer my questions, watch it for the beautifully made documentary on a fantastic piece of engineering and the people who's lives it touched that it is.
 
100% agree. It was an excellent program.

A friend of mine went up in the back seat of one of the Aerolegends Spit’s about six weeks ago and I went to Headcorn with him as a guest. It was far from cheap, but by the look on his face when they landed I could tell he thought it was great value.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Watched the back end of the programme and may well watch the whole thing on catch up. Awesome aeroplane and some great flying sequences.
 
Did anyone see the documentary recently about the Messerschmitt Me 262 ?


Messerschmitt_Me_262A_at_the_National_Museum_of_the_USAF.jpg
 
Some beautifully filmed current day flying, wartime footage, current day still shots of the plane, and accounts from the pilots who fought in them adds up to one very impressive documentary. BBC4 delivers again.
BBC iPlayer - Spitfire

Here >> BBC iPlayer - Spitfire if it opens at 24m44s, there's a cockpit shot. On the upper right hand side of the fuselage's inside there is what appears to be sort of small shelf with two ball sort of things and (by the looks) provision for a third. Does anyone know what they are? In a subsequent shot (different plane) it can be seen again but whatever is on the 'shelf' is less spherical.
Also, there is a shot from the rear of a grounded plane of the control to the rudder. Either side there appear to be a metal lump. Masses to dampen an aero induced vibration?

Anyway, don't watch it to answer my questions, watch it for the beautifully made documentary on a fantastic piece of engineering and the people who's lives it touched that it is.

Quite possibly spare bulbs for the reflector gunsight.

Pete
 
Also, there is a shot from the rear of a grounded plane of the control to the rudder. Either side there appear to be a metal lump. Masses to dampen an aero induced vibration?

Yes they are mass balances, primarily to reduce the chance of flutter occurring. They are sometimes built into a control surface, if the hinge line is far enough behind the leading edge.
 
A superbly constructed and fascinating documentary, the time of which to produce, should be acknowledged and most highly praised.


Long live the BBC.
 
Yup it was really well done. Great that they'd gone to the trouble of getting new high quality footage of many of the various marks, rather than just using archive film. Shame they couldn't include one of these though :D

Capture.JPG
 
Takes me back to this that is best viewed sound on and in full screen.


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Quite possibly spare bulbs for the reflector gunsight.

Pete

Just had a look at the video ... 99% sure that's correct.

Apparently not!
My friend who was an instrumentation engineer with the RAF in Malta in the 1950s reckons they aren't bulbs - but he doesn't know what they are.
He has never heard of the need to change a reflector gunsight bulb - and doubts it could be done easily (but by diving headfirst into the footwell with AN Other holding you while the rest of your body overhung from the cockpit).
 
B5AFNF.jpg
Apparently not!
My friend who was an instrumentation engineer with the RAF in Malta in the 1950s reckons they aren't bulbs - but he doesn't know what they are.
He has never heard of the need to change a reflector gunsight bulb - and doubts it could be done easily (but by diving headfirst into the footwell with AN Other holding you while the rest of your body overhung from the cockpit).

The gunsight, and its bulb, would be directly in front of the pilot at eye-level, not in the footwell. The bulb is at the end of the wire at the base of the sight, piece of cake to change it old chap....as they might have said! :D And, a blown bulb meant no gunsight! You can see the bulbs on the right of the colour pic, a Mk V cockpit.

Pete

View attachment 89265 gunsight.jpg
 
Apparently not!
My friend who was an instrumentation engineer with the RAF in Malta in the 1950s reckons they aren't bulbs - but he doesn't know what they are.
He has never heard of the need to change a reflector gunsight bulb - and doubts it could be done easily (but by diving headfirst into the footwell with AN Other holding you while the rest of your body overhung from the cockpit).

Hmm ... a quick Google turned this up, certainly looks like the cockpit in the video:
View from this low angle reveals details of the gunsight mounting bracket. Note the little rack with three replacement light bulbs for the gunsight, witnessing about the reliability of the 1940s electrical equipment.

Anatomy of the Spitfire Cockpit —

And you can even buy replicas:
Here we have a nice replica Spitfire Gunsight bulb holder for sale complete with bulb holders and label.

Mounted on the right hand side of the cockpit as shown

Spitfire replica gunsight bulb holder
 
I thoroughly enjoyed the programme, in spite of being disappointed that it only included a little on the design and construction that I’d expected. My interest stems from my grandfather having made the propeller for the prototype.

An ex member of this forum is the No2 of one of the two-seater Spitfires, so gets to enjoy it a lot - the lucky b’stard!
 
View attachment 89266

The gunsight, and its bulb, would be directly in front of the pilot at eye-level, not in the footwell. The bulb is at the end of the wire at the base of the sight, piece of cake to change it old chap....as they might have said! :D And, a blown bulb meant no gunsight! You can see the bulbs on the right of the colour pic, a Mk V cockpit.

Pete

View attachment 89265 View attachment 89268

Out of curiosity... why the Bristol Bloodhound in your avatar?
 
The Spitfires from Goodwood fly over the school I used to teach at.
 
I was on 85 Sqn back in the day....we 'flew' them!

Pete

The only example I've ever seen up close was the one outside the RAF Museum in Hendon. Impressive beast.
 

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