80 Today!

[Minstrel SE]

A nice plane but we needed American help (still paying for that).

Heck knows what would have happened if Hitler had rolled out the jets a bit faster and wasnt trying to do too much at once.

We do love the Spitfire though dont we. Great Britain and all that

Minstrel... guaranteed to put a downer on any thread and always available for childrens parties

 

[TPA]

Just had one fly right over the house 10 minutes ago, thank you !!

Minstrel, but he didn't and we didn't capitulate. Yes, it was a fine hour for us, as unfashionable as that may be today. I celebrate the fact that we should honour those who did the right thing, not the easy thing, Spitfires have come to represent that spirit.

 

[Tony Lockhart]

A nice plane but we needed American help (still paying for that).

Heck knows what would have happened if Hitler had rolled out the jets a bit faster and wasnt trying to do too much at once.

We do love the Spitfire though dont we. Great Britain and all that

Minstrel... guaranteed to put a downer on any thread and always available for childrens parties

If this and if that, blah blah blah. Who cares? We still speak English, thanks to Germany switching attention to Russia.

 

[Shuggie]

A nice plane but we needed American help (still paying for that).

Heck knows what would have happened if Hitler had rolled out the jets a bit faster and wasnt trying to do too much at once.

We do love the Spitfire though dont we. Great Britain and all that

Minstrel... guaranteed to put a downer on any thread and always available for childrens parties

Hitler could have rolled out the ME262 very early in in the war, but he insisted that it be re-roled as a bomber, so by the time that mistake was corrected, it was too late. This is covered by a fascinating chapter in Adolf Galland's autobiography, which I have somewhere and must re-read sometime.

Back to Spitfires. Many years ago my late father was on RAF Search and Rescue at RAF Coltishall, and their little yellow Whirlwinds shared a hangar with a bunch of Lightnings and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (less the Lancaster which would not fit in). As kids, my brother and I were allowed to crawl (supervised) over the aircraft and I can recall their characteristic cockpit smell. One one occasion there was a Bf109 there too. Sometimes we get the odd Spitfire flying over the city, and only the faintest hint of that characteristic engine sound is enough to get my attention.

 

[Bob McC]

Miss Shilling's Orifice...

Known as the Tilly.

 

[eternumviti]

Known as the Tilly.

Indeed, but 'Miss Shilling's Orifice' appeals far more to the schoolboy in me, as indeed to generations of horrid smutty schoolboys (and undoubtedly RAF technicians) before me.

 

[Tony Lockhart]

Indeed, but 'Miss Shilling's Orifice' appeals far more to the schoolboy in me, as indeed to generations of horrid smutty schoolboys (and undoubtedly RAF technicians) before me.

Too polite for us technicians.