I love all the videos of this kind of stuff since most of the planes and so forth are spread out all over the world and keeping this stuff alive is terrific. This is one of the great aspects of TH-cam. I think we owe it to each other to spread the skills that will help to "capture" the memories of these machines in as natural and quality a manor as possible. Enjoy and best wishes.
One thing i will miss from one of my jobs few years ago was spending time around the Messerschmitt, spitfire and the harvard that the boss had on display in one of his hangars.
Both Rolls Royce engines sounded rough on the ground. Someone once said that the Merlin sounded like "a bag of spanners on start up". Personally I prefer the sound of the Merlin to the Griffon.
While I believe the spitfire is and always will be one of the finest aircraft EVER MADE, I do have to say, and my knowledge of WWII fighter aircraft is iffy at best; but I believe when they took that wonderful Merlin with supercharger and put it into the P-51D, that made a world of difference for those boys flying the B-17 Super Fortresses and the B-24 Liberators, because they were able to "escort them there, the heart of the German war machine, their industrial area the very "heart of the Rhine" " and back again. And the ME-109, even though it had a 20mm cannon built into the engine no less, which you have got to hand it to the Germans. That was VERY clever. They just could not out handle, at altitude as well as low, plus what gave the P-51 and that spitfire pilot an edge, A BUBBLE CANOPY! The pilot could see a full 360 degrees, where as the ME-109 pilot had a head rest and some armament behind him. And of course what made all three of these wonderful aircraft so special, their engines were of a "V" formation, rather than the rotary engines that were most popular, and I don't know why, complex design, would win out over what a car engines design was. I do have to mention this. Is anyone here a fan of "Top Gear (the U.K. version)? if so then you would have caught an episode where a German man built what is known as "The Bruits" and what powers that is an old BMW built 46 Liter V-12 and there was another car in that same episode, an British built car that used the "non supercharged Merlin" which James May promptly pointed out that that would have made that the engine from a Hawker Hurricane and not a Spitfire, because of the limit of ceiling and distance, but none the less it were those along side the supercharged Spits that won the "Battle of Britain!" The only thing that saved England through all of the "warring years of Europe with, you name one of them" is the fact that it is an island. And that simple fact, which is something I learned at university, is why the U.K. still stands. And is why Hitler wanted it sooo badly. But, the English were not the sort to "just roll over and let anyone in" and that spirit is what I think, to me anyway, is what made the fighter aircraft built in bombed cities throughout England so special. Once they got "their feet underneath them" that is when they really took it to "Jerry". What I truly find the most fascinating thing of all is that they were equipped with, what was essentially the "maxim machineguns" mounted in the wings, which fired the British .303cal bullet's, and here was the "Mustang and other U.S. fighter aircraft" using the Browning M2 a .50cal machinegun. The only thing that I can think of with regards to the, quite frank, brilliant .303 cartridge is that they were using some sort of "armor piercing" round? It must have been made out of pure hardened steel and the guns must have been modified to handle a higher chamber pressure. For the simple fact that, your flying around at sum speed and you have effectively a 30 caliber round that you are trying to shoot down enemy aircraft with. If they didn't modify the round in any way shape or form, then, they must of had the ability to carry an A** load of ammo! I know the .50cal is big, and it would only take a few rounds to decimate an enemy aircraft, they proved that in the Pacific theater of operations. Sure the "Zero" was WAY MORE NIMBLE on it's feet. Liken to a ballet dancer, but they did that as a sacrifice to the pilots safety. THERE WAS NO ARMORMENT ON THAT AIRCRAFT AT ALL!!! I supposed the Japanese at that time just figured, give a lad a few lessons, if they survived their encounter with an American aircraft then, they could share what they learned and maybe pick up a few tips from those who were "really trained pilots". Who knows. Anyway, it was really cool and awe inspiring to see "the ol girl fire up one more time."
john doe Hi Joe, All of the Merlin engines were supercharged, some were single stage and other were twin stage, this includes the engine in the Hawker Hurricane. the non supercharged engine was called the Meteor and was built as an engine for tanks. Only the early very spitfires had .303, most had 20mm cannons as well and later marks were fitted with .50Cal instead of the .303s
it was the spitfire and the Hurricanes that saved Britain during the air siege, aka the battle of Britain. the 20mm is a shock to me, I have never heard of one of the spitfires, which was the main fighter for the U.K. to have that. the ME-109 did, right through the center of the engine block its self, that's why the center of their nose cones were hollow. To accommodate for that cannon. and they had a limited amount of ammo to carry, so they were very disciplined with using that ammo. lol. I'm glad that the U.K. went away with the .303 cartridge and decided to go with the 12.7mm round. much more effective. Thanks for the info!
john doe Evidentally the 303 was like a pea-shooter compared to the German Fighters machine guns & hence the 20m Canons were adopted into the Spitfire but you're correct about the amount of firepower in TIME as the 109s had more than 3 times as much TIME of fire.I think it was marginally under 16 seconds for the Spitfire around 55 seconds for the Me109s.It's said that the Hurricane was a better gun platform with 8 x .303 machine guns but I learned only last week that later Hurricanes were fitted with 10 machine guns of the .303 variety.The Hurricane was slower but could withstand more attack bullets due to it's old fashioned fabric covering skin which could be patched up quicker and easier than the all metal Spitfire which would require new panels.I guess it was rather unlikely to get a control cable to the tail control surfaces hit/cut by a bullet in the fuselarge but the whole experience must have been extremely frightening given many never came back or were severely burned due to cockpit fires from a large fuel tank just behind the control panel.That's why young men are sent to war.That said,without Stuffy Dowding & his brilliant planning,we'd probably been invaded in 1940.
Ha, ha, ha... now I like that reply! There is one video on TH-cam of a helicopter where the rotors are so well timed with the camera shutter that they never move throughout the whole video!
Yes Ithe Mk IX had the Merlin engine (under 1700 Hp) this derivative was the Mk XIV and had the Griffon engine, with over 2000hp, 5 blade propeller and redesigned airframe and wings.
The dark blue/light blue roundel was the markings used by the RAFs South East Asia Command. The RAAF used it aswell as they were under the command of the SEAC, although they did also use a dark blue/white marking too
Fighter planes always captivate me, both technically and aesthetically, and will always hold a peculiar place all of their own in my mind--perhaps the most graceful and beautiful of all machines ever built stem from the most tragic of all aspects of human nature, the barbaric drive for humans to dominate and conquer each other. The airplanes themselves are like flying sculptures, good to see one of these classic works of art being maintained.
In response to the post by 'dlambo', the Mk XIV had a 5-bladed prop as did the later Mk XIX which was solely a reconnaissance version with no armament. This served from very late 1944 until the end of war......and beyond. Aircraft prototypes that flew before the end of the war (but didn't enter service until after it ended) that also has 5-bladed props were the Supermarine Spiteful (successor to the Spitfire) Hawker Tempest Mk 2 & Hawker Sea Fury. The worlds first turbo-prop powered aircraft, the Gloster Trent Meteor had a pair of 'cropped' 5-bladers.
So cool, I want a Spitfire a Hurricane a P51 a BF109 and a Zero, just a pity it is only a dream, but I have had a very close look at a genuine BF109 being restored, I think that is as close as I will ever come too this dream. The war birds are really something special.
It is breathtaking that 80 years ago they gave these aircraft to 18 year old kids who then rode them into deadly conflict. They are breathtakingly powerful now, in this cynical age of technology and casual power. Back then the fighter planes were at the very edge of record-breaking human speed attainment. Like giving today’s schoolboy a formula one car armed with 20mm cannon.
AWRS TheWolf, It's a real Spitfire, the latest versions used a very powerful Griffon engine with over 2000 HP. The propeller can only be so big in diameter, because the airplane's landing gear has a certain length and you don't want the prop blades to hit the ground. So, the only way to get the prop to absorb more engine power is by making the propeller blades wider and/or adding more blades. This was a big problem with high power engines--the prop couldn't be big enough to absorb the HP!
As the prop looked like it was stopped at some points (and running backwards at others) as supposing the camera is recording at 60 fps, then the prop must be moving at 3600 RPM. Is that engine RPM or is there a gearbox? I'd assumed they were direct from the engine's crankshaft. How high do they rev? Beautiful engines :)
Couldn't agree with you more. Its funny how many of the most violent and destructive things are generally much nicer to behold. This rule even applies to animals - just look at the majesty of a lion, the grace of a cheetah or the overall beauty of a bird of prey.
I believe the Spit Mk XVI was also a Higher altitude Fighter than the average spit as well... (Ran the best at 20,000 + feet where the supercharged Merlin really showed it's prowess. The Spit XVII and XVIII where the "Down and dirty" spits used for air support I think if my research is correct. If it is not, please feel free to correct me on that.
Not quite. The XVI used a Packard Merlin 266 which was built for low altitude performance. The XVII was a Seafire with a single stage Griffon, but with a 4-blade prop and a redesigned wing. The XVIII was too late for WW2, had the same wing as the Seafire XVII) but the same Griffon 65 as a XIV.
AWSOME!!! mustve felt great to get this amazing spitty up and running,carnt wait till they get those buries spitfires in burma in crates hopefully this year (TRUE)i think theres around 30 brand new buried underground, in crates god ..hope this comes true.!!!!
Very true. The hot ones are always a handful... both in the literal sense and the metaphoric, if you know what I mean. I could sure live with the literal though.
if you're paying an expert then it can cost around 50,000 bucks. The parts they use to rebuild it are probably casted and machined on demand. There isn't a huge availability of parts for engines that are this old, so they have to be made from scratch sometimes.
two Mustang owners have told me that a Merlin costs about $175,000 to rebuild. I would expect the Griffon to be in that ballpark. One owner told me that if you like to use the power,engine life of around 400 hours is common. Just one reason that Mustangs are so expensive to own and operate.
My dad always told me of a story of how when he was a kid back he saw an old steam engine chugging along with it's wagons filled with 2 spitfires a wagon and had at least 10 wagons. Going to get scrapped :(
Prior to WW2, the Royal Australian Air Force used the standard RAF roundel - i.e. blue outer circle, white inner circle and red spot in the centre. When Japan attacked British possesions in the Far East, it was decided trhat all Empire/Commonwealth aircraft markings would remove the red centres from the roundels - to avoid confusion. Later in the war, the white centres of the roundels were painted light blue - as shown correctly on this restored late war Spitfire XIX.
You can tell a Griffon a mile away. Amazingly RR concentrated on the Merlin as it was a private venture (hence PV) stating that 1000 hp was enough for anyone. A Griffon powered Mosquito would have been awesome also :) Yeh count me in as a Griffon fan ;)
Nonsense. RR never considered that 1000 hp would be enough. They (RR) put much effort into other engines but in the end the Merlin was by far the most successful. Why? Because it was light, compact and very efficient with 2 speed supercharger. The Griffon at 35 l. compared to the Merlin 27 l. certainly produced more torque but there was a weight penalty. The Merlin by the end of the war was turning out 2000 p with American high octane petrol. What can one say more?
Actually Frank that's not true since most current technology uses progressive not interlace style of image capture. The stroboscopic effect on the propeller that I assume you are referring to is caused by an electronic option known as the "electronic shutter" that overrides the capture and is an attempt to make the individual frames sharper. On some better video cameras this control may be adjusted and turned on and off. The strobe effect is when the period of the shutter is not the same.
Rubbish. All Merlins rotated the same way and all Griffons rotated the opposite way. Bombers had to cope with all engines rotating the same way in WW2.
a merlin spins anti clockwise this is a griffon a completely diff engine it spins clockwise they were fitted to the later spits and seafires the only 4 engine aircraft to be fitted with griffons were avro shackletons which had contra rotating props to silence torque roll
Very nice start up, great to see any restoration on any WWII fighter aircraft. Then some rich dude buys them and promptly destroys history at the air races in Reno, Nv. That kind of activity should be outlawed because WWII airplanes are an endangered species. Besides the fact the risks are much too high vs what you get out of seeing them fly around pylons. I would much rather see original aircraft at air shows.
Yes, if you are British and facing invasion from the most ruthless army in history, by the most insanely ambitious dictator. The Battle of Britain, Hurricane and Spitfire were responsible for preventing Hitler's Operation Sea Lion, or the USA would now be speaking German and eating sauerkraut. "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", Sir Winston Churchill PM, 20th August 1940,
Amazing....during the war, the pilots jumped in, started it and took off....nowadays, the pilot has to sit there and fumble with switches for 10 minutes before starting it....
in the war these were new and mass produced engines so a thrashing would b acceptable its now a rare peice of kit engine prob worth well over half a million u would make sure everything was primed and working properly in case of causing internal damage on start up...hasnt been started for 6 years be gentle
That has nothing to do with an engine that's just been freshly re-built and which most likely has a an electric pre-oiler. I agree with ''5769JJ'' half the video is lost waiting for the guy to prime it sufficiently. @@lsswappedcessna
One cringes when one hears these long winded start, stop, start up procedures, especially on a zero hour engine, and wonder if they pre-lube it. Does anyone know if they do?
Ir has a "self priming" switch in the cockpit, and it's recommended to prime it for a while" esoecially if it has been sitting for a long time. Being that it's a Rolls-Royce Griffon, it might be a little tougher to get going. The Griffon is also one of the rarest being not many Spitfires were equipped with them, and most that were are in museums....soooo yeah.
I personally think the P-51 is the best plane in that year. However, just being able to witness the beauty in seeing an old bird fire up is priceless. This is going to sound weird, but if you were to rate wars on a rating scale, WWII would be the best. Best planes (America), Best weapons, (America) Best pilots (Germany).
This is true. But its still america. British Engineering basically rules the world in technology and reliability but its still an American War Machine. They even helped build the Atom Bomb. Not a lot of people realize that.
Sean Randall Sean Stop with this USA is so great shit. I total understand now why father hates the phrase the yanks won the war. Best Planes were not boeing's boys, the lanc was way better. The spit and hurricane best fighters by far. P-51 was a good fighter, but wasn't it the rad tails that stood by the bombers, while other sqn's fucked off with the sightest idea of trouble. And on a final point wasn't it Joe's boy's got to berlin first?
Re-read my comment Dave, I said Personally. If your going to be the typical American, (if you are) then you are the reason why this country is going down the hole. Nobody can have their own beliefs anymore because some idiot gets their feelings hurt.
The five bladed propeller isn't a innovation: this was made to transmit the power trough the same diameter propeller as a Merlin engine (impossible to make a bigger diameter without a longer landing gear)...later was use a countra-rotative propeller for the same cause on the MK XIX. Sorry if my english isn't perfect: i'm not english and i never learn this language in the school...
Btw guys this isn't a fake spitfire. Its the Spit Mk XVI. It has 5 blades for its propellors Because it was one of the newest spits used in the late war.
Pretty much all the Griffon powered Spitfires had Mustang style bubble canopies. Jump on to Wikipedia and look up Spitfire Griffin engine. I was going to post the link for you but TH-cam is being a pain.
Just imagine an entire fleet of those sounding that smooth. That engine sounds gorgeous!
This is the most beautiful airplane of RAF !
I love all the videos of this kind of stuff since most of the planes and so forth are spread out all over the world and keeping this stuff alive is terrific. This is one of the great aspects of TH-cam. I think we owe it to each other to spread the skills that will help to "capture" the memories of these machines in as natural and quality a manor as possible. Enjoy and best wishes.
Rolls Royce made some amazing engines ( still do)
A truly beautiful airplane!
I bet that exhaust smells AMAZING!
there is nothing more exciting than starting an engine and hearing the body of the aircraft oil canning. It's the prelude to power.
Beautiful piece of engineering!
Spitfire= Mechanical artwork at it's finest. Reginald Mitchell's dream come true!
oddly i get the same feeling when my lawnmower starts
One thing i will miss from one of my jobs few years ago was spending time around the Messerschmitt, spitfire and the harvard that the boss had on display in one of his hangars.
music to my ears love that sound
But all critique aside, thanks to the crew for keeping this venerable plane in the air.
This is not alone a video of one of the greatest planes of all time, but a perfect example of frame interlacing!
Incredibly smooth sounding, incredibly complex motor
Just imagining how much that nose weights, it's hard to believe how this beast flies. It's so awesome.
Both Rolls Royce engines sounded rough on the ground. Someone once said that the Merlin sounded like "a bag of spanners on start up".
Personally I prefer the sound of the Merlin to the Griffon.
What a rich, beautiful and menacing sound.
While I believe the spitfire is and always will be one of the finest aircraft EVER MADE, I do have to say, and my knowledge of WWII fighter aircraft is iffy at best; but I believe when they took that wonderful Merlin with supercharger and put it into the P-51D, that made a world of difference for those boys flying the B-17 Super Fortresses and the B-24 Liberators, because they were able to "escort them there, the heart of the German war machine, their industrial area the very "heart of the Rhine" " and back again. And the ME-109, even though it had a 20mm cannon built into the engine no less, which you have got to hand it to the Germans. That was VERY clever. They just could not out handle, at altitude as well as low, plus what gave the P-51 and that spitfire pilot an edge, A BUBBLE CANOPY! The pilot could see a full 360 degrees, where as the ME-109 pilot had a head rest and some armament behind him. And of course what made all three of these wonderful aircraft so special, their engines were of a "V" formation, rather than the rotary engines that were most popular, and I don't know why, complex design, would win out over what a car engines design was. I do have to mention this. Is anyone here a fan of "Top Gear (the U.K. version)? if so then you would have caught an episode where a German man built what is known as "The Bruits" and what powers that is an old BMW built 46 Liter V-12 and there was another car in that same episode, an British built car that used the "non supercharged Merlin" which James May promptly pointed out that that would have made that the engine from a Hawker Hurricane and not a Spitfire, because of the limit of ceiling and distance, but none the less it were those along side the supercharged Spits that won the "Battle of Britain!" The only thing that saved England through all of the "warring years of Europe with, you name one of them" is the fact that it is an island. And that simple fact, which is something I learned at university, is why the U.K. still stands. And is why Hitler wanted it sooo badly. But, the English were not the sort to "just roll over and let anyone in" and that spirit is what I think, to me anyway, is what made the fighter aircraft built in bombed cities throughout England so special. Once they got "their feet underneath them" that is when they really took it to "Jerry". What I truly find the most fascinating thing of all is that they were equipped with, what was essentially the "maxim machineguns" mounted in the wings, which fired the British .303cal bullet's, and here was the "Mustang and other U.S. fighter aircraft" using the Browning M2 a .50cal machinegun. The only thing that I can think of with regards to the, quite frank, brilliant .303 cartridge is that they were using some sort of "armor piercing" round? It must have been made out of pure hardened steel and the guns must have been modified to handle a higher chamber pressure. For the simple fact that, your flying around at sum speed and you have effectively a 30 caliber round that you are trying to shoot down enemy aircraft with. If they didn't modify the round in any way shape or form, then, they must of had the ability to carry an A** load of ammo! I know the .50cal is big, and it would only take a few rounds to decimate an enemy aircraft, they proved that in the Pacific theater of operations. Sure the "Zero" was WAY MORE NIMBLE on it's feet. Liken to a ballet dancer, but they did that as a sacrifice to the pilots safety. THERE WAS NO ARMORMENT ON THAT AIRCRAFT AT ALL!!! I supposed the Japanese at that time just figured, give a lad a few lessons, if they survived their encounter with an American aircraft then, they could share what they learned and maybe pick up a few tips from those who were "really trained pilots". Who knows. Anyway, it was really cool and awe inspiring to see "the ol girl fire up one more time."
john doe Hi Joe, All of the Merlin engines were supercharged, some were single stage and other were twin stage, this includes the engine in the Hawker Hurricane. the non supercharged engine was called the Meteor and was built as an engine for tanks. Only the early very spitfires had .303, most had 20mm cannons as well and later marks were fitted with .50Cal instead of the .303s
it was the spitfire and the Hurricanes that saved Britain during the air siege, aka the battle of Britain. the 20mm is a shock to me, I have never heard of one of the spitfires, which was the main fighter for the U.K. to have that. the ME-109 did, right through the center of the engine block its self, that's why the center of their nose cones were hollow. To accommodate for that cannon. and they had a limited amount of ammo to carry, so they were very disciplined with using that ammo. lol. I'm glad that the U.K. went away with the .303 cartridge and decided to go with the 12.7mm round. much more effective. Thanks for the info!
john doe Evidentally the 303 was like a pea-shooter compared to the German Fighters machine guns & hence the 20m Canons were adopted into the Spitfire but you're correct about the amount of firepower in TIME as the 109s had more than 3 times as much TIME of fire.I think it was marginally under 16 seconds for the Spitfire around 55 seconds for the Me109s.It's said that the Hurricane was a better gun platform with 8 x .303 machine guns but I learned only last week that later Hurricanes were fitted with 10 machine guns of the .303 variety.The Hurricane was slower but could withstand more attack bullets due to it's old fashioned fabric covering skin which could be patched up quicker and easier than the all metal Spitfire which would require new panels.I guess it was rather unlikely to get a control cable to the tail control surfaces hit/cut by a bullet in the fuselarge but the whole experience must have been extremely frightening given many never came back or were severely burned due to cockpit fires from a large fuel tank just behind the control panel.That's why young men are sent to war.That said,without Stuffy Dowding & his brilliant planning,we'd probably been invaded in 1940.
I believe the P-38 could escort most of the way and back, but yes once the P-51D came out it was over for the Axis.
U should try DCS digital combat simulator
Noticed the Allison's have a different sound entirely, interesting. Nice sounding engine, the Rolls Royce. Nice video too.
Ha, ha, ha... now I like that reply! There is one video on TH-cam of a helicopter where the rotors are so well timed with the camera shutter that they never move throughout the whole video!
Yes Ithe Mk IX had the Merlin engine (under 1700 Hp) this derivative was the Mk XIV and had the Griffon engine, with over 2000hp, 5 blade propeller and redesigned airframe and wings.
Not quite. The Mk XIV's used a Mk VIII airframe.
and holy moly, tell that silly woman talking through the whole thing to quiet down and show some respect
The dark blue/light blue roundel was the markings used by the RAFs South East Asia Command. The RAAF used it aswell as they were under the command of the SEAC, although they did also use a dark blue/white marking too
Fighter planes always captivate me, both technically and aesthetically, and will always hold a peculiar place all of their own in my mind--perhaps the most graceful and beautiful of all machines ever built stem from the most tragic of all aspects of human nature, the barbaric drive for humans to dominate and conquer each other.
The airplanes themselves are like flying sculptures, good to see one of these classic works of art being maintained.
I certainly would love to see some background info on this apparent restoration effort.
In response to the post by 'dlambo', the Mk XIV had a 5-bladed prop as did the later Mk XIX which was solely a reconnaissance version with no armament. This served from very late 1944 until the end of war......and beyond.
Aircraft prototypes that flew before the end of the war (but didn't enter service until after it ended) that also has 5-bladed props were the Supermarine Spiteful (successor to the Spitfire) Hawker Tempest Mk 2 & Hawker Sea Fury. The worlds first turbo-prop powered aircraft, the Gloster Trent Meteor had a pair of 'cropped' 5-bladers.
So cool, I want a Spitfire a Hurricane a P51 a BF109 and a Zero, just a pity it is only a dream, but I have had a very close look at a genuine BF109 being restored, I think that is as close as I will ever come too this dream.
The war birds are really something special.
The slowly spinning propellor is an illusion known as strobing. It is a function of the camera shutter speed.
Great vid. What camera did you shoot it with? The detail in HD is great. You can actually make out each rivet!
i love the sound of this planes..
its good the restaurate the planes and keep them flying :D
I've seen some of these things start for the first time in 60 years. They were built in the 1940s, so they are pretty rare.
It is breathtaking that 80 years ago they gave these aircraft to 18 year old kids who then rode them into deadly conflict. They are breathtakingly powerful now, in this cynical age of technology and casual power. Back then the fighter planes were at the very edge of record-breaking human speed attainment. Like giving today’s schoolboy a formula one car armed with 20mm cannon.
Looking at the blade pitch you can see this Spitfire engine rotates counter clockwise looking from the cockpit like the other Rolls Royce engines.
AWRS TheWolf, It's a real Spitfire, the latest versions used a very powerful Griffon engine with over 2000 HP.
The propeller can only be so big in diameter, because the airplane's landing gear has a certain length and you don't want the prop blades to hit the ground. So, the only way to get the prop to absorb more engine power is by making the propeller blades wider and/or adding more blades. This was a big problem with high power engines--the prop couldn't be big enough to absorb the HP!
As the prop looked like it was stopped at some points (and running backwards at others) as supposing the camera is recording at 60 fps, then the prop must be moving at 3600 RPM. Is that engine RPM or is there a gearbox? I'd assumed they were direct from the engine's crankshaft. How high do they rev? Beautiful engines :)
I believe this Griffon Spitfire end up in a massive prop strike on takeoff in France and ended inverted a few years ago. Is it being rebuilt?
Is it true that the Merlin and the Griffon spun in opposite directions?
The blue on blue is SEAC, South East Asia Command. Possibly RAF. Though the RCAF also flew under the same roundel. Happy to be corrected.
The bearings had to be run in? I'm not sure but I would have done what you said!
Couldn't agree with you more. Its funny how many of the most violent and destructive things are generally much nicer to behold. This rule even applies to animals - just look at the majesty of a lion, the grace of a cheetah or the overall beauty of a bird of prey.
I believe the Spit Mk XVI was also a Higher altitude Fighter than the average spit as well... (Ran the best at 20,000 + feet where the supercharged Merlin really showed it's prowess. The Spit XVII and XVIII where the "Down and dirty" spits used for air support I think if my research is correct. If it is not, please feel free to correct me on that.
Not quite. The XVI used a Packard Merlin 266 which was built for low altitude performance. The XVII was a Seafire with a single stage Griffon, but with a 4-blade prop and a redesigned wing. The XVIII was too late for WW2, had the same wing as the Seafire XVII) but the same Griffon 65 as a XIV.
Griffon,s counter clockwise tractor. Merlin,s clockwise tractor. Viewed from the cockpit.
where was this movie taken... looks like the camarillo airport hangers
Magnificent! btw, what markings are they?
There's a FRXIVE at the Royal Thai Air Force museum in Bangkok. It's outdoors, you can walk up to it and fondle it. 😁
AWSOME!!! mustve felt great to get this amazing spitty up and running,carnt wait till they get those buries spitfires in burma in crates hopefully this year (TRUE)i think theres around 30 brand new buried underground, in crates god ..hope this comes true.!!!!
masterpiece.
Very true. The hot ones are always a handful... both in the literal sense and the metaphoric, if you know what I mean. I could sure live with the literal though.
how much it cost to rebuild? and to install?
just curious! it's worth every penny spent!
if you're paying an expert then it can cost around 50,000 bucks. The parts they use to rebuild it are probably casted and machined on demand. There isn't a huge availability of parts for engines that are this old, so they have to be made from scratch sometimes.
two Mustang owners have told me that a Merlin costs about $175,000 to rebuild. I would expect the Griffon to be in that ballpark.
One owner told me that if you like to use the power,engine life of around 400 hours is common. Just one reason that Mustangs are so expensive to own and operate.
holy crap
Walt Kimball
holy crap
Why does it take so many attempts to start? And that sounded like Jeffrey Ethell (RIP) around 2:53 or so.
ThatGuysProject spot on pump that oil baby
ThatGuysProject thanks.
Bearings did you put a new piston of rings as well ?
I think you need to use a slower shutter speed on the video camera when doing stuff like this. The propellor blades look stationary at times.
Is this a Seafire just wondering since it has a Navy roundel ?
...and there's no type of machine that can show off the beauty of aerodynamic streamlining quite as convincingly as airplanes :)
My dad always told me of a story of how when he was a kid back he saw an old steam engine chugging along with it's wagons filled with 2 spitfires a wagon and had at least 10 wagons. Going to get scrapped :(
Guess this is another one of those "backwards turning Spitfires"! :-) Left rudder, left rudder, more left rudder! N-6395T
Prior to WW2, the Royal Australian Air Force used the standard RAF roundel - i.e. blue outer circle, white inner circle and red spot in the centre. When Japan attacked British possesions in the Far East, it was decided trhat all Empire/Commonwealth aircraft markings would remove the red centres from the roundels - to avoid confusion.
Later in the war, the white centres of the roundels were painted light blue - as shown correctly on this restored late war Spitfire XIX.
Thank you! I did not know this.
What is that flapping around under the A6 exhaust?
was this the ex spencer flak G-FIRE?
You can tell a Griffon a mile away. Amazingly RR concentrated on the Merlin as it was a private venture (hence PV) stating that 1000 hp was enough for anyone. A Griffon powered Mosquito would have been awesome also :) Yeh count me in as a Griffon fan ;)
Nonsense. RR never considered that 1000 hp would be enough. They (RR) put much effort into other engines but in the end the Merlin was by far the most successful. Why? Because it was light, compact and very efficient with 2 speed supercharger. The Griffon at 35 l. compared to the Merlin 27 l. certainly produced more torque but there was a weight penalty. The Merlin by the end of the war was turning out 2000 p with American high octane petrol. What can one say more?
The 5-bladed prop would definitely benefit a high-torque engine.
what country owned this spitfire
Wow! Look you can use youtube for a timing light!
A very late spit, it may never have seen combat, but still a fragile rare aircraft and not to be hurried
Mk XIV's delivered to 610 Sqn in January 1944.
Mk 14 spitfires did see combat during World War II and they were formidable machines
WE WOULDN`T BE BORN TO THINK ABOUT IT
Should take her to the Reno air races
Actually Frank that's not true since most current technology uses progressive not interlace style of image capture. The stroboscopic effect on the propeller that I assume you are referring to is caused by an electronic option known as the "electronic shutter" that overrides the capture and is an attempt to make the individual frames sharper. On some better video cameras this control may be adjusted and turned on and off. The strobe effect is when the period of the shutter is not the same.
is it just me or did its engine sound anemic like it was starved for fuel or air or?
Left hand rotation is normal on single engine Merlins. You had to get a bomber engine off the other wing to get a right turning engine.
Rubbish. All Merlins rotated the same way and all Griffons rotated the opposite way. Bombers had to cope with all engines rotating the same way in WW2.
a merlin spins anti clockwise this is a griffon a completely diff engine it spins clockwise they were fitted to the later spits and seafires the only 4 engine aircraft to be fitted with griffons were avro shackletons which had contra rotating props to silence torque roll
The American made Packard/Allison Merlin licensed engine was available in RH and LH or Either rotation,V1650 and V1710 eninges.
RobiSydney The Packard Merlin, known as V1650, and the Allison V1710 were different engines entirely.
Militant Monkey Yes, quite.
Start the damn thing already!
sounds awesome
qué belleza de avión. Es el avión de mis sueños, es el avión que ganó la IIGM
what a beautiful airplane...wow
God, she's beautiful.
Very nice start up, great to see any restoration on any WWII fighter aircraft. Then some rich dude buys them and promptly destroys history at the air races in Reno, Nv. That kind of activity should be outlawed because WWII airplanes are an endangered species. Besides the fact the risks are much too high vs what you get out of seeing them fly around pylons. I would much rather see original aircraft at air shows.
what do they plug into the underside of the Fuse to help start?
Joey Timmons Aux power. Generator.
Good job.
Yes, if you are British and facing invasion from the most ruthless army in history, by the most insanely ambitious dictator.
The Battle of Britain, Hurricane and Spitfire were responsible for preventing Hitler's Operation Sea Lion, or the USA would now be speaking German and eating sauerkraut.
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", Sir Winston Churchill PM, 20th August 1940,
Amazing....during the war, the pilots jumped in, started it and took off....nowadays, the pilot has to sit there and fumble with switches for 10 minutes before starting it....
in the war these were new and mass produced engines so a thrashing would b acceptable its now a rare peice of kit engine prob worth well over half a million u would make sure everything was primed and working properly in case of causing internal damage on start up...hasnt been started for 6 years be gentle
all that aside, it doesn't take 20 minutes to do a quick pre-flight for startup.......a lot of hand wringing going on
Probably because it has set around for six years.
That has nothing to do with an engine that's just been freshly re-built and which most likely has a an electric pre-oiler. I agree with ''5769JJ'' half the video is lost waiting for the guy to prime it sufficiently. @@lsswappedcessna
One cringes when one hears these long winded start, stop, start up procedures, especially on a zero hour engine, and wonder if they pre-lube it. Does anyone know if they do?
Ir has a "self priming" switch in the cockpit, and it's recommended to prime it for a while" esoecially if it has been sitting for a long time. Being that it's a Rolls-Royce Griffon, it might be a little tougher to get going. The Griffon is also one of the rarest being not many Spitfires were equipped with them, and most that were are in museums....soooo yeah.
+James Armes **It
Not meaning to be pedantic, but is that not a Seafire? Guessing from the markings
MERAVIGLIOSO ✈️❤️😍🥇🔝🌹👍👌⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.Thanks for the Great Work. Awesome People keep This ✈️Masterpiece "👍" .
I personally think the P-51 is the best plane in that year. However, just being able to witness the beauty in seeing an old bird fire up is priceless. This is going to sound weird, but if you were to rate wars on a rating scale, WWII would be the best. Best planes (America), Best weapons, (America) Best pilots (Germany).
P51 was the best escort by miles. However it wasn't truly great until it had a big chunk of British engineering under the hood. Let's not forget that.
This is true. But its still america. British Engineering basically rules the world in technology and reliability but its still an American War Machine. They even helped build the Atom Bomb. Not a lot of people realize that.
P-47 all the way.
Sean Randall Sean Stop with this USA is so great shit. I total understand now why father hates the phrase the yanks won the war. Best Planes were not boeing's boys, the lanc was way better. The spit and hurricane best fighters by far. P-51 was a good fighter, but wasn't it the rad tails that stood by the bombers, while other sqn's fucked off with the sightest idea of trouble. And on a final point wasn't it Joe's boy's got to berlin first?
Re-read my comment Dave, I said Personally. If your going to be the typical American, (if you are) then you are the reason why this country is going down the hole. Nobody can have their own beliefs anymore because some idiot gets their feelings hurt.
that engine in my pa28?????
I didn't know Griffons ran counterclockwise.
better news... 3 spitfires are going to be based at a kent hangar with another one! :D
it is a spit. its the griffon 88 or 85. i forget which. not no fake shit.
Start 3:00
If that was a 109, It would have taken off, shot up the Spitfire, Landed, Refueled, and did it all over again in the same amount of time.
They would have both crashed because of the narrow track landing gear! lol
Danny Seo so true...
Michael Wittmann This video is in camarillo California about 10 miles away. just a fabulous plane
Michael Wittmann by the way, you were a great tank commander
A Mk14 against a 109? Yeah, that actually would be a short battle, but probably not what you were expecting..
The five bladed propeller isn't a innovation: this was made to transmit the power trough the same diameter propeller as a Merlin engine (impossible to make a bigger diameter without a longer landing gear)...later was use a countra-rotative propeller for the same cause on the MK XIX.
Sorry if my english isn't perfect: i'm not english and i never learn this language in the school...
Geez, that really does not sound like a Griffon... What they do to it?
Quelle machine!!!!!
surprised he didn't melt down the starter
The starter could take a lot more than that
Why does it have Finnish Markings then??
nice place
!
Later Mks had the Griffins, leaving the Merlins for the Lancasters and Mosquitos
Btw guys this isn't a fake spitfire. Its the Spit Mk XVI. It has 5 blades for its propellors Because it was one of the newest spits used in the late war.
Pretty much all the Griffon powered Spitfires had Mustang style bubble canopies.
Jump on to Wikipedia and look up Spitfire Griffin engine. I was going to post the link for you but TH-cam is being a pain.
Left rotation in England
Counter clockwise in USA.
i think you might find it is left rotation in Britain not just england
Griffon engines rotated in the opposite way to Merlins. There is no UsvUk rotation thing.