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    Spifire Mark V Aces 1941-45 PDF

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    of 94
    Front cover Fig Off Neville Duke of No 92 San breaks off combat with a cluster of Ju 87B-2/Trops after having ‘successfully flamed’ one of the eight ‘Stukas engaged by his unit on the afternoon of 21 January 1943 south of Tripoli - he was flying Spitfire Mk VB ER220 on this occasion. Duke ‘recounted this action in his classic autobiography, Test Pilot, frst published in 1953; ‘During our first show over this area with 12 Spitfires at 18,000 Ft, we saw some Ju 87 Stukas returning {from bombing our troops. | reported ‘them to our wing leader, Wg Car Darwen, and dived down on them with the squadron following, “Melt rather exposed approaching the formation of Stukas on my own, and for a time, until the squadron arrived, thad them all to myself, returning my fire and doing stall turns around me. They were Italian Stukas [it has since been established that they were in fact Luftwaffe aircraft from IIL/StG 3, Ed.) and! caught up with them near Cast Benito aerodrome at about 1000 f. {shot at one without doing much ‘damage but hit # second one in the ‘starboard wing root, saw it burst into flames, spiral down and explode ‘when it it the ground’ (Cover artwork by lain Wyllie) First published in Great Britain in 1997 by Osprey. an imprint of Reed Books Limited. Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road, London SW 6RB Auckland and Melbourne Reprinte Copyright 1997 Reed Incernational Books Lid 1997 Reed International Books 1d/Acrospace Publishing Colour Side-views All rights reserved. Apart from any faie dealing for the purpose of private study. search, criticism or review. as permitted under the Copyright. Desiga and Pa retrieval system, oF transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, nts Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission, All enquiries should be addressed to the publisher ISBN 1 855326353 Edited by Tony Holmes Page design: TT Designs, T & § Truscott Cover Arework: lain Wyllie Aircraft Profiles: Keith Fretwell Figure Arowork: Mike Chappell Scale Drawings: Mark Styling Printed in Hong Kong, EDITOR'S NOTE: To make this best-selling series as authoritative as possible the editor would be extremely interested in hearing from any individual who may have photographs, documentation or first-hand experience pilors, and cher aircraft, of the various theatres of war. Any m. nal source. Please writ 33PZ.¢ will be Fully credited co its oF 1 Bradbourne Road, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN For a free catalogue of all books publ Osprey Marketing, Reed Books. Mic London SW3 6RB CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 6 CHAPTER ONE STOP-GAP SPITFIRE VARIANT 7 CHAPTER TWO IMPROVING THE BREED 12 CHAPTER THREE IN ACTION OVER NORTH-WEST EUROPE 18 CHAPTER FOUR AIR BATTLE FOR MALTA 45 CHAPTER FIVE TACTICS OF A MALTA ACE 57 CHAPTER SIX NORTH AFRICA 62 CHAPTER SEVEN SPITFIRE Vs FAR AND WIDE 69 CHAPTER EIGHT TOP SPITFIRE Mk V ACES 79 APPENDICES 87 COLOUR PLATES COMMENTARY 90 ———— AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION he Spitfire Mk V bore the brunt of RAF fighter operations during Te difficult period between the end of the Battle of Britain and mnid-1943, when the Allied air forces were finally able to assert full technical and numerical superiority over their enemies. ‘The hardest fights invol batch of these fighters 10 th aircraft cartier to cransport th flight vo complete the journey. Once there, the Fighters sleagainst larger en nonths it was touch-and-go whether the island would be bombed ved into submission, but in the end the defenders prevailed, ith Malta’s needs met, Spitfire Vs could be sent to more-distant bat tle fronts, Wherever they went, their arrival boosted the morale of those within weeks of entering action ir superiority 10 Allied forces that had suffered because ofthe lack of it, Only during oper- ations in the defence of northern Australia in spring/summer 1943 did the Mk Vs fail to live up co the high expectations placed on them. Aficr the Mk V had been superseded as a high altitude fighter through the arrival of the Mk I) lease of life Fitted with a Merl tions —as late as the summer of 1944, the Spitfire LE V equipped several frontline fighter qu Th acrial victories. In listing pilots’ credited victory scores, only cont Mk Vs were those staged over Malta. To get even a small sland wasa major undertaking involving an m half way, followed by a 600-mile ferry were thrust into a life-and-death so y forces. For in the autuma of 1942, the variant took on a new nngine optimised for low altiuide opera rons assigned to home defence. account concentrates on the ace pilots credited with five or more firmed claims are considered — unconfirmed kills have been omitted, as have claims for aircraft destroyed or da ‘A number of good friends contributed material and photographs 10 assist with the preparation of this book, namely Norman Franks, Dilip Sarkar, Philip Jarrett, Andrew Thomas, Wojtek Matusiak, St Fochuk and Bruce Robertson — | profer my geateful thanks ro youll. Ac the same time Ted Hooton made available his painstaking and extensive research into Spitfire V modification states. This proved of great assist in cabling profile artist Keith Fretwell 10 produce accurate colour plates of the aircraft flown by the various aces, and seale drawing artist Mark ced on the ground. hen Seyling to create the most accurate plans of the Mk V yet seen in print Last, bur by no means leat Shores forallowing me to use m: [wish 10 express my gratitude to Chris ial from the superb reference books he mely: Aces High, Malta ~ The Spigfre Tunisia, The first volume in this short list is the hored over the years. id Fighters Ove standard reference work on RAF aces during World War 2, while the ond wo books hold this status regarding the actions they deseribe. Lam has co Yeara also grateful to Chris for making available the results of the combined research effort undertaken by himself, Brian Cull, lan Primmer and Yasuo Izawa, in Japan, into Japanese air artacks on northern Australia, Alfred Price January 1997, STOP-GAP SPITFIRE VARIANT [Mk VBs of the initial production batch awaiting collection from 11941. These for fitting of the cannon and ot items of operational equipment. W3127, the aircraft nearest the ‘camera, had a very full career. After serving with Nos 74, 401, 340, 453, 222, 167 and 316 Sqns and the Contral Gunnery School, it became an instructional airframe in 1946 (via Sarkar uring the winter of 1940/41 a major main concern of Air Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas, C-in-C Fighter Command, was that he would have co re-fight the Bate of Britain the following spring. In the previous year the RAP’s intelligence service had learned much about the Luftwaffe, although large areas of uncertainty still existed, One of these concerned its adversary’s policy regarding the next generation of combat aircraft. There had been numerous reports and rumours of new fighter and bomber types with enhanced high altitude performance under development in Germany. Already the diesel-engined Junkers Ju 86P reconnaissance aircraft, which could flying ar altitudes exceeding 36,000 fi, had demonstrated that ic could operate over Great Britain with virtual impunity. Ifthe Luftwaffe initiated large-sealeartacks, using bombers with this capability, the RAP’s current fighter types would be unable to meet such a threat. These fears would prove to be unjustified but at the time they had a profound effect on Spitfire development The variant originally intended to replace the Spitfire Mks Land TI in production was the Mk III, which boasted a re-engineered and strength: ened airframe incorporating several design improvements. Converting production lines to build the Mark III would involve considerable re tooling, however, and chat would take time. Supermarine made it clear that ie could not guarantee to meet the tight production schedule for the new variant demanded by the RAF Another source of difficulty in getting the Spitfire II into production ne, the Merlin XX, which featured a redesigned super- charger with two separate blowers — one for high-altitude and the other for low-alritude operation. It was a complicated engine, and Rolls-Royce stated that it would be difficult to build in sufficienc quantities in the ANVINWA 214118 d¥9-d0LS CHAPTER ONE Top and above One of the first Mk VBs produc §R6923/QJ-S was converted from a [Mk IB and issued to No 92 Sqn in ‘early 1941. The aireraft was the personal mount of Fig Off Alan Wright, who ended the war credited with 11 and 3 shared enemy aircraft destroyed, 5 probably destroyed and 7 damaged required time. A short-term solu tion 1 the problem was near at hand, however In parallel with the Merlin XX, Rolls-Royce produced a simplified nt of the engine with the low altitude blower deleted. ‘This ne, chr rened the Merlin 45, developed 1515 hp at 11,000 fe at +16 Tb boost, and bein the second blower, was considerably devoid of easier to mass-produce than the Mk XX. Moreover, although it was no larger and litle heavier than earlier Merlin variants, the Mk 4 sizeable increase in power. Thanks to its physical similarity to the Mk XX, the new engine could be fitted vo Spicite Land Il airframes with liccle modification, This vati- ant was designated the Spitfire Mk V. and Rolls-Royce received instructions to convert 23 Mk Is to the new standard. Most of those converted in that initial batch were cannon-armed Mk Bs, although there were also a few Mk IAs fitted with all-machine-g1 During January 1941 the first Mk Vs appeared, and initial flight trials revealed that the variant offered most of the performance advantages of the Mk III, but with- ing the aver into production, During a out the predicted delays in bri planning conference in carly March, the Chief ofthe Air Staff (CAS), Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, sounded the death knell for the Spitfire IIL, The minutes recorded: ‘CAS has decided that the Spitfire V with Merlin 45 engines with sin gle-speed blowers shal be put into production instead of Spitfire Ils. The Spitfire V with joved Merlin 4 slightly larger blower impeller i.e. the Merlin 46) will give better performance in altitude and ceiling This will meet the needs of Fighter Command for high altitude fighters, Ifthe type isa success the Air Staff will want as many as can be produced. Despite the wording of the final sentence, other contemporary docu: ments make it clear that the Air Staff regarded the Mix V as a stop-gap expedient. The definitive high-altitude interceptor was VI, which was now under development at the highest priority this aircraft was a Mk V fitted with a pressurised cabin, a 1 new version of the Merlin with a yet more powerful su soon as the Mk VI was ready it was to replace the Mk V on the produc tion lines, No 92 Sqn at Manston, flying Spitfire IBs and commanded by fighter ace Sqn Ldr John Kent, was selected as the unit to introduce the Mk V into service verted Mk IB (X4 the squadron in che middle of Feb he first con. ruary 1941. In the weeks that fol lowed, the unit sent a succession of its Spitfire IBs to the Rolls-Royce planc at Hucknall for conversion to, Mk VB standard. The work appears to have taken about a week to ten daysto complete, after which the te engined fighter was returned to the anit. As a result of this protracted change-over, for several weeks No 92 Sqn flew both marks operationally Because of the procedure outlined earlier, the first Mk Vs were almost all VB variants armed with ewo 20 mm cannon and four 303-in machine guns (the rest were Mk VAs armed with eight machine guns). Externally, the st Mk Vs were almost identical to late-production Mk Isand Ils, but this changed when pilots found that the Merlin 45 ran at excessively high oil temperatures and correspondingly low pressures when at high altitude. The oil cooling system was not powerful cnough to set the increased demands now made upon it, so a larger matrix had to be fied to the cooler, which in turn required a larger intake to provide an increased flow of air through it. Thus, the oil cooler intake under the port wing of the Mk V was enlarged and made circular (instead of semi-circu. larason the Mks I and Il), giving a clear identification feature forthe new variant. The change was incorporated on new aircraft on the production ine, and was carried out retrospectively to all previously converted Mk Ns. Fighter Command was keen to bring the new Spitfire into action ove occupied Europe as soon as possible, but it suddenly faced objections to this from an unexpected quarter. On 28 February Prime Minister Win scon Churchill minuted his CAS: Irwould bea mistake I think to exhibit the Merlin 45 or the Meslin 45 plus (the Merlin 46) t0 the enemy dll there are at least half a dozen ‘Squadrons capable of using them. Certainly they should not be used ove the other side without further instructions As a result of the stress associated with his position, Churchill would sometimes make ill-considered decisions, and this was one such ease. Yet one of his trengehs asa war leader was that he would allow reasoned argu ments to persuade him to change his mind, Three days later Sir Charles Portal replied, setting out in detail his opposition to the ban: have issued instructions that the Spitfire V is nor to be used in cir cumstances involving risk of capture by the enemy until at least six squadrons are equipped with the type ‘Sqn Ldr James Rankin, (let, without jacket) OC No 92 Sqn, and Fit Lt Charles Kingcome are pictured here “lighting up’ on their return from an ‘operation over France early in 1941 Full details of Rankin's career are siven in chapter eight. Charles Kingcome went on to command No 72'Sqn and, later, the Kenley Wing. At the end of the war his vietory score was 8 and 3 shared destroyed, 5 probably destroyed and 13, damaged LNVINWA 3Mld1IdS dv9-d0Ls HAPTER ONE 10 I should nevertheless be grateful if I could be told the reason for this decision since it is not one which T should have recommended, and the A.O.C.in-C Fighter Command is opposed to it ‘My reasons against the decision are (a) there is nothing in the Merlin (45) which the Germans could them selves make use of with advantage in the near Future. (b) There is nothing, new for the pilots to learn in the way of tactics and handling of the aircraft, such as might justify the holding back of an entirely new type of fighter until we were ready to spring an effective sur prise on the enemy.” Portal pointed out that about ovo months would clapse before the required six squadrons were re-equipped with the new Spitfire variant. In the interim, an increasi g proportion of the more dangerous sorties would be flown by units operating earlier variants of the fighter. Tha might havean adverse effect on the morale of pilots. Asa separate issue the ban would prevent the use of the new engine fitted in photographic reconnaissance Spitfires, which were flying missions into Germany and relied on their speed to survive. Portal ended his minute with the request If in the light of the above information if you would reconsider your decision I should be very grateful, On 7 March the Prime Minister replied. He said he had wanted to wait until the new variant could be used in sufficient numbers to strike really effective blow, and cited the premature use of tanks in action during the previous war. Yet he ended his minute with the reply Portal had sought However, if you think it (che immediate use of the Merlin 45-powered Spitfires over enemy territory) a good thing to do, I shall certainly not contest your opinion. The matter was closed, and Fighter Command could send its Spittire Vs over occupied Europe as soon as it felt ready Although the entry of the Mk V into service went off relatively smoothly, there were hiccups. On 19 March 1941 No 92 Sqn had three Spitfire VBs crash-land in quick succession without a single shot being, fired at them by the enemy Rankin, ha schmitts on an offensive sweep over Kent at 36,000 ft in newly-converted Mk VBs R6776, R6897 and X4257, The cause of the losses was attrib The doomed flight, led by Sqn Ldr James 1g been sent on a long, and fruitless, chase to engage Messer uted 10 the failure of the constant speed unit (CSU) contiolling the fighters’ de Havilland Hydromatic propellers. Normally the CSU lim- ited the maximum speed of the Met lin engine to about 3000 rpm, but at the very low temperatures encoun: tered during this sortie the oil in the CSU cong: went to full fine pitch and the ed the propeller blades engine rpm raced uncontrollably to With the featcning to shake itself to around the 4000 mark. engine d

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