Wiojtel« Miaitusial« bd eel SERIES Supermarine SPITF RE Mk VSupermarine Spitfire V Wojtek Matusiak Artwork: Robert GrudzienPublished in Poland in 2004 by STRATUS Artur Juszezak, Po. Box 123, 27-600 Sandomierz. 1, Poland e-mail: arturj@mmpbooks.biz for Mushroom Model Publications, 36 Ver Road, Redbourn, AL3 7PE, UK. e-mail: rogerw@waitrose.com © 2004 Mushroom Model Public: http:/www.mmpbooks.biz All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criti- cism or review, as permitted under the Copy- right, Design and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission. All enquiries should be addressed to the publisher. ISBN 83-917178-3-6 iri Editor in chief Roger Wallsgrove Editors Bartlomiej Belearz Robert Peczkowski Artur Juszezak Edited by Robert Peczkowski Page design by Artur Juszezak Robert Peczkowski Cover Layout Artur Juszezak DIP Robert Gretzyngier Proofreading Roger Wallsgrove James Kightly Colour Drawings Robert Grudzien Scale Plans Robert Grudzies Acknowledgements Tam grateful (o Bev Laing, Peter Amold, Steve Atkin, James Kightly, and Roger Wallsgrove for proofreading the book, which improved it in many respects. I would also like to thank a number of friends who assisted me in my research of Spitfire history, thus indirectly contributing to this book. Apart from Peter Arnold, men- tioned above, my thanks go to Dave Birch, Dr Alfred Price and Simon Watson (Britain), Robert Bracken (Canada), Krzysztof Choloniewski, Franciszek X. Grabowski and Robert Grudzies Poland), Malcolm Laird (New Zealand), Helmut Terbeck (Germany), Olivier Tyrbas de Chamberet (France), and Harry van der Meer (Holland). I also thank all those who provided photographs used in this book, too numerous to list here, but credited appropriately. Finally, [ am much obliged to Piotr Mrozowski and Robert Gretzyngier for their unselfish assistance in digitally restoring all those small, faded, scratched photos, to reveal their true content, Wojtek Matusiak Unless credited otherwise, all illustrations are via author. Previous page: A glamourous photo of Spitfire R6923 QI-S of no. 92 Sqn RAF, one of the earliest Mark Fives in service, a con- verted Mk IB. This view displays to advantage the enlarged oil cooler under the port wing with circular air intake, introduced in the Mk V (the earlier variants had shallower cooler with semi-circular intake). Despite claims otherwise, this was the only external difference between the earliest Mk Vs and late Mk I/lls. For pract that in combat conditions there was eal reasons this meant no way to tell a Mk V Jrom its predecessors Printed by: Drukarnia Diecezjatna, ul. Zeromskiego 4, 27-600 Sandomierz tel. (15) 832 31 92; fax (15) 832 77 87 www.wds.pl WYPRODUKOWANO W POLS! marketing@wds.pl PRINTED IN POLAND.