SPITFIRE 944 - YouTube
That is treasure right there. Not only for the pilot but for his family and humanity... Love his genuine reaction and how he pulled out that old piece of wood that happened to be a shard off his prop.
That's awesome.... I didn't know that the later marks of Spit had a wooden prop. He mentions landing at "Bradwell Bay" on the way to Berlin, small world, Bradwell was abandoned by the RAF not long after the war, and one of the first Nuclear Power stations was build just off site. When I was a kid most of the runways and taxiways where still there, as well as a lot of the buildings including the tower. I spend many a happy hour learning to drive on those runways etc, lots of "treasure" hunting with my mates in all the buildings as well.. Great film thanks for sharing
Cool. I wonder if 30,000 feet was above the ceiling of the Germans or what the thinking behind an unarmed aircraft over the target would be.
If I remember right, FL30 was above most of the German defenses, but I think the main thing was at that height and the speed the spit was flying if any Germans came up to attack it would take so long to get up there that the spit would be long gone. Another reason they flew just a single aircraft, very hard for 1940's era radar to pick up one plane at 30k doing 400mph....first of the stealth fighters LOL
I think you mean FL300, not FL30... You're correct about time to intercept, and the single plane thing but... The FW-190 and the ME-109 both had service ceilings at mid to high 30K feet. The Spit's service ceiling was over 40K feet. Shoot, even our B-17's flew at roughly that altitude also and the sky was black with flak.
