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World War II
Discuss WWII and the era directly before and after the war from 1935-1949.
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Review
Eduard: Spitfire HF Mk.VIII
litespeed
Staff MemberNews Reporter
AEROSCALE
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England - North West, United Kingdom
Joined: October 15, 2009
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Posted: Sunday, July 28, 2019 - 12:41 AM UTC


Tim Hatton takes a look at Eduards re-release of the 1/72 scale ProfiPACK Spitfire HF Mk.VIII


Read the Review

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
M4A1Sherman
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New York, United States
Joined: May 02, 2013
KitMaker: 4,403 posts
AeroScale: 254 posts
Posted: Sunday, July 28, 2019 - 06:41 AM UTC
Hi, Tim!

Thanks Very Much for this great review!

I have a question regarding US 31st Fighter Group Mk.IIIs operating in the Mediterranean Theatre, which may seem a bit "off topic". In several of my books, there are photos of Spitfires with US National Insignia displayed on their Wings and Fuselage sides, purporting to be Mk.VIIIs in the photo captions. These Spitfires display the much "deeper" Lower Engine Cowlings that are normally associated with Mk.VIIIs, but they also display what looks to me like the "normal" Wing Tips of the Spitfire Mk.IXc...

Are the captions simply mislabeled, or are these Spitfires really Mk.VIIIs as the photos suggest, with Mk.IXc-style Wing Tips installed..?

Hoping you can help me out- This has confused me for a while.

VR, Dennis
litespeed
Staff MemberNews Reporter
AEROSCALE
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England - North West, United Kingdom
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Posted: Sunday, July 28, 2019 - 10:29 AM UTC
Hi Dennis. Without seeing the photos I cannot be much help I'm afraid. Also I have to point out I'm no expert on the Spitfire. I did a quick Google search of the aircraft flown by the 31st Operations Group and it reveals they flew the Spitfire Mk.Vb and later the Spitfire Mk.VIII. Its possible what you are looking at are the Mk.VIII's with the standard type 'C' or universal wing. The subject of the review: the Spitfire HF Mk.VIII had the 'C' wing with pointy wing tips. These were only fitted early on the production run but as noted in the review the pointy wing tips were replaced with standard type 'C' wings. Apparently the wing tips were interchangeable to suite the mission or the pilots requirements. Whether this was done in practice in the field is another matter.
Hope this helps.
tim
M4A1Sherman
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New York, United States
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Posted: Monday, July 29, 2019 - 05:05 AM UTC
Hi, Tim!

Thank You, yes! This does help! The "c" Wing- That answers my question quite well...
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