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Thread: This day in history

  1. #1

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    This day in history

    There are two very historic events in history on this March 6
    One , in 1936, the first flight of the prototype Spitfire at Eastleigh airport, England with pilot Mutt Summers. This plane was very basic, even had a 2 blade fixed pitch prop. and of course no guns yet, but it took off easily, handled well in the air, and upon landing with the designer R. J. Mitchell watching. It was light, beautiful and had an early Rolls Royce V-12 Merlin engine. Mutt was satisfied with the first flight and asked for nothing to be changed for the next one. It was perhaps a 335 mph top speed then, but soon with a constant speed prop they picked up to 349 mph. It was very important that it be forgiving more than demanding since the RAF pilots who were to fly and fight in it may have only flown biplanes or maybe a Harvard. A Merlin Spitfires has about the best slow speed and stall handling of any plane, not just any warplane.
    Soon , it carried 8 machine guns, and could outturn anything in Europe and outclimb most anything, a match for the potent Me 109. Development brought 20mm cannons and by 1942 a Mark IX would have 2 cannons and 4 .303 machine guns, light but reliable and with a high rate of fire. Then came the 2 speed ,2 stage supercharger and flight above 40,000 feet was doable. Hard to imagine but a Mk IX has a higher service ceiling as well as a higher Mach critical dive speed., .85 than an early Lear Jet.
    Some versions had 4 cannons and the large more powerful, but heavier Griffon engine and 5 blade props with top speeds of 444 mph, about 100 mph over the prototype. There were very successful long range photo recon versions, and several versions of Seafire for carrier use. They served in all parts of the world, and in service up to 1959, and is one of the most desired planes for civilian ownership today. About 30,000 were built, perhaps a 100 survive. 83 years after Mitchell put his genius into the plane, I still cant think of any wing design that flys better or that looks as good. Perhaps the farthest limit if piston fighter design is the Spiteful, a follow up with 4 cannon, 2500 hp, and 493 mph top speed.
    One particularly fine version just to fly is the Mk V, very light at about 5000 lbs, in a T6 range, but with 1400 hp. Famous warbird pilot Steve Hinton who has flown most everything, said of the V, "That's in the top two of anything I've flown."
    You can stand next to a V or maybe a IX and look for 10 minutes and not come up with one section or one line that would look better changed.
    Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 03-06-2019 at 08:41 AM.

  2. #2
    lnuss's Avatar
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    There are two very historic events in history on this March 6
    What's the second one?

    Larry N.

  3. #3

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    The conclusion of the siege at the Battle of the Alamo, 1836, a old Spanish mission turned into a fort in San Antonio. Part of the grounds including the main chapel building survive today as a museum and I urge anyone within a hundred miles to go see it. Is it just coincidence that these two events are same day, 100 years apart.
    Mexico had allowed Americans to come into Texas, even invited them, but then began to rule more dictatorially and harshly. Some of the settlers, like Jim Bowie, of the famous knife desig, with a Mexica wife and a love for wishkey, and William Barrett Travis, a lawyer from S. Carolina were not the kind of men who took kindly to be dictated to. The other personality or personal was Davey Crockett, late of U S Congress and from Kentucky. He was a renown Indian veteran, liked his whiskey and humous stories and was a crack shot and hunter. If you had to pick men to die with these were good ones. They could have left the fort early or surrendered, with no dishonor being outnumbered 20 to 1,but all stayed to fight.
    On the other side was a dandy of a dictator, Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and a full scale villain made for a movie. He once fought a battle in Mexico and the first night learned from spies that his opponents were receiving reinforcments, so he switched sides and the next day defeated his former troops.
    The Gen had about 4000 troops with more arriving, the Texans had 185. But the Texans had good cannons and most were seasoned hunters or had fought Indians, they could shoot. They held out for 13 days, and repulsed the first two final charges before the Mexican cannon blew holes in the north wall. The 185 men took a terrible toll of the attackers, as many as 1600 casualties in effect almost cutting their army in half. Santa Ana, who took no part in the fighting, later called it " a small affair". HIs Gen, Co said, " we brought 800 of the finest cavalry soldiers in the world and we left 660 of them dead on the ground. "
    Six weeks later, Gen, Sam Houston decided he'd retreated far enough, and at San Jacinto outside Houston he routed the larger Mexican army and captured Santa Anna, who traded letting him go for signing over Texas Independence. Can you imagine what the wealth of Texas was worth then as a future dollar amount. Today the northern boundary of the grounds is the ship channel where tankers ply their petrochemical trade, and just to the east is Nasa space center and the aviation museum at Ellington AFB, near where I and Geo Bush the younger used to be in the Air Force. ,
    Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 03-06-2019 at 10:28 AM.

  4. #4
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    A nice celebratory photo posted to Facebook today....


    Ron Wanttaja

  5. #5
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    IMO, the most beautiful aircraft design in aviation history. Thank you Mr. Mitchell.

  6. #6
    lnuss's Avatar
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    A beautiful shot -- thanks Ron.

    Larry N.

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