Great shots. Lurvely.

Ozzy

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Nice plane brensec pal and yes, the cockpit design would seam to lend itself quite well to the extra seat fitting. Just one small observation though, that P-40 is an Alison engined version (air intake above nose) and the F had the Merlin (air intake under nose.)

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But your an english teacher?!? surely pearl harbour has nothing to do with that?

What's more fun in a Spitfire, Ozzy?  You carryin' passengers?  lolll   How much aviation/FS (Spitfire) stuff do you manage to sneak into yer English classes, under the guise of teachin'?  I know you Professors and what yer like  lolll
Splash

Yes, you're right Hawker, Umm.....it would seem so. 

Ozzy, yep, I saw the movie a long time ago, but I'm not sure if my Blockbuster has it. I'll have a look,.
I think a Spitfire is actually an insect, isn't it?

I live about an hour away from Duxford and I have still not been there, DOH. 

I have to agree about the BOB flight, a truly awe inspiring experience just to hear it.  I used to live on the Isle of Man and we had an airshow every year at a little airbase called Jurby which was about seven miles from my house.  We never used to go because our house was directly below the flight path to the show and the runway is so short you are lucky to get a Harrier in there(!) so nothing interesting ever lands.

The BOB flight came over one year at about 10.30 AM and the conditions were normal British Summer, ie rain, cloud base about 1000ft ASL.  These guys were Ozzy low.  I have never been that close to a Lancaster before or since, you could have seen the expression on the pilots face if he had banked.

One thing I have often wondered, the Spitfire and the Mustang shared the same Merlin engine I believe, yet they sound very different, why is this?

Lovely pictures by the way.

Will

The Merlins that went into the P51's were made by the Packard mob in the US. Hence "Packard/Merlin". I don't know why they sound different.
I imagine the exhaust systems were also Packard or US built and maybe the exhaust specs. were different for the Yanks. This may have a bearing on the sound.

I've only heard a Spit live. I don't know what a P51 sounds like, except from TV and Movies, and these things are often dubbed or engineered in some way.

I would have thought that, with all the variances in models and different Horse Powers and different exhaust systems being used on all the variants, there would be, at least, subtle if not noticable differences in sound in different models and makes of plane.

When you start 1 engine on a Lanc, does it sound like a Spit? What about 1 engine on a Mozzy?
Surely a Spitfire 1 (one of the few with a 2 blade prop), didn't sound the same as one of the Spifires using the 1750 hp engine in 1944? I shouldn't think so.

I haven't answered your question, have I? In fact, I think I've complicated it, somewhat. Oh well, that's what you get for asking questions I can't answer.........lol  ??? ??? ???

Thanks for your answers, it has cleared things up.  You CAN tell a spitfire from all other types of aircraft.  Maybe it's a racial memory or something but living in the SE of England there are quite a few of them about during the summer.  You can be standing around somewhere and hear this sound.  You get goose pimples and just know that it is a spitfire and when it comes close enough you realise that it is.

Hurricanes sound totally different and so do mustangs.

I personally prefer the Hurricane as an aircraft, unsung hero of BOB etc.  I have never seen a mosquito but I new a man he flew in them.  He loved them and felt that they were the best British aircraft ever.  Probably 'cos they always got him home.

Will