Hiya Splash. I used to be a regular at Duxford, I was briefly involved with the restoration of their EE Lightning as an air cadet many moons ago (seems like centuries).
Duxford is a must for warbird lovers. It is the mecca of warbirds in Europe. They restore Spitfires and other nice toys to flying condition, in fact its the home of the warbirds company.
They also supplied the pilots for James Bonds Tomorrow Never Dies opening sequence. The guys that own the company (father and son) are both ex-RAF fighter pilots.
I still desperately want to get a backseater in Carolyns T9, its gorgeous, I've seen it a few times, but its a couple of grand a pop, and a long waiting list! Just got to convince she-who-must-be-obeyed that this is a vital life experience.... She is coming round!
The Spits UC is unsynchronised if I remember correctly. But I'm normally to busy going into mental overload when I hear a Merlin cough into life. Wow!
If you can, you should get to Duxford just once (its on the M11 north of London on the way to Cambridge). It is just beyond words.

Mark

Ah Man, I gotta come across the pond to see that. Even wrote down the directions.  You lucky bugger, HawkerTempest.  They did show a little of the mass flypast.  Awesome!!  I taped that show and watched it 3 times yesterday.  Carolyn Grace's Spitfire is very expensive to maintain and fly, I guess and she needs funding to keep it going.  Her two children help her with it since the death of her husband.   Are there any other 2 seaters?  Too bad, it really is a beauty.
Splash

There is at least one T9 flying in the US and there are two airworthy T9's in the UK with a third under rebuild at Duxford. Interestingly, they say they are going to operate this T9 in it's Irish Air Corps markings with the origional style higher rear cockpit fitted.

When they bring out the CWH Lanc along with the Hurri and form up in the air with a Spit....it will make you shudder.....I know, I've seen them fly over Mt Hope...

Having noticed the talk about the two seater. I came across this photo of a P40 which seems to have the inside of the cockpit fitted for a passenger (don't know if it's for training or a special joyride arrangement).

Can anyone shed light or am I just dreaming?

The area behind the pilots seat (which was normally blank) seems to have area for a second seat and the cockpit conopy goes back over what would normally be the blanked out area.

The Spit Hurri and Lanc is not a usual sight, but there was an occasion for them to form up and I was fortunate enough to see it....the Lanc, Spit, and Hurri used to fly from Hamilton's Mt Hope in Ontario, Canada and were owned by the Canadian Warplane Heritage........I had forgotten about the fire in which we lost the Spit and Hurri, now I'm not sure of their situation with the remaining birds......I used to take in the airshow there, back a few yrs ago.....the best way to see the show was to park in a farmers yard then walk 1/4 mile through his field to wind up about half a mile from the threshold of the active.......in line too, if you were daring enough.....I almost forgot, there was an addition one year.........wanna eat your hearts out now ?

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I've nerver seen a two seat P-40 before, but a number of Warbirds have been converted over the years to take an extra seat. A very large number of P-51's flying today have had a second seat fitted.

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

I think we've heard your "Hurricane - Saviour of the Civilised World" speach before, Woody. 

Seriously, I think it is the easiest plane to fly, I think it out turns the Spit actually. As far as your comment goes about the level of armament: I was reading a page on the net a few weeks ago which did a very (it claimed the first) definitive study of WWII Aircraft armaments, the different calibres, the types of projectile and they came up with the fairest way to judge the level of armament. By the weight of lead delivered over a period of time.

In this study, I saw it was amazing the weight of ammo that could be thrown at another plane in a second or ten seconds (of course they had to hit). I don't recall exactly, but the Hurricane featured high on the "effectiveness" list with it's 8 x 303 version. I'll try to find the page. 

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Ahh but people need to know this stuff don't they! The more I write it the more will see it and the more people will realise where the world would be if it was never invented.

As for planes with fire power. The Hurricane MkIIB must be high up there with its 12 .303 mgs. Also the Typhoon, Tempest, P47, Mosquito. The FW190 must be up there too...

I would like to see the findings.