Personally I prefer anything MkXVI and up.  I always liked the bubble canopy better.  I would hand the title of most beautiful WWII fighter to Spitfire, even over the Mustang.  Which is yours and why?

For me it has to be the MkXIV. All Spits are fantastic, but those big Griffon engine types just look the part with that huge great five blade prop and awesome looking cowl bumps. The MkXIV really looks like it could "get the job done" and I think the growl of the Griffon sounds just great.
I am swayed a bit however by the fact that I grew up near Rolls Royce at Hucknall in Notts and we saw their MkXIV all the time when I was younger. Now they have a PR XIX and that still flies over here once in a while.

Ozzy, have you ever actually flown in a Spitfire?  If yes, then what and when and how?

Last weekend I stood with one hand on a F4U Corsair and one hand on the only flying F2G-D Super Corsair in the world.  I was in heaven!  And me without a camera!    All in all, the museum also had:

a TBM Avenger,
a Sea Fury,
a Mustang,
a P-19,
a Beech Staggerwing,
a DC-3
a 1/2 scale F/W 190
a F-86 Sabre Jet

ALL IN FLYING CONDITION!!!   Needless to say, I was in heaven...

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"Sigh of a Merlin" ....  He would place a cup of water on the "dash" (for lack of a better word) and when rolling the Lanc, the cup would probably lift an inch or so, then settle back ... without loss of liquid ... another time, also scared a mech who was standing behind him - he lifted up an inch or so and settled back ...

Having said that the late Mark Hanna in MH434 was a display to be seen...

Charlie

True, no one has voted for the IX...

Probably be no. 2 on my list...

Charlie

The MkIX is my number 2 choice. Lovely plane. And Roger I have to agree the clipped wing ones look good, and handle great at low altitude. The oddest looking Spit was the high-altitude interceptor MkVII with its pointed rather than eliptical wings.

Mark

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This & other common variations like different wing setups could be changed "in the field" & often was. I believe this makes it extremely difficult to track down the exact designation of some Spitfires.

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The one variant Alex Henshaw never flew. He was too busy at the time to take up the offer & lost his opportunity to try it out.

As for oddest looking, how about the slip-wing version Felix mentioned? I've seen it on a Hurricane but never on a Spit.

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Some pilots considered the MkVIII to be the nicest of all Spits to fly also. It had a fully retractable tail wheel and I think this added to it's looks and I understand about 5 mph in top speed.
Most MkVIII's served outside the UK, many in Italy and in the Pacific theater.
As for the "E" wing with two .50's replacing the 4 .30 cals, I can't say I've come across this loadout being fitted to the MkVIII as most had the "C" wing with 2x 20mm and 4 x .30 cal. Many MkIX's/XVI's and XIV's had "E" wings so I imagine it would have found its way onto the MkVIII but I think it more likely that this was an in the field modification.

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Paul - admit it, it's easier to for you to say that there is just ONE mark of a Seafire that is not your favorite.  (and that one was banned from carrier duty and relegated to second-line service very quickly.

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Was reading up on it - it was one of the last marks before the "final" Seafire Mk47.  I think that the "black sheep" was Mk.35 Seafire?

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It could have been the 45 - I think it had problems with too much power in the Griffon engine until the 47 got it "right".

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Rechecked my source - it was the F. XV with the Griffon engine.  Prohibited from embarked flying in mid-1946.  The 45 wasn't that much better.

Mk XXII - I actually prefer the Mk XXI but that's not there
Mk V a close second, with the Mk XVI in third.

Thanx. Carl

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With the "straight" canopy and the two bladed wooden prop, right?

I've never been crazy about the Spitfire as the fuselage has always been rather lacking.  But the Tropical MkV version has always put the finishing look on a technically great aircraft.

Now to get in a anti-marmalade bunker...

From a GAMING point of view, I prefer the Spit V.  From a LOOKS point of view, the Mk.22 is my favorite.

my favorite is probably the Mk.XIVe.
hopefully I'll get to see some soon, because sometime this I'm going to get my my parents to take me Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH, it's only a few hours from here.  it's also the sight of the only XB-70 Valkyrie and the space shuttle Enterprise, among other things.

Spitfire GT6+ - biggest engine factory-fit into the Spitfire.

CHECK THIS OUT

http://www.warbirdalley.com/fly.htm

As for me...the MK IX is my fav. My granfather flew them and I love them. I have a great Occidental model I did in Johnny Johnson's markings..........
now if I could only figure out how to post pics......

So Tempest, you should then know how mant times my occidental almost took a test flight across the room!!!!

I did a bit of modifying, and added a true details cockpit kit in which I put 53 hours into. It is the first time I have re-positioned flaps, ect. I am going to try to put it in.
Letss keep the fingers, (and rudders...hehehe) crossed.

Cheers Brent

wow, I can't believe the quality of the pics even after downsizing them!!

Well, here ya go. This Johny Johnson's personal MKIX. This is the one he flew while comanding my grandfather.
My Grandfather flew with JJ, Buzz Buerling, and Lorne Cameron.
It was a pain staking process as this is NOT a very good fitting kit. Alot of mods were needed to fulfill my taste. The spinner and prop blades were not accurate so I scratchbuilt them myself carving them out of plastic stock. The wheels were repoured and moulded with resin by me. The plane was airbrushed with acrylics, and weathered with oils. I had the decals custom made for me by a company out of Ottawa, Canada. Arrow Graphics. They did a great job. Not to mention I had some great reference material. On and Off it took almost 2 yrs to build. I have 30 some odd other models.....crying out to me so when I got frusterated...I switched up. This is the first time I have shown ANY public eyes so please be gentle with the expert critisicism...
Enjoy
Brent

Try putting around it.

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Sorry man, all I got in this was a box with an x in it? So I'm not sure what to put around it.

TEMPEST

Thank you for the compliments. Cockpits have always been my true sweat and blood. I will wire the instruments, I even use guitar string for my O2 hose.
I even have individual seatbelt mechanisms I will put in. But I was happy with the outcome. Johnny is one of the best. That would be a great tribute to him. The next one I am going to do is Hasagawa's MKVc. I want to do it in the colors and marking's of George "BUZZ" Buerling while he was known as the Falcon of Malta. He was a Canadian from Quebec and shot down 27 planes in 14 days in combat in Malta stationed at Takali.Finished the war with 31 1/3 kills, one of the top allied aces.  Actually was comanded by Johnny as well. Flew with my grandfather.

Anyone good with research photos he flew the MKVc, coded TZ BR135 Except for his book "HERO" awsome read for all you spit fans....... ...I can't find to many pics of it. Even my grandfather doesn't have any.

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Use the same [img] brackets round it as for posting your images. You obviously figured that out. If I type the whole thing here it will show up just like Woody's example.

I modelled Screwball's MkVc(trop) as part of the YAS series. Check out YAS over at Avsim (codes T-L and T-N).

Just for reference this is a listing of the available YAS spitfires over at Avsim/ SimOuthouse:
File Name      Size                      Kb      Date
YAS_spitfires.zip                360      18-Aug-02
YAS_Mk8.zip                395      24-Sep-02
YAS_Mk8c.zip                690      15-Apr-03
YAS_Proto.zip            
YAS_MkIa.zip              7659      22-Jan-04
YAS_MkIa_fix.zip                639      30-Jan-04
YAS_MkIa_ Fix2_1.zip      460      18-Feb-04
YAS_MkIa(PR-F).zip               1852      02-Aug-04
YAS_MkIIa(PK-K).zip              1728      04-Aug-04
YAS_MKVb(t)(T-N).zip      7715      19-Apr-04
YAS_MkVb(t)(IRG).zip      6641      20-Apr-04
YAS_MkVb(UD-W).zip      4887      13-May-04
YAS_MkVb(AE-A).zip              5083      31-May-04
YAS_MkVb538.zip              1702      14-Nov-04
YAS_MkVc(ZP-X).zip              6282      17-Jun-04
YAS_Mk8ZPW.zip              1686      31-Oct-04
YAS_Mk9(Y2K).zip              1742      27-Oct-04
YAS_Mk9(AEB).zip              1656      28-Oct-04
YAS_Mk16.zip              2399      21-Dec-04
YAS_pack.zip              4949      02-Aug-04

Any/ all feedback always welcome.

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Certainly will not work in CFS3 as that has a totally new engine. I would doubt it will work in CFS1 but you could always try. Works just fine in 2K2 and FS9.

CFS3 has its own version however...

The screen shot of T-N look great!!

All the YAS models are FSDS2.24, so not designed for CFS1 or CFS3. I'm in the process of preparing a Tr9 version for FS2004. You'll be able to take your partner along any enjoy! There will be at least two versions, Dutch and Irish.

I've offered Ozzy a "special"!!!