Simviation Forum - Spitfire/Hurricane Pacific Theater

Dec 9^th, 2003 at 10:18pm

Flying Trucker Ex Member

There is lots of info on both these aircraft in the European Theater of Operations.
How did they compare to the Axis aircraft in the Pacific Theater of Operations? ex. the Zero
Did either aircraft operate off carriers in the Royal Navy in that theater?
Have been trying to find info for some time now and the European theater is all I can locate info for.
Much Thanks.....Doug

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Reply #1 - Dec 9^th, 2003 at 10:52pm

Felix/FFDS Offline
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Most Spitfire operations in the Pacific Theatre were flown by the Australians. Notably the Mk. VIII

No., 607 (RAF) first flew Mk Vs from 9/42 in India, and Mk VIIIs in 3/44.

Most notable RAAF Mk. VIII has to be the shark mouthed Spits of 457 Sqdn RAAA

Towards the end of the war, Mk XIVs were in Southeast Asia.

Seafires were embarked on carriers in the Pacific, and if memory serves me right, the last Allied kills of the Pacific war were scored over Tokyo Bay by Seafires...

Felix/FFDS

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Reply #2 - Dec 9^th, 2003 at 11:04pm

Flying Trucker Ex Member

Thanks Felix/FFDS
Sure would like to find some more info on these aircraft in the Pacific Theater than what I have located so far.

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Reply #3 - Dec 10^th, 2003 at 2:35am

Hagar Offline
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Doug. As Felix points out, the British/Commonwealth fleet did not get involved with the actual Pacific Theatre as you know it until after VE day. I'll try to find more details later but I doubt the Sea Hurricane would have been used. The FAA (Fleet Air Arm) operated a variety of types including the Seafire, Firefly & Corsair + the good old Swordfish. In fact I believe the FAA was the first to successfully operate the Corsair from a carrier. It was deemed too dangerous for carrier use before that & operated only from land.

RAF Spitfires, Hurricanes, Beaufighters & various other types operated throughout WWII in South East Asia Command (SEAC) from land bases in places like Burma, Malaya & India. They were always short on manpower & supplies & expected to use outdated equipment operating in the most hostile conditions imaginable. Very few people back home knew they were out there, even today. They call themselves the Forgotten Army. http://www.burmastar.org/

PS. The FAA Archive site gives details of the British Pacific Fleet (Task Force 57). http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Ships/BPF/Britishpacificfleethomepage.html
Unfortunately some of the links to other sites are dead.

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Reply #4 - Dec 10^th, 2003 at 2:42am

Professor Brensec Offline
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Quote:

Hailed by the press as the worlds best fighter once the media 'blackout' on its arrival in Australia was lifted by the Government, the general public was delighted to hear that the aircraft that 'won' the Battle of Britain (propaganda emphasised the Spitfire over the more numerous Hurricane) was now being used by the RAAF in the Pacific War. It is also true to say that the government and the RAAF itself had high expectations of this already famous fighter. Within 6 months of the Spitfires arrival and operational use in Australia its reputation was tarnished in the eyes of many; the worlds 'best fighter' was something of a disappointment.

http://www.pacificspitfires.com/history_darwin.htm

Here's a bit of light reading for you. I've got a few sites that I can recommend that will give you an idea of where, when and what concerning the RAAF and Spit's.

I'll post the others when I find my file. Wink

The above is an interesting, but small site about a specific part of the RAAF Op's in the Pacific. I think it mainly deals with the MkV, which, in defference to Felix's comments, I think was more numerous within the RAAF than the VIII (although I wouldn't bet money on it. Grin

)

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Reply #5 - Dec 10^th, 2003 at 2:54am

paulb Offline
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Hi Flying Trucker

Have you looked at the Osprey Aircraft of the Aces series?

Vol 16 on the Spitfire V had a few pages covering their FE operations.

Vol 5 Late Marque Spitfire Aces also covers this topic in a chapter.

Hope this helps.

Cheers Paul

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Reply #6 - Dec 10^th, 2003 at 3:09am

Professor Brensec Offline
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This would suggest that my friend Felix, is in fact correct. It equates that about 400 of 650 Spitfires where MkVIII's and 250 were MkV's.

Quote:

Spitfires began arriving in Australia from August 1942, the first of over 650 to be dismantled, crated and shipped over 12,000 miles from the UK to the 'other side of the world'. Only two Spitfire Marks were operated by the RAAF, the Mk V and VIII. Almost 250 Spitfires Mk Vc's, were delivered up until October 1943 when the first of the Mk VIII's arrived, considered by many to be the most aesthetically pleasing of all the Spitfire variants. RAAF Spitfires saw action with the RAAF in the Northern Territory, New Guinea, Moluccas Islands and Borneo.

To answer you initial question (or at least one of them, Trucker, printed evidence seems to suggest that the Spitfire had the same trouble with the Zero's manouevrability as all the other allied planes. Superior Japanese tactics, numbers and a distinct lack of new equipment and parts (all Spits sent to Australia were 'used'), made the job of the Australian based Squadrons very difficult (as you can see above, we didn't get any great number at all, and they were too little, too late).
Also the old problem of inexperienced pilots and the very harsh Australian conditions took a great toll.

Up till late 1942, our front line fighter was the Wirraway. It was, in fact, a North American Harvard Texan, used by the British and Americans as an advanced trainer since before the war!. But we made do, until we got the secaond hand Spitfires and some P40e's, which we managed to make do with until late 1944, when we decided to make our own P51's Grin

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Reply #7 - Dec 10^th, 2003 at 6:44am

Felix/FFDS Offline
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Quote:

Up till late 1942, our front line fighter was the Wirraway. It was, in fact, a North American Harvard Texan, used by the British and Americans as an advanced trainer since before the war!. But we made do, until we got the secaond hand Spitfires and some P40e's, which we managed to make do with until late 1944, when we decided to make our own P51's Grin

Harrumph - ONE Zeke killed by a Wirraway does not a fighter make ... the Boomerang, on the other hand (at its heart, a single seat Wirraway) was a true fighter...

Felix/FFDS

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Reply #8 - Dec 10^th, 2003 at 6:55am

Flying Trucker Ex Member

Thanks every-one for the quick replies.
Will check out those sites now.
It would seem a lot of information about us in the Pacific Theatre and Korea is still under wraps in this country.
Of course here we don't publish to much about our heroes or military.

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Reply #9 - Dec 10^th, 2003 at 10:47pm

Professor Brensec Offline
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Quote:

Harrumph - ONE Zeke killed by a Wirraway does not a fighter make ... the Boomerang, on the other hand (at its heart, a single seat Wirraway) was a true fighter...

No argument, mate. Grin

1 Zero (that's what we called all of them, whether they had floats or not), isn't the best record in the world, but as I said, we made do (until the "Tomorrowhawks" finally arrived). Wink

It was still our 'frontline fighter' at the time.

(Not a bad feat by our Mr Archer, with the same armament that the WWI fighters were using - i.e. 2 x Vickers .30 cal)

It was a pretty effective dive bomber. Not bad at all, in fact. Grin

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