Spitfire mk9 trainers

Having spent today at Eastbourne, and watched the display one thing got me wondering, were the convertions from mk9 to mk9 trainer done to some spitfires whilst still in RAF service? i know come conversions were done for the Irish air corps, so who did the work, and how many aircraft were modified ?

 

IIRC one or two conversions were done "in the field" at Squadron level but I could be talking complete ballcocks of course.

 

From Wikipedia
"Supermarine developed a two-seat variant known as the T Mk VIII to be used for training, but none were ordered, and only one example was ever constructed (identified as N32/G-AIDNby Supermarine).[130] In the absence of an official two-seater variant, a number of airframes were crudely converted in the field. These included a 4 Squadron SAAF Mk VB in North Africa, where a second seat was fitted instead of the upper fuel tank in front of the cockpit, although it was not a dual-control aircraft and is thought to have been used as the squadron "run-about".[131] The only unofficial two-seat conversions that were fitted with dual-controls were a small number of Russian lend/lease Mk IX aircraft. These were referred to as Mk IX UTI and differed from the Supermarine proposals by using an inline "greenhouse" style double canopy rather than the raised "bubble" type of the T Mk VIII."

 

Thread drift, of course, but I see that a two-seat Hurricane is now being built. is this a completely new concept?

 

Nope.
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/424453-two-seater-hurricane.html
http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/lendlease/hurricane2seat/2seat in service/2seathurricane.htm

 

Taking this off at a tangent, but keeping with Airshows, is it just me, but we had more varity on display back in the 1980's than now, Ray Hanna cutting the grass, that would never be allowed now, phantoms, lightings, canbera's harriers, all now gone, as impressive as the Typhoon is, its just one type,

 

Noisiest I ever experienced was Ramstein show in 1985. 4 x USAF F-4E and 4 x Luftwaffe F-4F doing a mass takeoff. Crowd line was quite close to the action and boy did it hurt the eardrums. The final Lightning show at Binbrook pushed it close though. Happy days

 

The RAF had such a wide range of aircraft back then. Phantoms, Lightnings, Hunters, Buccaneers, Jaguars, Harriers, Canberras, Tornados, Vulcans and Victors all in squadron service. Never a dull moment sat on the end of the runway of a wide range of RAF bases. Just the Tornado and Typhoon in front line service at the moment and there isn't a Torndao display this year.

 

it just shows how much has been lost plus we have the CAA who seem reluctant to allow fast jets onto the UK register, what would you give to see one of the SA Lightnings or the american sea harrier ,allowed to appear on the show circuit?
what is the problem with afterburners in the hands of people who know how to control them, ex military pilots for example ?

 

The new Lightning II has made its UK airshow debut this year, with the first British aircraft and I think a couple of USMC examples flown across from the USA.

The Typhoon isn't really a Harrier replacement, although ground attach capabilities are 'maturing. - SDSR 2010 decided he only needed 2 fast jet types nd the Typhoon and Tornado were selected.

Is the last of Tornado displays due to the difficulty having the 16 (I think) combat ready examples in Cyprus out of a nominal fleet of around 100?

Steven

 

I live very close to Boscombe Down, which used to have terrific collection of old types like the Argosy (whistling wheelbarrow), Jaguar , Buccaneer and BAC 1-11. Sadly, they've all gone, although there are one or incongruities still like an Alphajet and some Russian helicopters in recent times - think the Russkies may have gone now). Nowadays its mostly the ETPTS Bae 146 that we see.

 

It's not the afterburner (which the Harrier doesn't have anyway). If you don't understand why the CAA won't permit Lightnings on the civil register, I suggest you look in to the loss rate when in service with the RAF (or, indeed, what happened to the last one that crashed in SA - it was a 'classic' Lightning failure mode, made tragic by the bang seat failure). Even with the might of the RAF servicing them, the reliability was poor, with a lot of them parked in the North Sea after the pilot banged out (if they were lucky)...

 

A standing joke in the RAF at the time was "What's the easiest way to find a Lightning? Go to the bottom of the North Sea and walk five yards in any direction."
Interestingly the F2/F2A model suffered fewer losses than other marks.

 

Getting almost back on subject (Spitfires at least), had the pleasure of seeing one of the Mk1a Spitfires being chucked around over Duxford this afternoon while at the Thriplow recycling centre. Certainly makes the tip run less tedious when you get to admire a Spitfire doing it's stuff (and also makes your wife wonder why the trip took so long!).

 

Any idea which one?

 

The 2 seater from Sywell flys over my house nearly every day,my mates wife treated her self to a 60th birthday flight she said it was the best £2500 she has spent