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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0828.PDF
FLIGHT Forty-second of the Latest Recognition Series Aircraft Types and SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE IX POWERED by the Rolls-Royce Merlin LXI liquid-cooled, "V" type, 12-cylinder engine equipped withtwo-speed, two-stage supercharger, the Spitfire IX is the latest development of this famous British fighter to be publicly announced as in service with R.A.F. Fighter Command. Altogether there have been some 20 different versions of the Spitfire, including the Seafire for carrier operation, and tropical models, and they have been fitted with numer- ous versions of the Merlin engine of steadily increasing horse-power. Unfortunately it is still not permitted to give any precise information about the Spitfire IX, although there is good reason for supposing that the enemy now knows all there is to know about this aircraft and that the authorities are perfectly well aware of the fact. Yet not even its dimen- sions may be given, though quite accurate general arrange- ment drawings may be reproduced, as seen below. Distinctive features of the latest- "Spit" will be best appreciated if the accompanying illustrations are' studied alongside those of the Spitfire V which was published in this series on November 12th last. For example, it will be seen that the nose has been increased in length to accommodate the greater overall length of the Merlin LXI with its two-stage supercharger and intercooler. The exhaust outlets, it will be noticed, have also been modified and so has the windscreen (which has an increased rake) and the cockpit cover. From the head-on view, the most obvious of all differences between the two types is at once apparent, namely the presence on the Spitfire IX of two radiators.—one beneath each wing root—and a shallow auxiliary fuel tank under the centre-section. The wing plan has also been slightly modified and now has a less curved leading-edge, though this is not suffi- ciently marked to be at all easy to detect in flight even from a full plan view. Incidentally it may be mentioned that the small pro- jections in the leading-edge just outboard of the cannon mark the provision for mounting two more cannon. SMALL AND ROUNDED Up to the moment of going to press, no data of any kind on the Spitfire IX has been released for publication, the ban even extending to the dimensions.
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