Spitfire Question

[Riderocket]

Why is it that the Bodenplatte Expansion which was after Normandy and D-Day has the Spitfire Mk.IX and the Latter has the Spitfire Mk.XIV, when the XIV was produced and used after the IX.

 

Or am I mistaken? Someone please explain.

[ShamrockOneFive]

25 minutes ago, Riderocket said:

Why is it that the Bodenplatte Expansion which was after Normandy and D-Day has the Spitfire Mk.IX and the Latter has the Spitfire Mk.XIV, when the XIV was produced and used after the IX.

 

Or am I mistaken? Someone please explain.

 

It all depends on "which version" of which and also developer priorities. The majority of the RAF 2nd TAF's fighter force on the continent was made up of Spitfire Mark IX models. Most of them were clipped wing Mark IXe and most of them were involved with a lot of tactical operations. Slinging bombs (and rockets in one squadron) and getting into fights with the remains of the Luftwaffe.

 

The Mark IXe that we have is a late series with a number of refinements including the taller and larger tail section and the Merlin 66 with optional 150 grade fuel. There's a lot of differences between this one and the 1942 Mark IX introduced with a rounded tail, Merlin 61/63 etc.

 

The Spitfire XIV that we're getting I'm willing to bet will be the "early" version that came into force in the early months of 1944 fighting the last parts of the channel war before moving to V-1 duties before ultimately being assigned to the continent and the 2nd TAF. But only after the V-1 threat was reduced.

 

It made sense to include the IX in Bodenplatte and to some extent, introducing the XIV now offers a nice range of aircraft. Really the two aircraft sets are kind of interrelated and so I can see years in the future when the two titles are on sale it'll make sense to introduce new players to the "western front experience" by buying both at 50% off or something like that.

Edited April 27, 2020 by ShamrockOneFive

[Talon_]

The IX was used as a bomb truck by 2TAF so devs had two choices to give the RAF both A2A and A2G mission types:

 

Tempest + Spit IX

Typhoon + Spit XIV

 

With the jets and late war Axis rocketships it makes more sense to include the Tempest that was known for shooting them down I guess - the XIV was in service from the start of 1944 so fits Normandy's timeline just fine.

[Riderocket]

Thanks guys for clearing that up

[Talisman]

7th March 1944 Spitfire Mk XIV combat with FW 190's.

 

The web page below provides a link to the actual historical combat report and below is a typed extract from the report.

 

http://www.spitfireperformance.com/spit14v109.html

 

Combat Reports

610 Squadron's Intelligence Officer recorded on 7 March, 1944 what may be the Spitfire XIV's first aerial combat:

     Black section, (P/O Hussey and F/Sgt. Harding) were patrolling on an east west line about 20 miles south east of Start Point 500 feet above sea level, under the control of Kingswear C.H.L. Station.
     At approx 17.30 hours the Section was told to investigate unidentified aircraft 15 miles ahead, on a vector 120 degrees. After two minutes this vector was changed to 150 degress (At this time Black one was using only plus 12 lbs boost with his jet tank still on, and the A.S.I. was clocking about 350 miles per hour.) The section was now outside G.C.I. cover, but after about a minute 3 F.W. 190's appeared from 9 o'clock approx 200 feet below, flying in a fairly close vic on a rough vector of 240 degrees; visibility was bad owing to haze, and the section had hardly seen the E/A before they had passed underneath to 3 o'clock.
     Black Section immediately pulled round to the right, and it seemed that the E/A saw them at the same moment, for as our section turned on their tails, black smoke was seen pouring from their engines as they pushed everything forward and dived to sea level. The F.W. 190 on the left of the section turned south, and the other two turned away and disappeared into the haze and glare of the sun. Our section gave chase to the single F.W. 190 which at this time, was about 800 yards ahead, right on the deck. We closed without difficulty but when 400 yards away, Black 1 noticed a F.W. 190 making a quarter attack on him from between 4 and 5 o'clock, so gave the order to "break right". As he pulled up he saw the E/A fireing at him with insufficient deflection, and it appeared that the turning circle of the Spitfire XIV was better than that of the F.W. 190. Black 1, at 1,000 feet, was now in the haze and lost sight of the F.W. 190 and his No. 2.
     Black 2, who was on the left of Black 1, saw the F.W. 190 break off his attack on Black 1, and dive south west to sea level, so he rolled down to the left and got on to the tail of the F.W. 190 at a distance of about 800 yards (The F.W. 190 that our section had been chasing originally, had disappeared by this time)
     At first Black 2, did not close on the F.W. 190 as fast as he would have liked (probably due to the excitement, he forgot to jettison his tank with Black 1 at the commencement of the first chase. The addition of the jet tank would probably take off 30 miles per hour.) Another F.W. 190 now appeared ahead at about 11 o'clock, and joined formation on the left of the aircraft that Black 2 was chasing.
     Black 2 now found that he was closing in quite fast, around 400 I.A.S. and opened fire on the left hand F.W. 190 from dead astern at 300 yards he saw strikes on both wing roots and panels flew off the port mainplane as he closed to about 100 yards. Not until the strikes were observed did the other E/A take any action. Even then he did nothing for some time, then pulled straight up and round to the left, and tried to get on the tail of Black 2. Black 2 took a final squirt at his target whose only evasive action was pitching slightly up and down, before he broke into the other E/A which was trying to get on his tail (although clocking 360 m.p.h. the turning circle of the Spitfire seemed superior to that of the F.W. 190) The F.W. 190 fired at Black 2 but allowed insufficient deflection then broke off his attack and disappeared into the mist. The E/A was not seen again. ⁶⁰ 

^{Click on the number 60 underlined in blue at the end of the above text to see original combat report.}

Some historical combat reports:

610 Squadron Spitfire Mk XIV upgraded to 150 Octane fuel on 15 July 44 and here they are over France Holland and Germany August/September 1944:

http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.o...41-26aug44.jpg
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.o...RB-1sept44.jpg

These XIV Squadrons were also over France:

http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.o...ep-30Aug44.jpg
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.o...B-11Sept44.jpg
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.o...B-11Sept44.jpg
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.o...1-12Sept44.jpg
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.o...p-17Sept44.jpg

Happy landings,

 

56RAF_Talisman

Edited April 28, 2020 by 56RAF_Talisman

[Bernard_IV]

I just need a little extra speed out of the Spitfire for multiplayer.  

[FTC_ChilliBalls]

IMO it would be interesting to have Merlin 61 and 63 Spit Mk IXs in the game, so we could have channel duels with earlier G series 109s or FW 190 As.

AFAIK the only discernible difference in the engines were lower manifold pressures, which should be rather easy to implement for the devs.

 

What I believe would warrant a bit more research would be any airframe changes, such as the switch from the C type wing to the E type and changes to the vertical stabiliser.

[41Sqn_Skipper]

6 hours ago, So_ein_Feuerball said:

IMO it would be interesting to have Merlin 61 and 63 Spit Mk IXs in the game, so we could have channel duels with earlier G series 109s or FW 190 As.

AFAIK the only discernible difference in the engines were lower manifold pressures, which should be rather easy to implement for the devs.

 

What I believe would warrant a bit more research would be any airframe changes, such as the switch from the C type wing to the E type and changes to the vertical stabiliser.

 

Different carburator and some small changes in engine cowling. Manual control for auto rich/auto weak mixture. Would buy it for regular collector price