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Posted

My office is at the end of the Filton airport runway and we often have Spitfires flying in to be serviced by Rolls Royce.  I am pretty confident I can tell the sound of a Merlin engine.

A Spitfire flew over today but sounded nothing like a Merlin.  Were any other engines fitted to Spitfires or was this one just having an off day?

Posted

It would be a Griffon which is 37ltr so much bigger than a Merlin.

I suspect it is RR's own Spitfire as I know that is fitted with a Griffon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Griffon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki....riants)

Spitfire PR. XIX PS853. Located at Filton Airfield near Bristol. The aircraft is owned and operated by Rolls-Royce plc. PS853 was one of 79 Mk XIXs built at Supermarine, Southampton. On 13 January 1945 it was delivered to the Central Photographic Reconnaissance Unit at RAF Benson before being transferred, less than two months later, to the 2nd TAF's 34 Wing and 16 Squadron RAF at Melbroek, and later Eindhoven, in Holland. With the code 'C' it flew some nine operations against Germany V-weapons sites. In September 1945, PS853 was transferred to 268 Squadron RAF and with the end of the war returned to the UK and 29 MU at High Ercall. On 14 July 1957 PS853 was one of the founding aircraft of the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Flight (now Battle of Britain Memorial Flight) at RAF Biggin Hill. The aircraft was acquired by Rolls-Royce plc in the mid 1990s.

The Mk XIX was the last and most successful photographic reconnaissance variant of the Spitfire. It combined features of the Mk XI with the Griffon engine of the Mk XIV. After the first 25 (type 389s) were produced, later aircraft were also fitted with the pressurised cabin of the Mk X and the fuel capacity was increased to 256 gallons, three-and-a-half times that of the original Spitfire This version was the type 390.[36]

The first Mk XIXs entered service in May 1944, and, by the end of the war, the type had virtually replaced the earlier Mk XI. A total of 225 were built with production ceasing in early 1946, but they were used in front line RAF service until April 1954. In fact, the last time a Mk 19 was used to perform an operational sortie was in 1963 when one was used in battle trials against an English Electric Lightning to determine how best a Lightning should engage piston-engined aircraft. This information was needed in case RAF Lightnings might have to engage P-51 Mustangs in the Indonesian conflict of the time

Posted
...or Daimler-Benz DB 605A inverted Vee-12 engine swapped by the germans.
Posted
Thank you both.  :t-up:

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