FlyPast – August 2018

76 FLYPAST August 2018

TWO- S E ATE R S

This market would be much

better served if a two-seater could

be offered.

New-build and refurbished

Spitfires would meet the needs of

re-established air arms only in the

short term. A two-seat demonstrator

was vital – brochures just would

not do.

SINGULAR MK.VIII

Despite a large stock of Mk.IXs

being available – representing the

greatest pool of used airframes from

which to generate a conversion

programme – Vickers opted for

1944-built Mk.VIII MT818 that

had served in development flying

from High Post, Wiltshire, and at

Farnborough, Hampshire. Acquired

in early 1946, MT818 was moved

to Chilbolton, also in Hampshire,

for conversion into the Type 502

Spitfire Tr.VIII.

This was not an easy

transformation; considerable

re-engineering was involved.

The original cockpit was moved

forward 13½in (34.2cm) so that

the instructor’s ‘office’ could be

installed and maintain the centre of

gravity. To achieve this, the forward

fuel tank was decreased in size and

wing cells introduced to keep the

endurance up to the levels that

meaningful training sessions

would require.

Although cramped, the rear

cockpit had a full set of controls

and all the basic instrumentation.

Crowned by an impressive blown

Perspex hood, the instructor’s

position was above the line of the

front cockpit, providing a glimpse

of the pupil’s behaviour and a better

view forward.

This ‘above and behind’ layout

was to be widely adopted by jet

trainers from the late 1950s and

later by turboprop types. The

present-day BAE Systems Hawk is a

classic example.

With the ‘B Condition’ (or ‘trade-

plate’) markings N32, the two-seater

prototype made its first flight on

September 9, 1946. It had been

entered on the UK civil register as

G-AIDN 18 days previously.

THE ‘GRACE HOOD’

When he was restoring former Irish Tr.9 162 (RAF ML407) at St Merryn
in Cornwall, Nick Grace devised a low-profi le rear canopy with a

linking Perspex ‘tunnel’. This was a perfect compromise of form
versus practicality. It provided the rear-seater with a reasonable

view of the front cockpit and outside, while generally safeguarding
the thoroughbred lines of the Spitfi re.

Nick took the Tr.9, civil registered as G-LFIX, aloft on April 16, 1985.
The canopy modifi cation has been adopted by other two-seaters and

is often known as the ‘Grace inline canopy conversion’ or
‘Grace hood’. http://www.ml407.co.uk

Supermarine Spitfi re Tr.9 ML407 fl ying from its current base at Sywell,
Northamptonshire, in April 2017. DARREN HARBAR

“The passenger was shoe-horned into the space also

occupied by auxiliaries, engine bearers and the lower

fuel tank, in front of the firewall and immediately

behind the cockpit bulkhead”

To p

Rudimentary two-seat

conversion of Mk.V ES127

at Catania, Sicily, in 1944.

PETER GREEN COLLECTION

Right

With an air racing number

on its fi n, G-AIDN at

Baginton, Coventry, in

August 1962. ROY BONSER