AEROPLANE JULY 2018 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 77(^) It was just a
casual remark: ‘What
we want for a nice
summer evening like
this is a Spitfi re or
something’
sole fl ying two-seat Spitfi re, John
Fairey’s MkVIII Trainer G-AIDN.
What was the most potent aircraft
he’d fl own before that? “Oh, you’re
looking at something like a Proctor.
Nothing of that character.”
The take-off from Stansted went
well, and — after carrying out some
general handling work in the local
area — Tim duly landed his Spitfi re
at Elstree. It was registered G-ASJV
to him on 3 July. “There were a few
little problems”, he adds. “I didn’t
really understand what boost was,
and its relationship to rpm. We
rapidly sorted that out, and found
what the aeroplane and the engine
were comfortable with. For cruising
we usually used +4 [boost] and 2,000
[rpm].
“I had a BOAC navigation
instructor who took me on evening
classes for my ATPL [airline
transport pilot’s licence]. I took a
series of fi gures at various altitudes
and speeds and power settings, and he
made up a performance chart. With
the two-stage supercharger it had, the
optimum height
for the aeroplane
was [fl ight level]
270 to 290. It
was happiest
there — best for
fuel consumption,
best for speed.
That was all very
interesting.
“It had oxygen
in it, so there was
no restriction on what height I could
go to. It was quite interesting to take
it up to 35,000ft for the fi rst time.
The handling is quite different when
you get up there because of what’s
known as the Reynolds number —
your indicated air speed is dropping,
but your true air speed is rising. The
controls get a bit more fl oppy, and as
you’re getting faster you’re swerving
all over the sky unless you treat it
very delicately. Then, of course, the
cold is a bit of a problem, because it
used to get to -50 to -55°, and that
cold will drill through everything. I
managed to get myself some sort of
electrically heated submariner’s suit
and electrically heated gloves, for
which I could use the plugs in the
cockpit. I couldn’t stay up there for
long, though, because even with the
radiator fl aps open the oil pressure
would start to drop.
“I put one of the fi rst transponders
in it, and we got it so it had full IFR
radio kit, so I could go in airways if
I wanted to. Mind you, it did raise
a few questions from ATC. ‘What’s
your type?’ ‘Spitfi re’. ‘Say again’.
‘Spitfi re’. Complete silence...
“I went down the Tottenham
Court Road to a radio shop that had
all sorts of surplus stuff, and they
had some Spitfi re gun cameras. We
installed those, with one camera on
the starboard wing going down the
cannon tube and another one on the
port wing angled downwards. The
gun button was there, and we adapted
that so the wiring went out to the two
cameras. I had to sit in my darkened
shed at Elstree, changing the fi lm
in complete blackness and getting it
onto spools. It was quite fun, actually.”
Did Tim have any particular ideas
about what to do with the aeroplane,
except fl ying it for fun? “Not really.
Of course, it was great for aerobatics.
My home was in Devon and I had
great friends in Yorkshire, so it was
very handy for seeing them: Elstree to
Leeds in 30 minutes.”
He was well aware of the airframe’s
wartime history, though, thanks to
his friendship with historian Graham
Trant. Through researches at the
then Public
Record Offi ce
and elsewhere,
Trant uncovered
MH434’s
background with
No 222 (Natal)
Squadron, during
which time South
African-born
Flt Lt Henry
Lardner-Burke
scored two-and-a-half kills in the
fi ghter. “I sent Graham up to the Isle
of Man with a case of Scotch”, says
Tim. “He arrived at Lardner-Burke’s
door, and he got the full story.”
Other than that, G-ASJV’s livery
remained largely the same as it had
latterly worn with COGEA. “I asked
if we could put the aeroplane into
RAF markings, and they said, ‘No, of
course you can’t’. It didn’t bother me
too much, so we just developed the
COGEA colour scheme a bit”. The
British civil air ensign was added to
the tail, and a small version of No 222
Squadron’s emblem applied below the
canopy on both fuselage sides.
When Tim acquired it, the
Spitfi re had clipped wings, but it
soon reverted to the elliptical shape.
“I thought not only would it look
nicer and probably handle better, but
it would improve the stalling speed
a little bit. ‘Tubby’ Simpson knew
of a gate guardian where they were
prepared to swap wingtips and came
back with two tips under his arm.
We screwed them on.”
Tim brings the Spitfi re
in close below the
cameraship. RICHARD T. RIDING
On short fi nals to Elstree. The Hertfordshire
airfi eld was not the biggest, but more than
adequate for the Spitfi re. RICHARD T. RIDING
Flight planning mid-sixties-style,
in Tim’s Elstree shed. RICHARD T. RIDING
74-80_AM_AeroMeets_July18_cc C.indd 77 04/06/2018 12:28