WIX Archives

Re: Were spitfire airframes so delicate? (or expendable?)

Posted by Joe Scheil on Sun Oct 13, 2002 03:31:40 PM

In reply top Were spitfire airframes so delicate? (or expendable?) posted by Jagan on Sun Oct 13, 2002 07:34:24 AM

Jagan,

I believe that due to the nature of the Spitfire, and the sharing of many components between marks, that the wrecks were returned to Supermarine and remanufactured into newer Mark aircraft. The Mk V wings were used and probably reused on many different versions, for example. When a crashed aircraft came in it probably was dissasembled, assessed for damage, and its utility judged. If it was a new mark, it probably was rebuilt, but with major rebuild parts held in store. An older model would be dismantled, resparred or reworked to acceptable standard and then the parts would probably reenter the production line somewhere...I wonder how many they really made? Perhaps there will be some discussion on this.

JOE

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