AndyB Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I'm trying to sort out my own confusion with regards to the aircraft flown by George Unwin during a short period in BoB. X4179 was transferred in to 19 squadron as part of the job lot swap from the early Mk1b cannon armed spits to 8 gun Mk 1a, on the 13th Sept 1940 I believe, and all reports and quite a few illustrations show Unwin fling as QV-H on 15th Sept in serial X4179. Unfortunately I've also seen some photo evidence of a Spitfire purporting to be X4179 (definitely seems to be 417* anyway), which was flown by a Francis Brinsden a little later in the month, but the codes are only partially visible but the starboard letter certainly isn't an H, but appears to be QV-B. Now, as X4179 was shipped out to another squadron at the end of Sept, I'm a little puzzled. Was X4179 QV-H and flown by Unwin on the 15th, then QV-B and flown by Brinsden on the 23rd/25th? Or was Unwin's QV-H not actually X4179, in which case there are an awful lot of incorrect illustrations and artworks out there? Or was the QV-B 417 something else? Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Brooks Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Fred Roberts, who was Unwin's armourer, says, in "Duxford to Karachi," that X4179 was a replacement for P9546 (also QV-H,) which was damaged, beyond local repair, on September 11th. He maintains that X4179 was QV-H, as was the short-lived cannon-armed Mk.I R6776. I can't help with Brinsden's mount, only a look in the ORB could clear that up (maybe, because not all books were meticulously kept, especially in 1940.) Edgar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Thanks Edgar, I was hoping you might be on forum with a reply. As the final digit on the photos of QV-B is obscured by wing it could certainly be something else, and as I doubt very much that I have spotted something that has been missed after all these years I'm going to go with 4179 as QV-H. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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