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Spitfire X4179 QV-H or QV-B?


AndyB

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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,

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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

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Thanks Edgar, I was hoping you might be on forum with a reply. :speak_cool:

 

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

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