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Spitfire down in France, film, pilot ok


TonyT

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Guest Clunkmeister

Not a good ending for the Spitty. The spar looks broken. It'll be years to get her back the air. The pilot is OK though, which is good news in those kind of wrecks.

Low speed accidents look benign, but it's easy for a pilot to break his neck when a 6000 lb airplane lands on your head.

Glad there was no fire, too.

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It's good to see the pilot is OK, but whatever the cause, he'll be cursing himself for wrecking the plane.  He was sensible enough to wait for help before extricating himself.  If ever you find yourself dangling upside down hanging by your seatbelt, you need to be careful how you undo it as you can break your neck just popping it then dropping on your head.  Flipping a Spitfire happened occasionally during the war, which is why they took off and landed with the canopy open as much as possible.  In the Spitfire, you have the door cut into the fuselage which you could open if you ended up on the planes back, and crawl out that way.  There's an account of this in Al Deere's book "Nine Lives" as he flipped his plane when a bomb exploded underneath it just after take off during the Battle of Britain.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

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So, it was the torque that got away from him? His elevators were full up, so, I don't see how the tail could rise from an aerodynamic standpoint-  :shrug:

With a tail dragger and that much power at t/o setting if you blow a tyre or have a stuck brake it will dig and torque will do all the rest... he was a little late in throttling back... just glad to see they got him out... I hope she will be rebuilt!

Cheers

Alan

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Griffon Spits were/are renowned for being a handful on take off, mainly because of the vicious torque and the narrow landing gear. Im sure many young pilots were lost in similar accidents or swing on take off.

 

As has been said, thankfully it didnt catch fire and the pilot is ok- the Spit certainly isnt...

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Guest Clunkmeister

A few years ago someone died in an accident like that. Not a Spit. Maybe a Sea Fury? The aircraft flipped over due to a locked brake or something and the pilot suffocated due to the angle of his head. They weren't able to lift the tail to help him. Sad.

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