Spitfire PR Mk XIX just touching down
Spitfire Mk XIX PM 631 owned by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight with flaps and undercarriage down just before touchdown at the Farnborough Airshow 2006 on Friday 21st July . It is Powered by the Rolls Royce Griffon 66 engine a more powerful replacement for the earlier Merlin engine powerplant which produced a sound reveered by veterans and enthusiasts worldwide. The pitch of the propellers on earlier spitfires actually rotated in the other direction . The wings of early spitfires were also more eliptical in shape and the prop had 3 blades not 5 which came in with the Mark XIV and more powerful Griffon engine . Discreet reconnaissance livery has a red central spot encircled by a dark blue annulus making it harder to spot from a distance while taking photographs . Built in November 1945 as a high altitude photo reconnaissance aircraft with a Griffon 66 engine and pressurised cockpit PM631 was too late to see operational service in WWII . Received by the RAF in 1946 and used by 203 Advanced Flying School in May 1949 and then modified and used for for meteorological work . On 11 July 1957 together with Spitfires PS853 and PS915 the aircraft helped form the Historic Aircraft Flight which later became the BBMF . PM631 has the BBMF s longest continuous flying service with 2006 being her 49 th year on display duties . PM631 is painted as an early PRXIX of 541 Squadron which performed high altitude reconnaissance missions over Europe from early 1944 to war end . Spitfire PRXIXs were unarmed and this version was the last made. Mark XIX max speed 446 miles per hour at 26000 feet altitude with climb of 15 minutes 30 seconds to reach 35000 ft and a ceiling of up to 42000 feet with the pressurised cockpit . Max range 1500 miles
Size: 5009px × 3339px
Location: Farnborough Airfield Hampshire England Great Britain United Kingdom GB UK
Photo credit: © Christopher Barnes - Aviation / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 9, 631, aircraft, airscrew, aviation, battle, britain, british, culture, descend, descending, descent, enthuse, exhibit, exhibition, flight, great, griffon, ho, kingdom, landing, livery, mark, memorial, military, mk, nostalgic, pm, pm631, pr, prop, propeller, reconnaissance, spitfire, striped, tally, touchdown, touching, tradition, united, ww2, wwii, xix
