Hi guys,

Can anyone tell me if it was standard practice to leave the canopy of a Spitfire Mk.I open during take off? I have seen photos of BoB Hurricanes taking off and in most cases the canopy was open.

Would it be the same practice in the Spitfire? Any help on this would be much appreciated.

A long time coming: in general it is safe to say most Spitfires had the canopy open during take-off.
For a start pilots had to lean out of the cockpit slightly and look out (normally) to port simply to have some idea of where to steer; the view directly forward was blocked by the long nose and pilots had to weave the aircraft from side to side while taxiing. During the take-off run it was safer to have the canopy slid back because that meant the cockpit door could be opened in an emergency: with the canopy closed the door could not be opened and, if the aircraft flipped onto its back, the pilot would be trapped.