Evenin' all

Would a Spitfire based in the Med in the second half of 1943 carry this equipment (with the wires running to the tailplane)?

I'm sure I read somewhere here that it was discontinued by then.

Sorry if I'm making someone repeat themself!

Cheers

Steve

Im pretty sure they would have been removed by then, but Im sure someone will clarify this.
Nige (Oslo)

Hi Steve,
It's a fair bet that they would have been removed, in favour of different equipment. The key is the head rest. If the aircraft has a head rest then it will likely have IFF wires to the tail, no head rest no wires. So you need to know if your particular aircraft had the head rest. don't rely on the kit. The headrests were removed following the drowning of a well respected leader (the name escapes me) after he ditched and his harness became snared on the head rest. The removal of the head rest coincided with the change of IFF equipment. Of course there will be some aircraft that do not conform to this as a means to clarify whether or not they were carried.
If you are not sure remove the head rest, if included in the kit, and leave off the IFF wires, I think that you will be more than likely correct.

Thanks for that - 1 headrest about to be removed!

Steve

IFF Mk I, with the wires from the fuselage to the tailplane tips, started being replaced by IFF Mk III in early 1943 for British based aircraft - Mediterranean based Spitfires followed a few months later. IFF Mk III used a short "whip" aerial under the outer, starboard wing. By the invasion of Italy in September 1943 most Spitfires would have been equipped with the new IFF, although that is no guarantee that there wouldn't have been exceptions! Hmmmm...darn it, I'll blow my own trumpet here...
http://www.spitfiresite.com/reference/variants-technology/2008/06/spitfire-masts-and-aerials.htm

I.F.F. (A.R.I.5000) had absolutely nothing to do with the headrest (which was deleted, as mod 662, from July 1942, during the Mk.V production run;) it was fitted in the top of the fuselage near the aerial. Since it was fitted with an explosive charge, I doubt that pilots would have been too keen to have it right behind the back of their heads!
I, too, always thought that I.F.F. wasn't used in the Med, but I was recently shown a photo of the Mk.V "X" as supplied in the new Special Hobby kit, after it was brought down, and you can see an Italian officer leaning on the wire. Also, in a book on 185 Squadron, the Squadron diarist drily remarks on how they discovered that it's possible to explode the I.F.F., while pushing a Hurricane into a hangar, on Malta. As well as the exploder pushbuttons, the I.F.F. had an impact-operated detonator switch.
Edgar