Hi all
with your help we established that the R.A.F. in the mediterranean theatre, had stopped using the I.F.F. system with the antennae running to the tailplane by the summer of 1943.
Would the navy have done the same?
I am building a F.A.A. Seafire of the same period and am lothe to start drilling holes if they won't be needed!
My late father was a F.A.A. pilot and his opinion of the R.A.F. and particularly inter service cooperation is probably best not printed here,hence the doubt.
Thanks in advance
Steve

I've looked through "The Seafire," by David Brown, and can't find a single photo, with I.F.F. wires, but there's one (at least) of a Seafire IB ready to take off from Furious, in Summer, 1943, and there's a bar aerial visible under the starboard wing.
The old-style I.F.F. system (with the tailplane aerials) had A.R.I.5000, as its designation, with the master switch, and explosive operating controls, given the designation R.3002. However the photos of the Seafire cockpit, in the Spitfire V manual, have the master/explosive switches given the designation R.3108. All of this tends to make me think that the Seafires did have the newer I.F.F., as soon as it became available. Sorry I can't be more precise, but the wartime secrecy really makes it difficult, at times, to find things out.
Edgar

Thanks very much for that. I too couldn't find any photos of Seafires with the antennae wires(in my limited references) but I was worried that they might not always show up!
I shall bow to your expertise and not fit them. Frankly a relief as it always takes me ages to get the damned things right anyway.
Cheers
Steve