Found this image and wondered what was going on. I know this is a posed publicity photo but why has everything,including the tyres,been sprayed with some yellow/green colour?
Any ideas?
Steve
http://www.life.com/image/3242275/in-gallery/24872

Firstly its not a Spitfire! The undercarriage folds inward. The Spit had a narrow track undercarriage, folding outwards. My guess is that the rig is used for training.

Hi Robert,
some kind of training rig would make sense. I still don't get the overspray though! Maybe they also practiced bad spraying as well!
I did know it wasn't really a Spit (hence the quotation marks) but thought it might be some other type.
Cheers
Steve

Maybe it's a Hurricane? the fuel tanks are in the right place for a hurricane.

no idea why they have zinc chromate sprayed all over it so poorly - maybe to keep the instructional frame from corroding?

looks sort of like and asembly line though, but obviously the woman is working from a ridiculous angle so it is posed - and i doubt there would be a step to tighten a bolt in the wheel at that point in the assembly line anyway.

Could it be factory priming of bare metal was that haphazard?

If its the photo with the woman I would assume that it is zinc chromate primer.

It is the one with the woman and "primer". I've just noticed that they have posed her holding a screwdriver and ,I think, a pair of mole grips. Bodge,bodge,bodge! The engineers will be wincing! So would my old metalwork teacher.
Cheers
Steve

I reckon it's a training rig. Definitely not a Spit as has already been stated, and I don't reckon it's anything by Hawker as the undercarriage doesn't look right for his designs either - no trailing arm as seen in this photo:



I thought British aircraft were painted 'interior green' rather than zinc chromate under the skin?

The Spiteful or type 371 was designed with inward folding undercarraige but it has the chassis and wheels in line with each other so it doesn't look like that.

Nige

As modelers we try to get exact paint matches, and do good jobs. Even when we weather we try to make precise lines, etc. Its not necessarily like that in the real world. If you look at many modern military vehicles you will see overspray on tires, etc. The more time is of the essence, the more you see this. It is much more important to put the equipment in the field than to worry about overspray. My guess is this photo was taken at either a training facility, or more likely a repair facility. The pressure during the war was intense and my guess was this was simply a hurry up job. Overspray of primer on the landing gear and the tires? Who cares, its not going to hurt anything.

I think there's a strong chance that it's a Typhoon. The main undercarriage retracted at an angle and the main fuel tank was mounted behind it, with a matching angle to its front end. Also the wing looks very thick, which the Typhoon's was (notoriously!).

Whether it's a training rig or a real Typhoon being manufactured is anyone's guess, but either way, I'd guess it's a posed shot. The wheels have already been attached so why fiddle with them? It's reminiscent of publicity shots for jet engines - you have this fifteen-foot-long monster of a thing that takes hundreds of specialised tools to assemble, and is amazingly delicate considering how big it is, and some bloke is poking it at random with a screwdriver. I think they do it to show scale, or something.

It's a Hawker Hurricane, not sure which model, but its a Hurricane.

Looking at a cutaway drawing in The Worlds Great Fighter Aircraft by Green & Swanborough I believe pigsty has it correct for all the reasons he stated. In additionthe undercarriage leg looks to be a Typhoon not a Hurricane.

I'm sorry tigermothtimoth, but I still have to go with it being a Hurricane, there is just no resemblance to the Typhoon that I can see, but then again my eye sight is starting to fail me!
Here's another picture I got from militaryaircraft.de from the same angle as the original one her in the post.

I'd also say it was a training rig of some sort, and these could have ended up being painted any colour at all I imagine.
As for the aircraft type, my moneys on a Hurricane. This is the back cover of Peter Vashers book about the recovery and restoration of Hurricane R4118.


I've posted it on its side to make comparing the two photographs easier.

You can see the metal cover over the "trailing arm" on the "Life" photo.
Nige

It's a Hurri not a Spitfire nor a Typhoon . The picture on the life site is labeled wrong .
Legs retract the wrong way for it to be a Spitfire . The wheel wells on the Typhoon are more on the square side where these are are rounded more . Notice how the legs are set at an angle . Also on the Typhoon the under carriage legs are farther spaced then what is depicted in the photo . So I will put my money on Nigels answer ..........

So a man say's , how do you know these things ? well I said , I know things about legs !

The reasons I said it was a Typhoon were (i) the fully retracted legs aren't lying parallel to the spar - they do on the Hurricane but not on the Typhoon; and (ii) the fuel tank on a Hurricane is rectangular, whereas the tank on the rig shown above has an angled front end - again, as the Typhoon's does. The legs in the photo that Lampie has added appear to be at an angle but that's because they aren't fully retracted; they're slightly hanging out of the wells.

But I'm absolutely no expert.

Hi Sean , I didn't notice that the legs are hanging in the position on which they are in the pic .

Yeah the fuel tanks are very mis-leading and throw me off . Can one speculate that in the time of war when supplies where short they used what was on hand modifying them to fit else where ? I'm no expert either but thanks for letting me share my views on this .

I'm no expert either
The photo looked to be quite a good match to me, so thats why I included it.
Nige

No worries at all Nigel , the pic is a great match to the subject matter and it's great to have others share their views as well . I find this to be an interesting topic while learning new things on a subject . It has got me thinking and I do have books on the hurri on disc but they are pack right now and I'm not sure if they have any aid in this anyway . A search on the net has turned up lots on info , but not what I'm looking for .........so far !

Hi there

I have to say, I think it's a Hurricane. It matches photos in Melvyn Hiscock's "Hurricane Inside & Out" (Crowood Press 2003). The Hurricane's leg does retract slightly rearwards so the wheel can clear the front spar, and you can see the covers for the radius rods (the rear arms of the Hurricane's undercarriage) in the photo - a Typhoon doesn't have these.

Interestingly, the photo is dated January 1940 and there's another assembly in a jig behind. What's going on, and why they are spraying what looks like yellow zinc chromate so crudely, I don't know.

All the best

Rowan

The red coloured fuel tanks have a shape which I don't believe would fit properly in the photo posted by Nigel. In the Life photo there is no place to fit the drag strut when the gear is up. On Nigel's photo that is the space that is at a 90 degree angle to the u/c leg and points toward the man's midsection. Also look at the size difference of the tires. I wish I could post the cutaways I located of the Hurricane and Typhoon because I believe they clearly show it to be a Typhoon. I would encourage others who may have access to cutaway drawings to compare them and weigh in on this. I think it's great we can have a discussion to attempt to clarify this, as trivial as it is. Finally, I now claim to be the least expert among the rest of the non experts.

Heres why I dont believe its a Typhoon.
Tiffie Line Drawing.


Note the position of the inner gear doors. Edge of the fusalage/wing join.



Heres an underside study of a Hurricane.


Compare how close together the wheels are to each other in this photo and the "Life" photo.
I'm sure the covers for the "struts/radius rods/rear part of the undercarriage" are visible in the "Life" photo as well.
The tires in the "vasher" photo are almost completely rotted away, that would explain the size difference.

Just saying what I see, and I'm going back under my rock now.

Nige

I was just looking for planes with the wheels that close together.
defiant is close enough together but has a bend in the u/c so it aint a defiant.
straight legged looks like a hurricane is best guess so far.

Possible. Firefly?

What about a Hawker Fury undercarraige?

Somebody has got to know.

All the best

Nige

After seeing the photo and drawing posted by Nigel, a cursory glance at my 1/72 Academy Tiffie convinced me of my folly. Damn, that would have been just too easy! Nigel, I think you mean Hawker Sea Fury . The space between it's wheels when folded seems about right and the fuel tank is a good match. I checked out it's progenitor the Tempest and it's gear is more like the Typhoon! These are differences between similar aircraft I would never have been aware of without this closer examination. I now believe it to be a Sea Fury, but wouldn't argue too strenuously against a Hurricane. May I also add , Aeroscale is a great website where the forum members are able to exchange views without the juvenile flaming and profanity on some. I'm no prude but that sort of thing quickly becomes tiresome. I'm still rather new here and feel a bit like I'm interrupting a conversation among old friends, so I hope none of my rambling comments are offensive to anyone! Hey, Nigel, a Hawker Fury has fixed landing gear.