Me again, Im building ICM's ix spitfire for a friend of mine, now the kit gives markings for Johnnie Johnsons plane, which is a favourite of my friend.Now the kit gives two variants,Ive read all my books on spits but cant find a picture of his plane,what I need to know is what airscoops did it have and did he carry rockets, or bombs. Question No 2 bit vague this one, Im trying to trace the pilot of a spit which had nose art dipicting a man made of string with top hat & cane, I think he was polish but Im not 100% on that, has anyone seen this plane or know anything about it. Heres hoping.

Hi John,

If you have kit number 48061, then JE-J is on the box top. If the 'airscoop' you refer to is the carburettor intake under the nose, then I only know of one type fitted to the MkIX, the one on the box art. So far as I know Johnnie Johnson was a fighter wing leader so I doubt if he'd have flown fighter-bomber missions although later in the war it certainly couldn't be discounted.

Ah ha!

Easy check - if you're doing Johnnie Johnson's Spit IX and it has invasion stripes and JE-J coding, most likely it'll have the Vokes Aero Vee carb intake - long, wide and streamlined, but not big-chinned like the big Vokes on tropicalised Mk. V's.

If you're looking at using the smaller carb scoop, then you'll need to do a Google image search for Johnnie Johnson. I do know there's a pic out there of Johnson with JE-J (no invasion striping), disc and maple leaf insignia below the starboard windscreen, and the serial EN398. That particular Spit IX has the small carb scoop and the 45-degree elevator hinge line along with a hemispherical rear-view mirror, antenna mast with NO aerial wire and NO IFF wires, and full-span wingtips (not extended-span). The IFF aerial is a rod mounted just a few scale inches ahead of the lower starboard aileron hinge line.

Given that this is probably an F.IX, no bomb racks on this beauty.

The small Mk. IX carb scoop is NOT like the Mk. I/Mk. II/Mk. V carb scoop. It's deeper, wider and shorter with a distinct cheese-wedge aspect to it. Ultracast makes such a scoop for the ICM Mk. IX in resin, and it's a drop-fit replacement for the scoop and lower nose of the kit.





Hope this helps