DB605 powered Spitfire.
About this aircraft -
Built from a Spitfire Mk. Vb airframe captured in November 1942, this curious aircraft was used by Daimler Benz for comparative trials between the DB 605 German engine and the Rolls-Royce Merlin.
Spitfire Mk. Vb serial no. EN 830 originally belonged to No. 131 “County of Kent” Squadron RAF and was marked NX – X. On 18 November 1942, being flown by P/O Bernard Scheidhauer of the Free French Air Force, this aircraft was hit by flak on a Rhubarb mission over the coast of Normandy. Scheidhauer made a forced landing in a turnip field at Dielament Manor, Trinity, Jersey and was taken prisoner. His aircraft, with only minor damage, was transported to Germany, eventually being sent to Echterdingen, where Daimler-Benz operated a flight testing division.
The Spitfire airframe no. EN 830 was converted by removing the entire engine section, and then adopting a DB 605 unit from a Bf 110G twin-engine fighter. Fortunately, the engine unit of the German twin was very similar in cross-section at the firewall to the Spitfire. A new engine support was designed, and a standard DB 605A-1 engine Werknumber 00701990 was mounted to the firewall. A standard 3.0 m diameter VDM propeller from the Bf 109G was added, together with the carburetor scoop from the same fighter.
The entire conversion including connecting the engine’s systems with the rest of the aircraft proved rather difficult. The work was completed at the Sindelfingen Daimler-Benz factory, near Echterdingen, which provided the necessary expertise and tooling.
The aircraft, marked with the Luftwaffe radio-call markings CJ+ZY and painted yellow underneath to facilitate recognition by the flak crews, underwent a series of flight tests in Echterdingen and Rechlin. It was reportedly very easy to fly, and one of the German pilots described it as “a dream of an aeroplane”, superior in handling to the Merlin-powered original. More importantly, the tests showed that the aircraft was markedly easier to handle on the ground and in the air than the Bf 109G.
Later, EN 830 was destroyed on 14 August 1944 in an American bombing raid.
the kit
Ready for surgery
success!
One fix done.
That huge resin engine had no spinning prop, and I hate fixed props
drilled through the resin engine front for the prop shaft, drilled out the spinner, and made up a brass sleeve that fits into the
engine hole, the length was necessary because the casting inside the engine isn't flat but angled.
The brass rod fixed to the larger plastic plug goes into the hollow sleeve which will be glued flush into the engine, the smaller plastic plug holds the rod inside the tube, this way I can build the kit and fix the completed spinner assembly later, there is a handy jig to give you the correct blade angle.
will look like this, and spins nice.
it will be a better fit when all glued as it's just dry fitted so shows an angled gap atm.
made the plugs from those scrap bits of spru frame, they drill out nice and make excellent prop holder-inners or ''donuts''.
more later, pit construction next.
Fri May 16, 2014 5:18 pm
sanded it down after a not that good repair, at least it now sits flush instead of sticking up like a pop up camper wagon extension!.
