Great! I'm glad to see others enjoying Masterpiece Theatre's "Piece Of
Cake" (RAF slang for "easy" for those who missed the show).
I can't tell you how much The Battle Of Britain fascinates me (because of
national pride, mostly) and that particular era of the aeroplane (note:
REAL pilots say "aeroplane" and not airplane, and ESPECIALLY not 'plane!!).
As previously noted by Roland and Jim, this show is about a squadron of RAF
Fighter Command from Summer of 1939 upto the early days of The Battle Of
Britain. So guess who is glued to the tv set :-) As Roland also noted,
its no coincidence that this year is the 50th Anniversary of this famous
battle.
Jim writes:
> Another interesting factor, so said the review, is that
> military historians have criticized the series in that the Hawker Hurricain
> should have been used, since the Spitfire didn't become operational until
> 1940 and this starts in 1939 (I think, or certainly before 1940). Still,
> said the review, that can be excused because there are probably only 2
> Hurricains still flying in the world and the Spitfire is prettier anyway.
Those "military historians" are talking a load of codswallop...
(Not your fault, Jim)
The Supermarine Spitfire first flew in March 1936. By August 1938 it
first entered into service with No. 19 Squadron Fighter Command, Duxford.
When Britain declared war on Germany on 3rd September, 1939, 187 Spitfires
were already in service with 12 squadrons.
Actually there were very few of either Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes still
flying until recently. Two may be just about right. I didn't think there
were that many more Spits still operational. So I was surprised to see 12
available for the show (good observation if you only noted 6, this is more
likely). (For the story, the squadron had 12 Spits. Very few squadrons had
more.)
Aren't they truly beautiful? The flying scenes have me in total awe,
my lower jaw draped at its nadir :-) There is nothing like a Spitfire
in flight. The "hunchback" Hurricane is not as pretty as the Spit, but
the RAF pilots are staunch defenders of it. It is also a beautiful
aeroplane in its own right. Very reliable and able to take a lot of
punishment (from dogfighting). By 3rd September, 1939, there were 18
squadrons of RAF Fighter Command with Hurris.
Richard Welty writes:
> there were more than ten marks of spitfire, and they were in use into
> the 50s in the Fleet Air Arm (which the RAF provides to the Royal Navy),
> as i recall.
There were at least 24 different marks that I know of. Adaptions of the
Mark I and other earlier versions for Fleet Air Arm use were dubbed Seafires.
Actual production of Spitfires ceased in February 1948. Spitfires remained
in first-line use with the RAF until April 1954.
Sorry if this discussion digresses from the normal British car theme, but
I couldn't resist in adding my "tuppence" (two pennies) worth to the banter.
But Roland is right. There should be a few excellent examples of 1930's
vintage British cars in the show. It may be worth checking out. Even if
you don't follow the story, I PROMISE that you will love those beautiful
Spitfires.
Peeling off now...
TALLY HO, CHAPS!
Garry Archer ("Wizard Show, Old Boy")
PS: Gotta get that RAF slang down pat, eh wot?
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