The stock Spitfire Vb and Vc does not have any ordinance or drop tanks (my apologies in advance if I'm wrong on this!) This is somewhat of a historical innacuracy, not to mention a big drag for those of us who like to fly in the Mediterranean! In particular, some of us would like to recreate the Sicilian and Italian air battles of 1943 - of which bomb-carrying Spitfire V's played a large role. Perhaps one of the most famous Spitfire missions was the flight to Malta itself which could only be accomplished by launching drop-tank equipped Mk V's off of RN and USN carriers.
As you can see, the Spit V used the same slipper tanks that we have in the game. So I'd be happy with those. But if you wanted to get creative, I do know that some Malta Spitfire V's had jury-rigged setup of twin Hurricane tanks mounted under the fuselage - but I can't find a handy pic. Also, there were some other designs as well.
On a Mk ix:
And now for the bit that I'm really looking forward to: bombs! According to Wikipedia:
The first Spitfire modified to carry bombs was a Malta based VC, EP201, which was able to carry one 250 lb (110 kg) bomb under each wing. In a note to the Air Ministry Air Vice Marshal Keith Park wrote "[w]e designed the bomb gear so that there was no loss of performance when the bombs were dropped. Unlike the Hurricane bomb gear our Spitfire throws away all external fittings with the exception of a steel rib which protrudes less than one inch from the wing.*"
*Morgan, Eric B and Edward Shacklady. Spitfire: The History.
Here's some reading from the excellent Malta War Diary site to whet your interest - newspaper articles from the time:
http://maltagc70.wordpress.com/category/1942/november-1942/MALTA’S FIGHTER BOMBERS KEEP AXIS AIRCRAFT ON THE GROUND
Having suffered for many months at the hands of Messerschmitt fighter bombers, Malta has turned the tables on the Axis with its own Spitfire Bomber force. Brought into use for the first time at the beginning of this month, the Island’s fighter bombers have carried out many attacks on the southern Italian aerodromes, flying a total of 54 successful sorties in which they dropped 13 tons of bombs.
Main targets for the Spitfire Bombers are Comiso and Gela aerodromes. Although many German and Italian fighters are still based in south east Sicily, they have shown a surprising reluctance to engage Malta’s fighter bombers. On the few occasions when enemy fighters have been encountered the close escort of Spitfires has had no difficulty in driving them off. Their busiest day so far was Wednesday 25 November, when Spitfire Bombers flew 19 sorties.
Today saw 13 sorties: the first this morning was by 185 Squadron. Four fighter bombers with four Spitfire fighters as close escort were despatched to bomb Comiso aerodrome. Four explosions were observed to the rear of the main buildings east of the aerodrome. On the way out, the second pair of Spitfire bombers was attacked from below by a Macchi 200. Strikes hit Sgt Gunstone in Red 3, who fired three bursts in return, seeing strikes along the Italian’s fuselage and can claim one Macchi 200 damaged. 17 more Spitfires, nine of which were carrying bombs, attacked Comiso in two waves: one Macchi 200 was damaged.
And here's another excellent recollection entitled "Spitbomber" by Flight Lieutenant William “Bill” McRae (although McRae flew Mk ix's iover Europe with the RCAF):
http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/405/language/en-CA/Spitbomber.aspxI think that the Mk IX ordinance models could be transferred over - with the exception of the 1x500lb plus 2x250lb bomb configuration. So far as I can tell the Spit V only carried a maximum of payload of 500lbs. I don't see why the adjustments to the FM wouldn't be identical - but at the moment I have no data to prove this.
The early Spit V bomb racks were a bit different however. The appeared somewhat "chunkier" in construction. Here's what i could find on the web.
A model:
I'm not sure if these are specific to the V or to later marks.
Like I said, I'd settle for the refined Mk ix hardware. But I do think the early bomb rack is more interesting.
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Topic: Spitfire V. bombs and drop tanks (Read 5022 times)
