Spitfire III

[tomo pauk]

I guess that the Mk.III warrants the own thread, indeed there is no need to clog the Me 309 thread with a discussion about the unrelated type.

??

The wings were radically different - clipped and the plan even included boundary layer bypass radiators which were in principle like the 109F.

It was a massive redesign, in terms of design hours, ONLY the Mk 1 and Mk 21 absorbed more hours that the Mk III redesign (which absorbed double the design hours that Supermarine expended on the entire IX project)

Below from the official Vickers Supermarine Spitfire company development file.

Due in part to Dowdings complaints there were versions mooted without the clipping, which possibly explains the confusion here.
There are photos of MkIII`s which "look" like Mk 1/2 but they were never intended to be that way during design.

(I`ll go away now, I`m ruining Dan`s 309 thread...)

View attachment 717362

Wings were the clipped wings of the Mk I/II. It is noted as such in the report that can be found on the pg. 128 of the "Spitfire, the history" book by Morgan & Shacklady. The 1st Mk.III was once the N3297, taken from the line at Woolston and then modified into the Mk.III. Wings have had the 3.5ft section removed fro the tip, total wing area now being 220 sq ft. Longer and heavier engine 'necessitates slight reinforcements of the fuselage and modifications to the engine mountings and cowlings'.
W. Freeman was pushing for modifying 200 of Mk.Is, taken from the production line, into the Mk.III standard in April of 1940.
N3297 was retrofitted with 'normal' wings after Downding's request.
Second Mk.III prototype (W3237) was also once upon a time the Mk.I.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Some additional info here

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-2

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-3

 

[Justo Miranda]

Pos-4