In article , Peter Stickney
writes

I'm back, but an ahem, "flying visit" Trade Show season for us is
coming up, and I've just shaken off a 48 hour attack of the 24 Hour
Ebola...

In article ,
Guy Alcala writes:
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised wrote:

On Sat, 13 Sep 2003 19:58:15 GMT, Guy Alcala
wrote:

Okay, I've got Price's "The Spitfire Story," which is very helpful. Here's
what Wing Commander Tuttle, former head of the PRU, told Price about the
handling of the hand-modified PR.1Ds (normal 84 gallons forward, 114 gallons
in the wing L.E., 29 gallons behind the pilot, plus two cameras further back
(but no radio):

"You could not fly it straight and level for the first half hour or hour
after
takeoff. Until you had emptied the rear tank, the aircraft hunted the whole
time. The center of gravity was so far back you couldn't control it. It
was
the sort of thing that would never have got in during peacetime, but war is
another matter."

What may be barely acceptable for a PR bird flying solo in VFR conditions by
experienced pilots not making any radical maneuvers, is definitely
unacceptable for formation or combat flying by less experienced pilots.

I've managed to latch onto a few Spitfire Pilot's Notes.
Specifically, the Mk V/Seafire II/III, the Mk XII, the Mk XIV, and the
Seafire Fr. 46. (No Mk IX yet, dangit!) I'll gove more exact quotes
tomorrow, but I'll sum up a bit here, as appropriate.

Is it just the MkIX fuel data you need?

From Pilot's Notes 3rd Edition Sept '46

Two tanks, a top and a bottom, forward of the cockpit.

Top tank - 48 galls
Bottom tank - 37 galls (on some aircraft 47 galls, generally those with
a 'rear view' fuselage).

Later MkIX aircraft have additional capacity in the form of two tanks
behind the canopy. These have a combined capacity of 75 gallons (66 in
aircraft with 'rear view' fuselages) but these are only to be used at
the discretion of the appropriate Area Commander for certain operations,
and when not in use the cocks should be wired off. These are never to
be used in aircraft with rear view fuselages.

(Personal comment - when building an aircraft with a rear view fuselage,
why install the tanks that are forbidden to be used? Unless a batch of
rear view aircraft were produced before the use of the aft tanks was
proved to be dangerous...)

An auxiliary blister drop tank of 30, 45, or 90 galls can be fitted
under the fuselage (170 galls on the PRXI variant). These feed the
engine directly and do not replenish the main tanks. Main tanks are
pressurised, so if holed, pressurisation should be turned off.

Hope this is what you were after - I have not been following this thread
closely.

The Spit FR. XIV is listed as having a 31 imp. gallon tank behind the
cockpit, and 2 13 imp. gallon tanks in the wing leading edges. Note that
this is only for the FR. XIV (Fighter/Recce), not the F. XIV (Pure
Fighter) or the P.R. XIV (Pure Recce). It's also worth noting that
the date of publication is early 1946, and at that time, the rear
fuselage tank is noted as "Blanked off and not to be used unless
specifically ordered by hte Operational Commander, and only for
special operations. In the Handling Section, it is noted that teh use
of the rear fuselage tank reduces stability, and the aircraft should
not be flown above 15,000' until it is empty. (That's not really a
problem with a Griffon Spit) The recommended fuel burn sequence it to
take off on the main tanks, switch to the rear tank at 2,000', and
when that's empty, (signified by the engine quitting) switching back
to the drop tank, if fitted, or the main tanks and transferring the
wing tank fuel as soon as possible.

Biiig snip of rest

Cheers,

Dave

--
Dave Eadsforth