Aeroplane Heaven Spitfire Mk.I

[Ferry_vO]

From their Facebook page:

DUNKIRK SPITFIRE
In May 1940, F/O Peter Cazenove was flying Spitfire Mk1 P9374 over the beaches of Dunkirk, as the British Expeditionary Force made its desperate escape from German occupied France. Flying his first combat mission, Cazenove's Spitfire was hit by a single bullet from a Dornier bomber.
Forced to find somewhere to land, Cazenove guided the stricken Spitfire down to the Dunkirk beach and crash-landed on the waterlogged sands. Taken Prisoner, Cazenove was destined... for imprisonment in Stalag Luft III , Made famous for "The Great Escape".


His Spitfire was left to sink into the wet sands of Dunkirk and remained there, intact until 40 years later when portions of the aircraft re-emerging from the sand alerted locals to its presence. P9374, after all those years was still amazingly intact.
American billionaire Thomas Kaplan purchsed the remains and had the machine restored to its current condition - perhaps the most authentic restoration of a Spitfire ever undertaken.
Once more gracing the skies over the English Channel, P9374 joins the growing ranks of Battle of Britain veterans returning to flying condition.
Sadly Peter Cazenove died before seeing his Spitfire returned to its former glory.


We are delighted to announce our tribute to this Spitfire and all Battle of Britain Spitfires with this all-new model.
We have had a Spitfire in our inventory for nearly 17 years now so this new development is very fitting both as a tribute to the Battle of Britain veterans (September 15 is Battle of Britain Day) and of course in time to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force in April 2018.
This, without a doubt, is our most faithfully authentic rendition of a Spitfire with enormous amounts of minute detail, meticulously researched and accurate features and is beautifully rendered using all the latest 3D modeling and graphics techniques.including PBR workflow for incredibly realistic textures.


We will continue posting updates on this important release so watch this space! You're going to love this one!

[wombat666]

For me a 'must have' as my very first payware purchase was the JF/AH Spitfire box set, about A$25 at Harvey Norman back in 2005 IIRC.
Been known to still fly the collection in my GW3 installation.
Nice catch Ferry.

And a little FYI footnote, one of my IOM 'heroes' (Guy Martin) was involved in the restoration.

[Daube]

Seriously ?
The Spitfire Mk.1a is already available by A2A with or without Accusim... What's the point of doing another one ?
P3Dv4 compatibility would be the only advantage (A2A's Spit is not P3Dv4 compatible right now), but it's just temporary.

[magoo]

Seriously ?
The Spitfire Mk.1a is already available by A2A with or without Accusim... What's the point of doing another one ?
P3Dv4 compatibility would be the only advantage (A2A's Spit is not P3Dv4 compatible right now), but it's just temporary.

I think it's sort of like a multitude of artists covering a well known song. Each will give it their own stylistic spin, and that's certainly part of the attraction. Individual variations on a theme.

Judging by the images above, this model will have tremendous integrity in shape, detail, and ambiance. Perhaps one could interpret a degree of museum archival effect.

Why not?

We've come to a time and place where such great art can be had on the desktop in our own homes. For those who are creating a collection of,"one each...", there may be limited appeal.

But for those who are more interested in an author's statement, this Spitfire rendering should be well received. Certainly, there's room for it.

Looks to me like a labour of love.

[hairyspin]

What an interesting idea, updating their product range with a new Lady. You can never have too many Spitfires. I fear the rivet counters will be dusting off the magnifying glasses, but this is the price of modelling Supermarine's best loved creation. More power to their polys!

[MDIvey]

Looks great. Look forward to it.

Matt

[blanston12]

Seriously ?
The Spitfire Mk.1a is already available by A2A with or without Accusim... What's the point of doing another one ?
P3Dv4 compatibility would be the only advantage (A2A's Spit is not P3Dv4 compatible right now), but it's just temporary.

If you take that logic there was no reason for A2A to do it in the first place as JF/AH already had done the Mk1, a little competition between model makers is a good thing and we all benefit with many aircraft to choose from.

I have the BOB edition spit package and like it, looking forward to the improvements in this new package.

[Dangerous Beans]

I think a Mk V would have been a better choice, after all thats the important one thats missing from FSX.

[Ferry_vO]

When A2A released their Spitfire I read complaints that people wanted one but without the Accusim parts...

[Bjoern]

Been waiting for ages for an opportunity to post this:





What's going to set this one apart from all the other Spits on the market (except for P3Dv4 compatibility)?

[hairyspin]

Now then Bjoern, Mitchell is reputed to have said Spitfire "was just the sort of bloody silly name they would choose" – so much for cinema reality.

[blanston12]

I think a Mk V would have been a better choice, after all thats the important one thats missing from FSX.

https://www.justflight.com/product/s...ends-of-flight

[Daube]

If you take that logic there was no reason for A2A to do it in the first place as JF/AH already had done the Mk1, a little competition between model makers is a good thing and we all benefit with many aircraft to choose from.

I have the BOB edition spit package and like it, looking forward to the improvements in this new package.

I understand your remark, but at least when A2A made the Accusim Spitfire, it was a much better model than the old AH/JF Spitfire with much more realism and features.
What would that new AH model bring, exactly ?
AH should have modeled another version of the Spitfire, one that wasn't already made by A2A or RealAir. This would have been a nice addition to the market.

[Daube]

When A2A released their Spitfire I read complaints that people wanted one but without the Accusim parts...

Hmm you might be confusing with another plane.
The A2A Wop3 Spitfire was available without Accusim. Accusim was an optional extension package, for those who wanted realism.

[bazzar]

Seriously ?
What's the point of doing another one ?

Because we can.

[Snurdley]

I fear the rivet counters will be dusting off the magnifying glasses

What a tired phrase that is. So people shouldn't offer constructive criticism because you don't care if it's accurate or not? I don't think anyone actually counts rivets (funny), but some people do know the difference between a good or bad model, or erroneous markings. It does matter, at least to payware. If I see that a dev hasn't bothered to verify the accuracy of markings and model, I won't buy it. Especially in this day and age of so much contemporary material on the web.

My comments don't apply to this Spit however. It looks excellent, and I might have to buy yet another one...

[bazzar]

I can assure you the rivets have been counted on this one. They had to be because much of them are actually modeled in.

[warchild]

What a tired phrase that is. So people shouldn't offer constructive criticism because you don't care if it's accurate or not? I don't think anyone actually counts rivets (funny), but some people do know the difference between a good or bad model, or erroneous markings. It does matter, at least to payware. If I see that a dev hasn't bothered to verify the accuracy of markings and model, I won't buy it. Especially in this day and age of so much contemporary material on the web.

My comments don't apply to this Spit however. It looks excellent, and I might have to buy yet another one...

owning the incredible tome oh the spitfires i can tell you that "rivets" are one of the main wys of telling spitfires apart from each other. Access panels change, wing shape, etc, and rivets are about the only way to know for sure..

[Moses03]

Because we can.

Hehe.

[Willy]

Because we can.

And that's all I need to know. You know I'm always up for a new Spitfire. I was going to make a comment about too darn many Mustangs out there, but I'll behave myself.

[Bomber_12th]

I really like the looks of this development! With what is available on the market, we could always use a more accurate external model especially.

One thing, though...

This aircraft has nothing to do with the Battle of Britain, it was only a Battle of France veteran. It was shot down/ditched on the beach in France a couple months before the Battle of Britain began, therefore there should be no Battle of Britain reference to this particular aircraft. The aircraft was restored to being, in exact detail, to how it was at the time it was shot down during the Battle of France (the earliest of Spitfire forms restored/flying), which may be only accurate to some Battle of Britain-era Spitfires.

Since earlier this year, Spitfire P9374 (depicted) is now based at/flying in the US, operating out of the Brookhaven Airport in New York, registered as N92SQ. The new/current owner is Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder fortune.

Wombat666, the Spitfire Mk.1 you're thinking of is N3200, which was also owned by Thomas Kaplan and restored to the exact same standard as P9374 (it too having ditched on a beach during the Battle of France). Guy Martin showed up a few times during its multi-year restoration in order to produce the film about it. N3200 was donated to the IWM Duxford, which continues to keep the aircraft flying/operating out of Duxford Aerodrome.

I look forward to hopefully seeing the accurate anodized-finish on the main instrument panel section, as reproduced to original spec on the restoration(s) - P9374 and N3200 - and the gaping hole/missing flap gauge in the instrument panel since they weren't fitted on these aircraft.

[warchild]

And that's all I need to know. You know I'm always up for a new Spitfire. I was going to make a comment about too darn many Mustangs out there, but I'll behave myself.

Willy?? Theres too darn many mustangs out there..
Pam..

[warchild]

Was Delta558 the flight model designer on this one??

[Jafo]

There can NEVER be too many Spitfires....

...in FSX....
OR in reality.

There has never been a more perfect/beautiful airframe...nor will there ever be one...

[blanston12]

And that's all I need to know. You know I'm always up for a new Spitfire. I was going to make a comment about too darn many Mustangs out there, but I'll behave myself.

Agree with that.

A true artist does not produce work because it will sell, they do it because they have to!