July 2014: Supermarine Spitfire F. 24 – 19 photos

 

Each photograph is offered at a 300dpi res/13x8cm size making them available for a very good quality digital print, but also for Iphone/IPad, smartphone or computer screen (but should convert the image into a jpeg format for doing so)

This photo album is extracted from the publication Allied Wings 18The Supermarine Spitfire F.24. (click the link)

pdf, Epub and Kindle versions are available in this site: 978-2918590-33-0

 

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 01: Spitfire F. 24 VN309/W2-D taken in flight off Hong Kong.

 

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 02: No. 80 Squadrons’s Spitfire F. 24s at Kai Tak airfield with the mountainous terrain around the colony. This photo was taken in November 1949. W2-B is still using the pre-1947 roundels.

 

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 03: Spitfire F. 24 VN318 was issued to 80 Sqn and shipped out to the Far East. It was later handed over to the HKAAF in 1952.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 04: An unidentified Spitfire F. 24 seen at Set kong. Only the two letters of the serial (PK) are visible, the rest being overpainted by what it is sometime called, the ‘Korean bands’.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 05: Spitfire F. 24 VN318 was among the aircraft which were used by 80 Sqn in the Far East.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 06: Upon arrival in Hong Kong harbour, No. 80 Sqn Spitfires F.24s were craned from the carrier HMS Ocean on to a lighter transfer ahsore.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 07: Spitrfire F. 24 VN314/W2-W being disembarked from HMS Ocean.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 08: Spitfire F. 24 VN311 seen at Lübeck in Germany in 1948.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 09: Spitfire F. 24 VN311/W2-C seen at Lübeck (Germany) in 1948.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 10: View of a line-up of Spitfire F. 24s at Cosford waiting for their final fate – be scrapped!

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 11: Spitfire F. 24 VN318 seen while being on display in England, just before being issued to No. 80 Sqn in February 1948.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 12:  Spitfire F. 24 VN328 in June 1953 at Hatfield. VN325 was never issued to any unit.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 13: Some of the eight Spitfire F. 24s of the RHKAAF. They remained in service until 1955.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 14: Spitfire F. 24 PK719 of the RHKAAF taxiing.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 15: Spitfire F. 24 PK683, a gate guardian at RAF Changi. It subsequently returned to the UK.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 16: Spitfire F. 24 VN484/W2-H taken in flight in 1949 with basic markings painted on. Note the absence of the badge on the fin, rather unusual for a 80 Squadron’s F.24.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 17: Photo of poor quality but seeing some Spitfire F. 24s flying in formation is rare. This photo highlights the various markings the F.24s had worn while in service in Hong Kong, with a mixture of roundels – pre and post 1947 -, lack of camouflage for an handful of aircraft and even the squadron’s codes are not painted in the same order! . Note the spinner, either painted partially in red (for W2-D in the front), either in blue for all the other four. Silver finish seems to have appeared by the end of its service life in the Far East.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 18: Spitfire F. 24 VN492/N of the HKAAF seen on 03.10.53 after it swung while landing at Sek Kong and went off the runway. The port wheel struck a drainage ditch, the starboard undercarriage was damaged and the aircraft tipped up on its nose. The pilot, P/O Rufus Heard escaped injuries.

 

Photo Spitfire 24 – 19: Spitfire F.24 VN318/W2-E, No. 80 Squadron, Kong Kong