Why do spitfires have targets on them

One or two would normally be enough to fatally damage an aircraft. He says that in one early encounter in , one RAF pilot returned from a mission with five gaping holes in his fuselage from German cannon shells; the pilot had had no idea he had been hit.

Not all Hurricane pilots would be so lucky, however. Though nimble at low altitudes, the Hurricane was more sluggish at greater heights; German fighter pilots were more aggressively trained and adept at attacking from behind, flying with the Sun at their back.

It was almost impossible to spot a small fighter in such a position. A mix of design defects and pilot habits created one particularly gruesome problem with Hurricanes. The doped fuselage and wooden frame could catch fire quite easily. Fuel would flow from damaged tanks in the wings to an empty space under the cockpit, but a bigger problem was the main fuel tank which sat directly in front of the cockpit.

Another factor compounded this. Some of the more experienced pilots at the start of the Battle of Britain had originally flown biplane fighters in the s and tended to fly with the canopy open. Also, early Hurricanes had a problem with carbon monoxide fumes leaking into the cockpit, so an open canopy meant they could take their oxygen mask off it was an incredibly uncomfortable thing to have on your face for the whole mission.

The open canopy, the unarmoured fuel tank in front of the cockpit, the tendency for Hurricane pilots to fly with an unfastened mask, all combined with agonising, disfiguring effect. The severity of these burns cases was a huge challenge for doctors. McIndoe used experimental techniques — pioneering plastic surgery — on pilots with severe burns.

He discovered saline water treatment helped burned skin heal more quickly after noticing shot down pilots who had been rescued from the English Channel tended to recover quicker than those who went down over land.

McIndoe became aware some of his patients might need years of medical treatment, and realised treating the mental effects was as vital as the physical. The pilots were able to wear normal civilian clothes or their uniforms while they were recovering and were encouraged to leave the hospital grounds when they wanted. The people of East Grinstead were asked to invite the pilots into their homes and ignore their injuries. The club held yearly reunions in East Grinstead until , more than six decades after the end of the war.

Some of the club members lived to see their th birthdays. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is famous for the graceful Spitfire which leads it from the front. But next to it is always Hawker Hurricanes. The Hurricanes made an outsized contribution to the battle itself.

More than half of the nearly 1, German aircraft shot down were by Hurricanes, but its impact has tended to fade into the background compared to the more graceful Spitfire.

The Germans would always say they had been shot down by a Spitfire rather than a Hurricane. The Battle of Britain prevented Germany from invading and occupying Great Britain, eventually meaning that Europe could be liberated. They helped prevent the vital Mediterranean island of Malta from being invaded.

In the deserts of North Africa they served as ground attack aircraft, being much better suited to the rough conditions than the more fragile Spitfires. In the heat of action this could be mistaken for the Iron Cross on German aircraft. As the French were using a roundel insignia, going blue, white, red from the centre, it was decided in a spirit of co-operation to adopt the same pattern but reverse the colours. This was also taken up by the Belgians, Russians, Italians and Americans, using their national colours.

But post-war the Americans changed to a blue circle with a white star over it with a red circle in the middle of the star. During the Second World War the RAF either removed the white circle from the roundels, on the upper part of the wing, or reduced it to a thin line dividing the red and white, on the fuselage and under the wings. The only exception to this was in the Far East. Since then it appears to be if aircraft are bright and shiny then the insignia are red, white and blue, otherwise on camouflaged aircraft it's red on blue.

Danny Farquhar, Thurso, Scotland It's a cunning plan to avoid being shot down because if you aim AT the roundels then you will miss. The secret is to aim in front of the roundels. However, when operational, and in hostile environments, the white band is dropped so that the insignia becomes merely a heavily toned down? From a distance, this resembled the black and white crosses used on German aircraft, leading to friendly fire from British infantry.

The insignia was changed to the roundel on the logical grounds that it's better to only get shot at by the enemy. Almost every movement has a symbol which its members can wear as a badge of honour.

For the Mods, this icon was undoubtedly the target. During the First World War, the French aviation authority faced a problem with French troops shooting down their own aircraft. Manage consent. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website.

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