• Fly with a Spitfire - "Can I arrange for a flight in a Spitfire?"

Labels: site updates, warbirds, webmaster

Labels: webmaster

Labels: webmaster

• A Truly Emotional Start-up is a video clip from the film "Perfect Lady", which covers full restoration story of ML407, a two-seater Sptifire TR MK. IX also known as the Grace Spitfire.
   
• The World's Worst Special Effects Movie? falls definitely into amateur category, but all the Airfix dogfighting in the backyard made me feel like I was back in the 1960s. Check it yourself.
   

Labels: modelling, site updates, warbirds, webmaster

"You are receiving this e-mail because one or more of your blogs at Blogger.com are set up to publish via FTP. We recently announced a planned shut-down of FTP support. (...) For that reason, we are announcing today that we will no longer support FTP publishing in Blogger after March 26, 2010. We realize that this will not necessarily be welcome news for some users, and we are committed to making the transition as seamless as possible..."

1. Having full control over layout and presentation of pages (no "Blogger bar", risk for unwanted ads etc.)
   
2. To ensure that my published pages and images are hosted at my site, so that I can be sure to retain them for many years - especially if something happened to Blogger in the future, or I choose myself to leave it.

Labels: webmaster

"The article, The Kenya Presentation Spitfires, triggered to me a latent point of attention with a low priority.

In the mid-sixties of the last century I started my professional career in Northern Nigeria.

Actually it was an alternative for National Service and with the blessings from the Dutch Ministery of Defence.

My experiences as a child during the war on the Continent kept me well-balanced during the Biafra war episode which started soon after our arrival but that's another story.

I had been posted in the town of Maiduguri, the Provincial Capital of the Bornu Province. The British Colonial Government had been far-sighted in West Africa and had left intact the existing "Native Authorities" after their arrival which kept the country, composed of many rival tribes, steady during the process of pacification. Subsequently progress went on well, up to and beyond Independency, untill the night when the military forces took over abruptly.

I do remember that I was invited once to visit the "palace" - largely made of mud - of the Head of the Native Authority which was an Emir but in view of tribal history and customs was called "Shehu". He was then 50 years on seat.

We, mostly ex-pats, had been gathered in a room in semi-darkness and waiting for the Shehu to see us and accept our sincere congratulations including a "couple of laffia's".

On the wall I discovered a black-and-white picture, neatly framed and not yet attacked by white ants, disclosing an early Spitfire, certainly not a Mk IX, with a description on the nacelle in white paint. I can't remember whether "BORNU" or "MAIDUGURI" had been an indication of the origin of the sponsor.

I have to confess that at such an ocassion your outfit doesn't include a camera, alas.

Can any of the readers confirm my observation or is able to disclose service details from this Spitfire or any other Spitfire donated from West Africa and Nigeria in particular.

Regards, Joop Thuring"

"Dear Editor,

This is from Hank Adlam. I have only just been shown a copy of your sensitive review of my book "On and Off the Flight Deck."

I am grateful, not only for a kind review, but for your grasping the essential point of my book that the great majority of us, so called fighter pilots,  were just ordinary blokes thrust by war into a very dangerous world.

Indeed, I originally entitled the book "Ordinary Naval Airman,"but the publishers wisely, I think now, made me change the title. But they tried in their publicity to portray me as a dashing sort of Errol Flynn character, and I would have none of it.

Incidentally, you should know (and you probably do) that fighter pilots dreaded ground straffing more than any other form of combat. This was true of those in WW1 as well as WW2. In the Pacific, our twice daily ground attacks on the Japanese-held airfields of the Sakashima Islands were horrific in casualty numbers and utterly dreaded. The Japs were waiting with guns pointing in our only direction of attack with fingers on triggers ... just waiting for us. 

Air combat with bombers etc was a piece of cake comparatively !

Also, as you would read from my first book, I hated the Seafire (Spitfire). Useless thing on a Carrier and killed so many young pilots. Useless thing except when flown from an airfield, then lovely just to fly. I cherish a deep loathing for the thing!

Never mind, all over now.

Hank

PS. My sequel auto-biography, "Life is a Yo-Yo," has just been launched by Arrowsmith Publishers. There is some aviation in it but not a lot. It reflects life in the thirties and the difficult post-war fifties. People say it is a damn good read."

Labels: history, reviews, webmaster

• In Product News & Reviews, I present Flying Legends' massive 1/4 scale radio-controlled Spitfire kit.
  
  
• In Art & Memorabilia, a reader from Holland is asking for help in resolving a Propeller mystery
  
  
• There is also a photo of a Spitfire memorial installed in a local pub in Northolt, which brings memories of the Polish airmen who served with the RAF.

Labels: history, reviews, webmaster

Labels: webmaster

• Firstly, I have made a change in the navigation menu to the left. The Spitfire Site News section has been renamed to What's New - a title which, I believe, better reflects the very purpose of this blog! This is only a name change, the contents remain the same.
  
  
• Secondly, I have added a new function to the menu: Search This Site. As the name implies, this is our very own search function, allowing you to search throughout this site and discussion forums. Its usefulness should become apparent if you consider that the Spitfire Site now counts over 1,000 individual web pages! The search box is provided by Google, and I was positively surprised by its performance. Give it a try.
  
  
• In Reviews, we have two new 1/48 decal sheets, both from Lifelike Decals of Japan. Read my review of Lifelike Decals sheet - Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XVIe Part 1.
  
  
• The second review for today is, expectedly, of a follow-up product - Lifelike Decals' Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XVIe Part 2. Both sheets are welcome additions for the 1/48 ICM Spitfire Mk. XVI kit.

Labels: reviews, site updates, webmaster

Labels: modelling, webmaster

• In Reviews, I examine the newest UK monthly modelling magazine, Model Aviation World.
  
  
• In Camouflage & Markings, Graham Ward illustrates the first of the Spitfire family, K5054 Spitfire Prototype

There has also been quite a lot of new development behind the bars during the weekend, with updated scripts for better statistics and several small changes to page layouts.

Labels: webmaster

Why ads?

The Spitfire Site has been envisioned and is maintained as an enthusiast site. We can make good use of the (modest) income generated from ads to cover our operational expenses, including web hosting, web and image editing software and the cost of maintaining this publication. I'm doing every effort to keep the ads well integrated in the site's layout and, most importantly, relevant to our readers.

• New addition in Videos is a video presentation of Tamiya's new 1/32 Spitfire Mk.IX kit filmed during its first public presentation at the Tokyo Hobby Show in October 2009. This 6-minute clip contains a walkthough of the kit's main features and an interesting interview with its chief designer Katsumi Tokunaga.

Labels: modelling, site updates, videos, webmaster

One of three huge halls housing the Scale Modelworld show in Telford
[All images by Martin Waligorski]


The show attracted considerable crowds during the weekend, starting with this long line of visitors on Saturday morning.

Final judging to select the Best in Show

Airfix was there and in seemingly good shape, promoting their newly released 1/72 Spitfire kits - the Mk. IXc and PR Mk. XIX and the very big 1/24 Mosquito. The latter kit is production-ready and should appear on the market any time now.

The Airfix stand with 1/24 Mosquito in the foreground.


Airfix is once again specializing in Spitfires, with two new 1/72 Spitfire kits this year.

The kit everyone was talking about: editor of the Tamiya Model Magazine proudly shows his partially-constructed Tamiya Spitfire IXc

Magnificent.

Labels: modelling, webmaster

Labels: site updates, warbirds, webmaster

Click on the image to enlarge

Labels: reference, webmaster

I took this photo of a Spitfire which regularly flys out of East Midlands Airport Castle Donington Leicestershire. I think it is owned by Rolls Royce in Derby. Hope it is of some use to you.

Click on the image to enlarge
[Joy Faucheux]

Labels: warbirds, webmaster

• Spitfire Gift Ideas can be found at the menu to the left, and will from now on form the part of the Community department.
  

Labels: site updates, webmaster

• Friendly fire is a rather well-known photo of an American Spitfire which force-landed at the beaches of Salerno. Full story follows.
  
  
• There is a general opinion is that RAF and commonwealth aircraft were rather below par with regard to personal markings, but there certainly were many exceptions contradicting the rule. The Australian pilot Jack Newton and his personal Pegasus emblem is the subject of our second photograph for today.

Labels: history, site updates, webmaster

Labels: webmaster

• In Product News and Reviews, check the new modelling product from Black Robin Resinz of New Zealand - 1/48 Spitfire Mk. XII Conversion Set.
  
  
• Arguably less exciting read, but an important addition due to the rapidly growing number of our visitors is the Privacy Policy for the Spitfire Site.

Labels: modelling, site updates, webmaster

Labels: webmaster

• Tomasz Hajzler's presents his Spitfire Mk. IX - a conversion of the 1/32 Hasegawa Spitfire Mk. Vb to an early Mk. IXc. His model is the latest addition to our growing Modelling section.
  

Labels: modelling, site updates, webmaster

Click on the image to enlarge

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Click on the image to enlarge

Labels: reference, webmaster

Labels: webmaster

• In History Articles, we have a Pictorial feature on Eagle Day, 1940. The force opposed by RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires during the Battle of Britain is presented in the photographs of official German correspondents. Many wartime photographs were released recently by Bundesarchiv into the Creative Commons domain, and this is a selection of these.
  
  


• Another newly acquired asset is the photograph of No. 613 Squadron Spitfires F Mk. XIV at RAF Ringway in 1947, a new addition in our steadily growing gallery of Historic Photographs. It's good to see a photo of post-war Spitfires, we'd be glad to have more of them, so please keep them comin'!
  

Another editorial news is the arrival of my new drawing software. As mentioned previously, I intend to refresh my long-neglected computer graphics skills and try to produce some colour profiles of the Spitfire on my own, improving on the first effort published here. The package, Corel Draw X4, arrived in my mail last week. After some ten years of inactivity in the graphics field, the big question was which graphics software to select for this project. The choice was very much between only two options, Adobe Illustrator CS4 and Corel, both coupled with rather substantial outlay. I have evaluated voth and although many people say that the professionals prefer Adobe, Corel Draw still feels as familiar and straightforward as the last time when I used it. I hope that the learning curve is not not too steep as to prevent me from producing something useful in the foreseeable future. Wish me luck!

Labels: history, site updates, webmaster

Labels: webmaster

• A new entry with two new images has been added in Historic Photographs section. It is another American Spitfire, but this time one whose provenance has caused some confusion in various publications. See The markings don't always tell the whole story - BM635.

Unfortunately I have also noticed a technical problem. The possibility to browse by category (meaning browsing by Spitfire mark) has mysteriously disappeared from the Historic Photographs main page. As these links are script-generated, there must be some bug. I will investigate into it and try to fix the it as soon as possible.

Labels: history, site updates, webmaster

Click on the image to enlarge

Labels: webmaster

Without further delay, here's this week's update:

• New product review has been added in the Product News & Reviews section. This time I review a DVD entitled Spitfire Mk. V BL628 - The Return of Marion produced by Ecosphere Publications. It provides a unique insight into the pre-flight trials of the Spitfire Mk. VB recently restored in New Zealand.

Also, I have been working with eliminating problems with some of the shortcut hyperlinks at the front page of the site. These have been caused by a slight change to RSS feed formats introduced recently, but I hope that everything is back to normal again. Enjoy the site.

Labels: reviews, site updates, webmaster

• Chinese businessman pays record price for WW II Spitfire
  A Chinese businessman paid what is believed to be a record USD 1.81 million (1.3 million Euro) for a World War II Spitfire Mk. XVI auctioned in New Zealand. [Zee News]
  
  More about this auction and the Spitfire sale can be read here and here.
  
• Spitfire pilots celebrate Duxford's 90th anniversary
  The Duxford airfield celebrated its 90th anniversary last week. [Telegraph]

Labels: history, warbirds, webmaster

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Click to enlarge image

Labels: warbirds, webmaster

Labels: warbirds, webmaster

• The Variants and Technology section was enhanced with two important reference features. A two-part Concise Guide To Spitfire Wing Types provides an overview of of the basic wing types of the Spitfire and the differences between them. Inherently related to Spitfire wing design is also The Hispano Cannon, the weapon which gave the aircraft the punch and a characteristic element of its silhouette.
  
  
• Four new colour profiles added during the month in Camouflage & Markings were NH550, in Royal Norwegian Service accompanied by another Norwegian Reconnaissance Spitfire, EP706 - The Malta Defender Spitfire Mk. Vc and "Bogle" Bodie and his Spitfire Mk. I, X4321.
  
  This adds up to six new reference articles, a good record indeed, with no less than three additional features currently waiting to be published.
  
  
• The pace in the History Articles section was rather more leisurely, with two articles added. Independent Air Force - Tracing the Origins of the RAF, an essay by Brett Holman and A Lifetime of Aviation, another essay by Martin Waligorski.
  
  This month I will be adding much more in this section, with five-part coverage of the 1941 Circus offensive as a main theme.
  
  
• Images added to the Historic Photographs section were: a portrait of Sqn/Ldr Jiří Maňák,
  photos of RAB Spitfire of W/Cdr Berg, UZ-Z of No. 306 Squadron, Northolt, Spitfire Mk. VII in the United States, launch of Operation Bowery and K5054 prototype prior to her maiden flight.
  


• The Video Section grew with just about as many videos, including the footage of Mark Hanna leading Spitfire formation display, Spitfire in IL2, Best of Chino's contraprop Spitfire Mk. XIX and Public debut of Seafire Mk. XVII SX336.
  
  
• The new Gallery Section, established at the beginning of the month, grew up rapidly and is already offering several hundred quality images. Collections added this month were: Spitfire Models by Tim Prosser, images from Old Warden 2007, The Joy of Flight Testing the Spitfire Mk. V BL628, Seafire Mk.XVII SX336, 90th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force, April 2008 celebration flypast over London, BBMF 50th Anniversary, 2007 and finally Ronnie Olsthoorn Photo Gallery with many beautiful Spitfire images.
  
  I'm happy that the technology behind the galleries worked out. Image collections I have been receiving from our visitors since last autumn can now finally be posted online and I will continue to do so during the months to come.
  
  
• Modellers have proven to be eager and knowledgeable supporters of this site. Their interest was demonstrated last month through a collection of 1/72 Spitfire Models by Tim Prosser , Spitfire in Saigon, a tribute to the Memory of A/C Paul Webb, Tamiya Spitfire Mk. V backdated to Mk. Ib, Kenley Wings beer-carrying Spitfire and another Malta Spitfire Mk. V.
  


• Another group which keeps giving this site a "push" are aviation artists; many new great pieces can be enjoyed in the Art & Memorabilia gallery and Pavel Rampír has been spoiling us with an entire series of drawings. Enjoy A portrait of Clive Caldwell, Spitfire Mk. VIII in Italy, "The Last", Chasing the V-1, "The CO's Query", Typhoon trouble, Beware of the low-flying Mosquitos, "Se va la Primera". For collectors, there was also a set of RAF 90th Anniversary poststamps.
  

Summarizing, it is apparent that April was one of the most fruitful months on the Spitfire Site so far. It is fantastic, and showed up well through the editorial workload - I had a hard time coping with all the material I've been receiving. I'd like to direct a warm thank you to everyone who contributed their work and material to make it happen. My apologies to those few who are still waiting to get their contributions published - none has been forgotten and they will appear online as soon as I can possibly manage.

The RAF Anniversary Festival will continue for some time to come, so please keep the articles and photos coming.

In the meantime, I'm into some serious programming trying to establish a discussion forum for all of us Spitfire buffs. I'll keep you posted.

Labels: history, modelling, reference, site updates, videos, warbirds, webmaster

• Spitfire Mk. VIII in Italy, a new pencil drawing by Pavel Rampir.
  
  
• Not a new addition, but one item to which I would like to draw your attention again, is this photo of No. 306 Squadron Spitfire Mk. IX. The new element is the excessive commentary added by an anonymous visitor. I once wrote that I'd like every picture in the Historic Photos gallery to tell a story, and this is a great example of how much can be achieved with a common effort. Thanks everyone who have added their comments to various photos so far.

It is also the Polish pilot's names in the above article that prompted me to work with the first technical issue during the weekend. With the default character set (Western European) hitherto used on this site, some of these peculiar Polish letters were not supported, refusing to show up correctly in the browser. The solution was converting the entire side to Unicode (UTF-8) standard, and this has been done during an evening's work. Now, there's no more guessing about the name of Żulikowski - well, maybe the pronunciation, but not the spelling :)

This addition and some of the email I've been receiving recently also show that there's a need for a discussion forum on this site. I have spent some time reviewing the available software for this purpose. There's plenty of sophisticated shrink-wrap bulletin board solutions available these days, but to begin with and test the feasibility of the idea, I'd rather have something more simplistic and easily accessible for the users. Thus we will start with a simple discussion forum, eventually dressing it up in features or converting to full BB standard as future interest grows. I think I have now an outline of suitable design, and should be able to set up a forum feature in a week or two.

Lastly, there have been issues with a commenting feature of the blog posts. Several users have pointed out that this function is not as easy to use as one might expect. It is hard for me to pinpoint exactly what the problems are, but the fact remains that the user interface for signing one's entry is unnecessarily confusing. This is enough for me to start looking for alternative solutions. This, however, will be my second priority after the discussion forum.

Labels: site updates, webmaster

• A new gallery for today is devoted to Seafire Mk.XVII SX336, a unique airworthy Griffon-powered Seafire. Photography by Mark Mills.
  
  
• I have also reworked two previous galleries to increase the picture size: BBMF 50th Anniversary, 2007 and Ronnie Olsthoorn Photo Gallery. I'm pleased with the result and think that both these galleries are well worth a second look.

Enjoy.

Labels: site updates, warbirds, webmaster

What is the RAF 90th Anniversary Festival?

Simply speaking, we're aimig at creating a broad collection of articles, memories, photographs, documents, drawings, art and other material connected to the Royal Air Force and its long history. It is our hope that it can be developed by collective voluntary effort, whereupon visitors, friendly bloggers and webmasters submit any suitable material and the Spitfire Site acts as host, putting it all together.

The history of the Royal Air Force suggests different things to different people, so this festival aims to be as inclusive as possible. This means that we'll accept anything fitting into its main subject, not only the Spitfire, Fighter Command or World War II.

The festival means that material can be submitted by anyone - meaning you, the readers.

What kind of submissions are we looking for?
- Articles, essays or other forms of writing
- Photographs, individual or collections
- Personal recollections or experiences of your relatives / friends
- Documents, letters etc.
- Drawings, artwork
- Photos of collectibles
- Scale models
- Book & movie reviews

If your material has already been published elsewhere on the web, don't worry. We will still gladly post it here to make the collection available in one place. Should you prefer to link to your original page or site, we can do that, too. Naturally, all sources will be properly credited.

It’s a good way of creating a sense of community around RAF history, cross-promoting good resources on the web and offering future readers the best material on this worthy topic.

The festival is planned to last until May or June 2008, depending on the scale of public response.

Please help us to spread the news about RAF 90th Anniversary Festival on your favourite discussion forums, blogs and sites around the web. It will help us greatly to succeed with our aim. Thank you!

All submissions should be directed to

• In history articles, Brett Holman traces the origins of the birth of RAF as the Independent Air Force.
  
  
• Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding is the subject of our second article today. A Lifetime of Aviation describes the very beginnings of his aviation career and reflects upon the development witnessed by Dowding during his military career. By Martin Waligorski.
  
  
• In Photo Galleries you can find a collection of stunning photographs from the BBMF 50th Anniversary air display at Duxford, 5 May 2007. By Rover75.
  
  
• Spitfire images by Ronnie Olsthoorn is our second gallery entry in this update, with many stunning images.

Enjoy.

Labels: history, site updates, webmaster

Labels: webmaster

• I'm glad to be able to deliver the second rather sizable addition for this week. Considering the subject of our site, it was inevitable that we would include a story about Reginald J. Mitchell, the engineering genius behind the Spitfire. Personally I'm not very fond of formal "encyclopedia-style" biographies, so I'm particularly glad to present John Dell's essay which takes on a rather personal view of Mitchell's life and achievements. Enjoy his two-part story Mr. Mitchell, Designer of the Spitfire - In Memory of a Brilliant Mind in the Articles section
  
  
• In Modelling, we have a beautiful 1/32 Spitfire Mk.II "Borough of Lambeth" modelled by Hans-Peter Tschanz from Switzerland.

Another new occurrence on the site, introduced yesterday, are commercial ads. Why ads? Well, it is my long-term objective to support - wholly or partially - the cost of the site's operation with ads, and today I'm taking the first step in this direction. I'm not hoping to get a profit - considering the amount of man-hours I'm currently putting into it - but perhaps be able to expand the site with photo galleries, forum and other interactive features, many of which require more sophisticated hosting, more bandwidth or additional software. Time permitting, there's so much more I would like to add.

In this initial period, I will be trying Google textual ads to see how they will perform. Obviously I would like the ads to be relevant to the interests of our visitors. With the Google system, the ads are supposed to be matched automatically with the subject of each page. I understand that it may take one or two weeks for the Google system to "learn" which ads are the right ones, so I'm eager to see how good the results will be.

I hope you will find the ads a meaningful addition to the Spitfire Site.

Labels: history, modelling, site updates, webmaster

• Spitfire Performance

Labels: webmaster

• I’ve got propeller off Spitfire that crashed in park
  The latest Spitfire wreck excavation in Merseyside Park, Liverpool, (see here for details) finds a rather unexpected conclusion - its (?) propeller being found in an attic. [Liverpool Echo]
  
  
• It is widely known that new Spitfire restorations to airworthiness are being undertaken with ever-smaller pieces of original airframes as a basis. If one is to believe the following articles, it could be something of a record in this area - a full Spitfire restoration started from a... single rivet - but then only if you ignore the fact that it was augmented by an incomplete fuselage of Spitfire RR232... Even so, it's an amazing effort, performed by devotion and perseverance of Mr Martin Phillips from Devon.
  
  
• Scrambled Spitfire gets closer to take-off [Telegraph]
  
• Global hunt to rebuild Spitfire [BBC News]
  
• Spitfire project is a labour of love [The Cornishman]
  


• A special event entitled A Celebration of Collections marked the official launched of Corgi die-cast model Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Collection issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Flight. Fittingly, the ceremony took place at BBMF Visitors Centre at RAF Coningsby.
  
  
• A look under the skin of Memorial Flight [Lincolnshire Echo]
  
• Battle of Britain models launched [Horncastle Today]

Labels: history, warbirds, webmaster

• The fifth and concluding part of the series Battle of Britain in the Words of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding. This part describes the various measures undertaken by Fighter Command Headquarters to cope with the shortage of trained fighter pilots.
  
  
• Two new additions have been made also in the Historic Photographs section. These include images of the famous sharkmouth RAAF Spitfires on Morotai.

We have also a technical problem which appeared yesterday. Due to some service interruption on Blogger's side, the label metafeeds are no longer available. In ordinary terms this means that the Historic Photographs, Video and Art & Memorabilia sections cannot be browsed by category at the moment. New additions, however, are available as usual. I'm working on the solution.

Labels: site updates, webmaster

• 13 history articles


• 6 camouflage features


• 37 modelling articles, showing over 50 Spitfire models


• 56 posts in Historic Photographs


• 50 video posts


• 17 items in Art & Memorabilia

In total, this gives 179 content web pages. I’ve read somewhere on the web that a site needs to have at least 300-400 meaningful pages to keep the interest of a returning visitor. If this target is anything to go by, we’re well underway towards achieving it. Actually, Google has already counted “about 348” pages from the site in its search index, but this of course includes the front page and various indices.

Our visitors

As of this writing (January 2008), the site enjoys a steady flow of about 190 visits a day. Comparison with previous months shows a reassuring increase, from 115 daily visits in October and 155 visits in November.

According to Google Analytics, a total of 21,875 unique visitors were logged since the premiere day. 34% percent of these have visited the site more than once, or approximately 7500 people. Overwhelming!

The average visitor clicks her/his way through 9 pages of the site. This is a very good result indicating that the contents are met with interest.

Where do the visitors come from? The top ten countries this month are as follows:

1. United Kingdom 23.20%


2. United States 16.97%


3. Australia 6.78%


4. Canada 5.60%


5. Sweden 4.08%


6. France 4.00%


7. Germany 3.57%


8. Russia 3.37%


9. Japan 3.13%


10. Czech Republic 2.56%

Summary

Concluding this analysis I feel that the site has been off to a good start. The visitors have been hugely supportive, and I feel we have a good ground for further development of this site during 2008. Thanks to all and I hope you will find reasons to return to this site often.

This map shows which countries the Spitfire Site visitors come from. Darker shades of green correspond to higher number of visits

Click to enlarge image

Labels: webmaster

I'm back home from my journey to Warsaw, struggling today to configure me email so that I could continue using Microsoft Outlook together with my new Gmail account. Besides its nice web interface, Gmail offers both POP and IMAP protocols, each with its own idiosyncrasies. Of the two, IMAP is obviously the more attractive option, but it is rather new, and for whatever reason I couldn't use it for the default mail account in Outlook. All the tweaking has taken me the better part of the day. The good news is that all email is firmly being taken care of and I will start replying to messages as soon as I'm ready with these configuration experiments.

To summarize the Warsaw week, the Skalski exhibition at the Polish Army Museum turned out to have ended some weeks previously, despite the fact that the information about it is still available at the museum's website. The visit wasn't a waste of time, though. The museum has a sizable collection of armour, artillery and aircraft in its open-air display. This includes such interesting exhibits as the Yakovlev Yak-9, Ilyushin Il-2, and Petlyakov Pe-2, a comprehensive array of Soviet World War II armour or an enormous shell from the German Dora railway cannon. Sadly, the aircraft in particular were visibly affected by the long-term exposure to the elements and therefore in rather derelict state. The indoors part of the exhibition was, in my opinion, the weaker part of the museum, walking the visitor through an endless array of uniforms, weapons and paintings illustrating the many wars that the Poles fought throughout the centuries. No doubt expertly prepared but after a while rather monotonous. However, the overall impression was positive and the museum worth visiting.

[Photo: Zeke-PL, through Flickr]

Labels: webmaster

Stanislaw Skalski, then at the rank of Wing Commander, in the cockpit of his Mustang Mk. III, 1944

Labels: webmaster

It is time to prepare to celebrate the Christmas holidays with my family. I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to all of you wonderful and enthusiastic Spitfire fans who use and enjoy this site. My special thanks go to the many helpful and knowledgeable people who came forward to support this site with their writing, photos, artwork, or commentary. During the almost four months since its launch, it's been a wonderful adventure beyond all expectations. I hope that we will all meet together in the New Year.

Have the merriest of holidays!

Martin Waligorski
Editor

Labels: webmaster

Three months have gone since the official launch of the Spitfire Site in mid-September. As it is also the end of the year, the time is right for summarizing the developments of the period. I feel I have a pretty good view of the visitors' statistics and trends due to the very useful Google Analytics. I will share some interesting numbers later on, but today I'd like to start with some of the visitors' comments about the Spitfire Site which appeared on the web.

I consider visitors' comments and reviews to be more valuable than numbers, not only because it is admittedly so nice to receive positive feedback. Links from other sites and discussion forums are also the proof of a site's recognition, and I'm glad to see the steady progress in this area. The comments also seem to confirm my initial analysis that even if many web pages were devoted to the Spitfire previously, there is a need for a site like this.

"Anyone interested in Spitfires should check this one out"
Hyperscale

"Hopefully this should build into the biggest and best on-line resource on the Spitfire."
Dinger's aviation pages

"Lots of Spitfire inspiration...I've added it to my favorites"
LSP

"A fantastic idea, long overdue!"
Hyperscale forum

"Diese Site ist aus einer IPMS-Domain entstanden, daher gibt es dort neben vielen guten Vorbildphotos auch etliche (feine!) Plastikmodelle zu sehen. Vorbeischauen sollte sich also lohnen."
kartonbau.de


vif2ne.ru

"It looks really good, but then that's hardly surprising given the fantastic quality of the IPMS Stockholm site. "
LSP

"Ett ambitiöst on-line dokumentationsprojekt om alla aspekter på Spitfire"
sv.wikipedia.org

Labels: webmaster

British military airfields in mainland Europe, 1944-1945
Click on the image to enlarge

Labels: history, webmaster