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[nsmith1180]

Hi all,

I am new here and came searching for the answer to a question. I am in the process of loosing an argument on another forum about the accuracy of a game which shows a Supermarine Spitfire, during the Battle of Britain with a five bladed prop.

Now its been a while since my late Grandad and I spoke for hours on the subject and when I joined the Army Cadets my focus shifted to land warfare. However, during my years at school, only about 10 years ago mind, I was considered a bit of an authority on WWII or more particularly BoB and D-Day. It really does help to have a Grandad in the Air Observer Corps and an Aunty who is head of history for an upperschool.

Anyways, I digress: I thought the five bladers only came in towards the end of the war, long after the battle of britain. A search of Thikipedia and Google has come up dry, Ive been at this now for 2 hours when I should be working, so I thought I would pass the question on to your collective wisdom.

Which model of Spitfire came with 5 blades on the prop first?

Thanks

[Edgar Brooks]

Experiments went on, for some time, but the first Mark, to use a 5-blade prop as standard, was the XIV; even the VII, VIII, IX, XII & XVI (together with the post-war Seafire XV & 17,) remained with "only" four blades.  you will only see 5-blade props on Griffon-powered Spitfires, never the Merlin-powered variants.
Edgar

[nsmith1180]

Thank you. Argument won!

I will now continue to hang around and soak up your knowledge.

Nick

[DazDaMan]

Depends which Battle of Britain you're talking about... 

In the film, there were no less than THREE Griffon-engined Spitfires on strength with the aerial unit - a Mk.XIV and a pair of Mk.XIXs. 

Just to confuse you further, while you won't see a Merlin-engined Spitfire with a five-blade prop, you WILL find one or two fitted with SIX blades....