Spending Day with BoB Spitfire Pilot - Questions Please

[bw_wolverine]

Please offer him my many thanks as well.

[Upthair]

My questions are not necessarily related to BOB.

1. During the war, did he have opportunities to sneak up behind German fighters and shoot them down? If yes, what was the shortest range at which he fired from behind an enemy?

2. What was the usual ammo loadout of the Hispano cannon on Spitfire Mk V and IX? (I want to know to what extent the HET-AP-HE-AP* sequence of the Hispano in IL-2 1946 is correct.) Between ground attack sorties and pure air combat sorties, was there any difference in the choice of ammo for Hispanos on the Spitfire?

Thanks for the chance to ask a WWII pilot!

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*
HE: high explosive
AP: armor piercing
HET: high explosive tracer

[Bonkin]

I'm maybe a little late... but maybe you have a smart phone?

I'm interested in how strongly his ties were to the Squadron. Was there strong rivalry between squadrons for example? I'd also be interested in how he might feel about the disbanding of 19 Sqn yesterday (24th Nov) - and the change over to 4 Sqn.

(From my point of view I think it's waste of tax payers money... and those I know in 19 are not too happy either!).

[klem]

If it's not too late please ask after his old friend Tony Pickering (although I fear the worst). They both adressed us in 2000 at an Air Warrior convention at the Great Barr hotel in Birmingham (at the time it was not actually that 'Great' but it was passable). Some of us older lags remember it well. After their interesting and inspirational after-dinner speeches I passed a very pleasant half hour with Ton'y wife talking about her favourite grand-daughter and my own daughters. Hopefully she is still well too.

Ken had flown Spitfires in the Battle of Britain and had flown in the 'Big Wing' with Douglas Bader. "Sixty aircraft in perfect formation, Fifty Nine aircraft under strict radio silence;... and Bader, chatting away to all and sundry. We were a grand sight" said Ken, "We never saw the enemy, but we were a Grand Sight."

[Letum]

How good was his technical knowledge of his own and other planes?
Did he always know the version of spitfire he was flying? Did he, for example, know the difference in flight and armament between the 109 E4 and 109 F2?

I ask because I have a friend who flew Spitfires in 1944-45 and I was very surprised that when I asked what type of spitfire he flew, despite his memory being great, he had no idea and didn't think he knew at the time.

I asked if he could tell me what differences he knew about the Bf109 and FW190. All he could say was that the 190 had a round nose and the Bf109 had a big cannon in it's nose. He said he wasn't told anything else at the time.

It would be interesting to know if this was a common experience as it appears to be so different from the experience of most flight-simers.