French movie

[dave]

Saw one the other day on TV, sub-titiled. It had a Spitfire in the picture but never running or flying. Saw it two-three times but never very long. It had two props, 3 blades ea. From the quick looks it appeared they were pitched opposite each other, so counter revolutionary. Was such a Spit ever made---even experimental?

[JohnF]

Saw one the other day on TV, sub-titiled. It had a Spitfire in the picture but never running or flying. Saw it two-three times but never very long. It had two props, 3 blades ea. From the quick looks it appeared they were pitched opposite each other, so counter revolutionary. Was such a Spit ever made---even experimental?

Yes, and it is called a contra-rotating propeller. Nothing new as it has been used on several types of aircraft. I think the first operational Spitfires with this prop were the Mk XIX or XXI, anyway not many were made. Maybe a Spitfire expert can give you a history on the use of the prop and in what models.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Supermarine_Spitfire_XIX_vr.jpg/800px-Supermarine_Spitfire_XIX_vr.jpg

[Clark Howard]

The Spit with the single propeller was powered by the the various marks of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. The late model Spit with the counter rotating props was powered by the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine. I am not certain if these later models came in time to see war-time service in WWII. Regards, Clark

[4F4Nam]

Looks super fast just sittin' there!

Ed

[dave]

Looks like the one in the movie, D-day wing stripes and all! Thanks guys!

[Peconga]

Looks like a lot of added weight and complexity. What were the performance benefits with / without the counter-rotating prop? Wonder how it affected handling?

[Chaz]

Mk XIV

[John Sukey]

The Griffon engine was more powerful than the Merlin. To use that extra power you needed either a bigger prop or one with more blades. The first solution was not practical

[Guamsst]

Simply put, the benefit was pushing more air without spinning a HUGE prop in a single direction. Overall, not much performance to be gained as compared to a jet because props were already pushing their limits for military fighter use. Many planes have used them, most famously was probably the Russian BEAR bomber.