Bald Eagle Aviation

LARGEFLYER · **Joined:** Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:31 pm **Posts:** 181

I stopped up at the hanger yesterday to see Jim and take a few pictures of the Mk XVIII. Here is a quick walk around I did. Oh, BTW - it's confirmed! As long as Rich can keep it in the air - the Mk XVIII will be at Reading's WWII Weekend this year. It is quite the BEASTIE!

Greg Witmer
Mid Atlantic Air Museum
WWII Weekend Aircraft Coordinator & Airboss

51fixer · **Posted:** Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:04 pm

Ah, the pressure.
When she is up there you gatta talk to her nice. Use words like bloke, spanner and such.
And you will need ear plugs.
Rich

Jim Beasley · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:24 am

We are getting her close; have almost 10 hours on her and things are getting well set-in. It is quite loud (in a very good way).

We had to replace the "artwork" on the left side.

Before -- looks more like Eddie Murphy's Donkey in shrek than a mean pegasus:

after. a little better:

JDK · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:27 am

Never realised it was a 'fascist' Spitfire...

Quote:

The term fascismo is derived from the Italian word fascio, which means "bundle", group, or "union", and from the Latin word fasces. [26][27] The fasces, which consisted of a bundle of rods that were rarely tied around an axe, were an ancient Roman symbol of the authority of the civic magistrates; they were carried by his Lictors and could be used for corporal and capital punishment at his command.[27] Furthermore, the symbolism of the fasces suggested strength through unity: a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle is difficult to break.[28] This is a familiar theme throughout different forms of fascism; for example the Falange symbol is a bunch of arrows joined together by a yoke.[29]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

The fasces bundle does crop up in a number of other badge contexts, nothing to do with Fascism; for instance I was looking at an Australian W.W.I memorial with them in the other day.

Can I have the thread drift prize please?

PeterA · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:32 am

Fascist Spitfire.

SM969 is currently painted in a generic 28 Squadron livery of the 1950 period based at Kai Tak, Hong Kong.

The Squadron badge:- In front of a demi-Pegasus, a fasces.

Motto:- Quicquid agas age (Whatsoever you may do, do)

The demi-Pegasus represents the white horse on the downs near Yatesbury where the Squadron first became an operational unit and the fasces signify Italy where No. 28 Squadron served in World war I.

The artwork follows the form of the photo below. It has not been possible to confirm 100% if this is actually a 28 Squadron Spitfire. It may be a former WWII squadron pilot who adorned his perhaps Belgian or French Spitfire post hostilities. The artwork did have special appeal to both the current and previous owner...so on it went.

PeterA

dors · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:03 am

Very excited to see it at Reading. Jim will you be doing any acro with it at Reading?

Jim Beasley · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:45 am

Yup, assuming the weather cooperates it'll be my standard Vaudeville act.

dors wrote:

Very excited to see it at Reading. Jim will you be doing any acro with it at Reading?

Django · **Posted:** Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:08 pm

that art looks much better Jim. Good call.

k5083 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:52 pm

Looks as if the previous artwork was accurate, however. Do you have a reference for the new artwork appearing that way on an actual plane? I like pretty artwork but I like accurate artwork better.

August

Jim Beasley · **Posted:** Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:23 pm

maybe it had to be seen in person; compare it to the 28 Squadron emblem. Not even close although my kids liked that we had Donkey on the side of the plane

k5083 wrote:

Looks as if the previous artwork was accurate, however. Do you have a reference for the new artwork appearing that way on an actual plane? I like pretty artwork but I like accurate artwork better.

August

TAdan · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:32 am

I look forward to seeing it at Reading!

k5083 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:12 am

Jim Beasley wrote:

maybe it had to be seen in person; compare it to the 28 Squadron emblem. Not even close although my kids liked that we had Donkey on the side of the plane

k5083 wrote:

Looks as if the previous artwork was accurate, however. Do you have a reference for the new artwork appearing that way on an actual plane? I like pretty artwork but I like accurate artwork better.

Yeah Jim, I agree the old artwork wasn't accurate compared to the formal emblem, but it looks very close to Peter's photo of the artwork actually painted on a plane. I was just asking whether there was an actual plane with the nice artwork from the formal emblem painted on it like yours. If not, then even granting Peter's point that we can't be sure his photo is of a 28 Sqn bird, I'd have been tempted to stick with accurate over pretty. Sometimes it's nice not to pretend that the crew chiefs who painted art on planes were all talented pro artists!

August

k5083 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:25 am

I should add -- I'll still make the trip to Reading to see your lovely plane for myself though!

August

Jim Beasley · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:20 pm

We couldn't find anything from 28 Squadron with this on the side; it would be reasonable to assume that pane is from there, but all the pics of entire planes don't have it on there.

here's a shot of 28 Squadron planes:

k5083 wrote:

Jim Beasley wrote:

maybe it had to be seen in person; compare it to the 28 Squadron emblem. Not even close although my kids liked that we had Donkey on the side of the plane

k5083 wrote:

Looks as if the previous artwork was accurate, however. Do you have a reference for the new artwork appearing that way on an actual plane? I like pretty artwork but I like accurate artwork better.

Yeah Jim, I agree the old artwork wasn't accurate compared to the formal emblem, but it looks very close to Peter's photo of the artwork actually painted on a plane. I was just asking whether there was an actual plane with the nice artwork from the formal emblem painted on it like yours. If not, then even granting Peter's point that we can't be sure his photo is of a 28 Sqn bird, I'd have been tempted to stick with accurate over pretty. Sometimes it's nice not to pretend that the crew chiefs who painted art on planes were all talented pro artists!

August

PeterA · **Posted:** Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:11 pm

Shots of SM969 in the ownership of Doug Arnold (no relation) with air under all three tyres are pretty rare. I can only find record of a couple of air show appearances in the early 1990's.

This slide arrived via ebay in this morning's post, dated 1992, and will be the Biggin Hill show of that year. Small in the frame and not the sharpest, it is certainly the best I have seen.

PeterA

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