A Trip to the Movies

[Saltire]

Those who are aeronautically inclined may be interesting in the forthcoming Spitfire film, showing for one night only on 17th July at a cinema near you.

[HJ2]

I hope that includes the Netherlands then

[Giniw]

(and France, too — but I am afraid it doesn't)

[lotusles]

Question. If Armin Faber had not accidentally landed the Fokker in Wales in 1942 would the Spitfire have been so successful

[HJ2]

Our Fokkers were top of the world back in the days!

[Saltire]

Right up to 1996, but sadly no longer

[Rambo]

It's a right Fokker that the film is only on for one night

[lotusflasherman]

Question. If Armin Faber had not accidentally landed the Fokker in Wales in 1942 would the Spitfire have been so successful

Spitfire would not have been so successful if Tony Rudd hadn't sorted out the unreliability of the Merlin engine. As a newly qualified Rolls Royce engineer he started a card index system to log all the engines and failures and redesigned some of the key components. After the war RR seconded him to the BRM team because it was using a RR supercharger. He then joined BRM and was in charge during the Graham Hill World Championship period before joining Lotus as Engineering Director. His Lotus Engineering consultancy profits offset the losses of the car production side for many years. Recommend "It was fun", his autobiography, to anybody interested in engineering or Lotus.

Also found the one advantage of working in an office in Slough (probably the only one) - just had a great view of the Buckingham Palace flypast that went on to Windsor Castle and did the coloured smoke for them too.