The Perfect Engine for the Spitfire | Inside The Spitfire Factory | Machina 

More important to hear from the heroes like Keith. Just listening to him talk really shows what an incredible man he was! Thankyou for this documentary.

Fantastic video.! I use to fly small aircraft in Southern California. That is were I saw my first WWII planes the P51 Mustang the Spitfire and the F4u Corsair. My flight center was owned by some Japanese busnessemen that ran a flight training operation in Ramona. One day was especially wonderful for me. Chuck Hall of Chuck Hall Aviation was doing a run up of his newly restored F4u Corsair. The flight center was going to be training retired Japanese commercial pilots to become instructors. The men were touring the flight center with them was a much older Japanese man with this group of newly retired pilots When the F4u taxied out onto the tarmac this older man walked out and stood about 40 feet directly in front of the F4u and bowed to it as the huge propellers were brought up to speed during the test run up. I had just completed preflighting my Piper and was watching this transpire. Few minutes later one of the pilots walked over and asked my instructor if we could take this older man up with us. I said sure why not. So off we went. This fella spoke no English. So I gave him a chart pointed out our flight plan so he could follow along . Later after we landed I found out that he was a WWII Zero pilot. I was told He was bowing to the F4u Corsair out of respect to the plane he said they called whistling death. It was an amazing day I'll never forget. After we landed He smiled at me and said something in Japanese to one of the pilots waiting for him . He said he was amazed that when he learned I was only a student pilot. He thought I'd been flying for years.Pretty cool coming from a man that was still alive after flying death mission. That was a once in a life time experience. I flew a man that knew no fear other than the sound whistling death.

Being a qualified machinist I find it hard to believe that all the components that go into an engine with fine tolerances could be made in time to keep these aircraft in the air and some only for a very short time. The pilots were very special people with huge courage all to give us freedom. I admire you all. Ian

Man, I can't even imagine what these guys lived through (and died). Anyone who knows this and disrespects what they fought for should have their heads examined. Absolutely the finest generation ever.

Why play stupid music when the engine is running?

The dubbed music is switched on when the engine is on the testbed when what you want to hear is the engine itself. The engine is the heart of the aircraft so thats what you want to hear!

RIP Keith Quilter 1921 - 2023

The thing that gets me is that, with all these people and experts and resources, it takes AGES... years! to get a Spitfire up and running. Compare that to the situation in WW2, where these things were produced, maintained, and repaired (when need be) in a matter of WEEKS. That's not a criticism, mind you... more praise for the people who, in the pressure and life-and-death struggle of wartime, achieved all this.

Interesting bit on the Seafire. However I'd say it was still at heart a land based aircraft with bits added to allow it to operate from a carrier. Most FAA pilots as the war progressed flew US Navy carrier fighters like the Wildcat, Hellcat and the Corsair.

its awesome to see in person in Greece ,i was lucky to be there when it arrived and also to see it already in few events

Great movie. Many very interesting and completely unknown stories, about English pilots over Japan, about air reconnaissance, about technical issues, and about Beatrice (Tilly) Shilling. I would like to thank the creators and employees, thanks to their passion we can learn about history, technical monuments and interesting people.

We know about you know Keith, and the men you served with. That is something indeed. Cheers from the United States.

“ Never, was so much owed ,by so many, to so few”

'Was a bit confusing when it was said Tirpitz was seen in Trondheim in 1942. After an attack it got moved 'further south', 'within range of Lancasters'. Op. Goodwood attacked Tirpitz in 1944 in Kaafjord, way up north near Alta. Tirpitz was moved south, probably for repairs in Tromsö. That was in range of RAF Lancasters, and they managed to destroy Tirpitz there. Both Alta and Tromsö are way further north than Trondheim.

I think most of the audience for this type of program would rather listen to the sound of a Merlin engine that your choice of music.

I have full respect for all those men and women who served in WWII on all front’s. Seeing now this work being carried on is fantastic. I admire all who are involved. Best wishes sent for continued successes. 🇬🇧🤝🇺🇸

Ryan and everyone involved excellent work.. I'm sure her crews are all pleased with the work you do.

Thank you for a very entertaining and informing video. I would agree with the above comment that when that Merlin is singing why play music? But that aside I thought it's weakness with the carburetor was with the life of the Spitfire and that was the strength of the Daimler-Benz engine. I knew nothing of Tilly and Tillys orifice - what a hoot Wouldn't think that a simple washer would cure that fuel starvation problem And I can understand the frustration of that old navy veteran-I didn't even know there was a British carrier at Japan I am often amazed at what those reconnaissance pilots did and I believe all the reconnaissance spitfires were painted blue Always wondered what would prevent fighters from intercepting them but I guess at 40,000 feet by the time they got there they would be gone I have this rare book of color photographs of World War II in the European theater with aviation. I did not realize that even the army Air Force had a few spitfire squadrons Our famous pilot, Bob Hoover, actually flew a Spitfire in World War II Thanks again and I learned a lot in the last hour Oh on operating cost. I remember back in the 80s I asked the owner of a P 51 mustang what it cost to run "60 gallons an hour if you're easy on the throttle and keep the supercharger off". 600 hour TBO - time between overhaul - again if you are easy on the supercharger. $225,000 to overhaul the engine at 600 hours. And that's back in the 1980s I've often thought if you could buy that mythical Mustang or Spitfire back in the 50s for a few thousand dollars would you do so knowing the operating cost? I don't think I would. It would be like buying a big boat

A privilege for me to see the restoration of the Spitfire & to hear it's engine running . I was born in 1937 & living in Ireland . The family had uncles & cousins in the forces of the crown . One uncle came home without a scratch , another never came ho. E , lost in the Indian ocean on his submarine . I thank my lucky star's that I avoided ha ing to go to war . War is hell . Honour & Respect . Lest we forget .

As an American I loved this! So important to save these planes and to talk to the pilots/hero's that helped save the world. Sadly our history is demonized and forgotten on purpose to demoralize our countries. Thank you for putting this together. I have a feeling that Britain and the USA will have to come together again to save the world. God bless England and USA.

Thats a beautiful Super Marine war bird.!

Well,it should be noted, There is not 1 Engine that's responsible for winning WWII,it took a combination of All The Equipment, All of the Combined Military Personal, to Win the WAR.

Awesome tecnitions working on an awesome aircraft. thank you Keith Quilta thank you for your service.

I love how the director / owner uses the word "we" when he hasn't so much as picked up a wrench!!!!!

6:35 never a truer word said!

grace and gallantry

What really helped the Spitfire was introduction of the American made Bendix_ Stromberg pressurized carburetor.

Awesome ⚡️ Aircraft Technology and Design.. the BOLTS on the Engine mounts should be the Hardened Grade ....

Testing a Merlin and you have music over the top of it? Why?

The operation to sink the Tirpitz was not Goodwood, it was Operation Tungsten.

More please 🙏

Anytime a group of engineers, techs, tradesmen and dreamers get together, good things are bound to happen.

Was looking at a Rolls Royce side valve straight six Silver Ghost engine a while ago, I realised I was looking at the great grandaddy of the Merlin, from this engine, the V12 aero engine was created in WW1 and used in such aircraft as the Handley Page O/400 'Parylizer' bomber and from there, a steady evolution to the Vulture engine then the Merlin and Griffon engines. If I have some details wrong, please forgive my memory.

Keith and the other old blokes still around I suspect are pump them for the info. Keith seemed very switched on. The women studying recon photos were also unsung heroes, as were those pilots who flew those missions. Hindsight tells us they wasted a LOT of bombs on the Tirpitz, it was in effect out of service in 42. The convoys to Russia were also rightly scared of it. But it never came out. They put smoke up the funnels and everyone was scared

Turn off the infernal music when you test drive the engine. That's the engine we want to hear!

I thought the Me-109 engine supports looked a bit sketchy but they look like they were built like the Brooklyn Bridge compared to the Spitfire supports Holy Crap!

I know now brave sir......ty

What about the gyroscopic forces from the engine and propeller with changes in attitude?

The DC10 has three bolts. It’s materials science

Anybody catch the famous voice starting the Navy Documentary Narration at 37:08?

❤❤❤❤❤❤Georg from Europe Prag

18:59 What! No victory roll? 🤣

When I was a boy I rember sitting in a RAAF sea fire in nottinghill Australia

If it's at idle, it can never be too lean.

No two R. R. produced engines were the same. The English didn't do standardised tolerances, limits & fits very well.

Who made the two stage supercharger?

I suppose salvage planes are what make this possible. Like old cars you might need 3 derilects to make one good one.

In fact it was the hurricane that won the battle of Britain

So sad that you dont explain how this Miss Shillings orifice works in carburettor. Instead of that you tell how it feels to be Shillings god daughter.

❤❤❤❤

Just to think the British could have had fuel injection at the beginning of the war but one man blocked it's development. A book worth reading is "The Secret Horsepower Race" by Calum E. Douglas. It gives all the details of the development of the Merlin and why various marks of Spitfire came to be largely due to engine development.

... therefore each R.R. built engine was bespoke and parts from onother wouldn't necessarily fit, unlike Packard built engines from tbe USA

What can be more British than declaring tea break after lowering the merlin into a spitfire

BLOOODY GOOD SHOW, PLAYING MUSIC OVER THE ENGINE RUNNING, FFS

Where the part 2?

What's the basic difference between the Merlin and the Griffin? And how rare are the Griffins?

Deberian los tornillos 🔩 ponerle cemento sintético por altura los tornillos 🔩 se abren

So is it all still BSW? Just wondering.

👍

Fiddly bits

500 hours between overhaul? Wow that’s very inefficient given how much these planes flew.

Nice to see Peter drives a car powered by a Messerschmitt engine😂.

When the Packard automobile company received the license to build the RR Merlin engine they developed hundreds of improvements of the engine , Packard built the most accurate measuring tools that existed in all the world at that time, The Merlin engine was far and away, many fold superior to the GM built V-12 aircraft engine !

One of the most beautiful sounding engines ever created and the producers put cheesy stupid music over it… 🤦‍♂️

The same thing about this video is that these guys never talk about the Packard engines. Once the United States got their hands on the Merlin engine, there could be that it would take so long to turn out an engine. The United States engineers improved the method to build the engine. It's too bad that the British could not see a much better way and a faster way, too build build the engine. Even barring this we won the war@

It needs an LS swap.

Merlin was a great engine but not perfect; with fuel injection, then yes, probably a perfect engine. Imagine the Merlin with electronic fuel injection and modern engine management computers! - greater range, smoother fuel delivery.

Another Note: There's not 1 thing responsible for winning the War,it took a collective combination of everything,miss 1 thing and the War result could've been different,Thank God We had what was necessary,God,Truth,Love,all was needed,AMEN.

Why play horrible music when the engine is running.

In my opinion the Spitfire was an elegant machine with beautiful lines it didn’t have the range or speed of it’s American contemporary the P-51 Mustang and were it not for the ‘marriage’ of the great Merlin engine with the wonderful North American airframe we might never have had the P-51. Especially with all the ABYSMAL STUPIDITY and STUBBORNNESS that we Americans originally approached turbo/supercharging with. The American Allison V 12 was a good engine in it’s own right but they could never quite seem to get all the bugs worked out with the turbocharged Allison’s used in the P-38 Lightning as they remained prone to over boosting and burning piston’s. In my opinion though regarding the earlier Spitfires and Hurricanes for that matter I’ll never understand British obsession with the use of RIFLE CALIBER 303 machine guns which at best were anemic against another aircraft hence jamming up to 8 guns 4 per wing in some Spitfires. I remain convinced that pilots were done a disservice being sent into battle with rifle caliber machine guns. The 12.7 /50 caliber Browning M2 or the 20mm cannon being much better for the purpose.

Its a very limited range airplane and useless for escort. The P47 and P51 had so much more range that the Spitfire and was faster.

there is some very detailed info on the merlins in some vids from the USA museum of power boats , they cranked them up a few thousand horses before they switched to turbines . I didn't know they had a shaft drive for the cams , and that two stage turbo set up ,nice , how they could get up to 40 000 ft back in the 30s ,could anything else get up there ?. [ Really sad Britain is being invaded again !, by nazi throw backs ,and islam which is a blood brother ideology . will all this work and heritage be around much longer .]

Who was the jackass that thought anyone would want to listen to some stupid music at the precise time when you fire up that lovely motor?!?!?

Driving a BMW, how ironic.

thumbnail boys sp[itfires' just S in plural

2024May23: .-

stop the stupid music so we can hear the engine

в россионии ИЛ-2 достают из болот, реставрируют и на запад продают, зачем им история ?

Poor greek taxpayers....

The only way to find out the truth is a neutral country air accident I investigation investigate this crash… until then who knows?

Pretty and sound fantastic, but overrated as a war machine.

Hmmm. The ME109 could defeat the Spit by using a climbing right turn. The Spit pilot will try his hardest to get the nose up and then... BOOP! Stall. The ME109 reverses with rudder and is directly behind the Spit. Game over.

Spying on your workers I wouldn't work for u

Typical British videos more about the people than the airplane they do love themselves

A typical British vid.

Most informative and thrilling video, historically very significant • thank you kindly wonderful work you and your restoration Teams are doing Project of sterling value Applauded…🥂👊🔥 🪖 (ex the Fairest Cape Winelands)

In my opinion the Spitfire was an elegant machine with beautiful lines it didn’t have the range or speed of it’s American contemporary the P-51 Mustang and were it not for the ‘marriage’ of the great Merlin engine with the wonderful North American airframe we might never have had the P-51. Especially with all the ABYSMAL STUPIDITY and STUBBORNNESS that we Americans originally approached turbo/supercharging with. The American Allison V 12 was a good engine in it’s own right but they could never quite seem to get all the bugs worked out with the turbocharged Allison’s used in the P-38 Lightning as they remained prone to over boosting and burning piston’s.