Quote:
Originally Posted by Adriano Baumgartner
Graham,
Just for curiosity, but are you telling me that those Spits which flew above 30,000 feet DID NOT have oxygen systems installed?
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Adriano,
The Spitfires did have oxygen tanks installed as standard. However there were several instances during 1943 where the tanks had not been filled (reasons unknown) prior to a mission flown, which caused several deaths, including Sq. Ld. Thorold-Smith on 15-3-1943. There were also a number of sorties abandoned by pilots due to oxygen failure.
An excellent book covering No.1 Wing RAAF operations over Darwin is titled 'Darwin Spitfires', by Anthony Cooper.