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Photo reconnaissance Spitfire
An unarmed photo reconnaissance Spitfire PR Mk IV, AA781, bearing the LY squadron code of the RAF's No 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit.
Its pilot on 1 August 1942 was Warrant Officer Walter Harrison. He went to photograph Vegesack near Bremen on the north German coast, and did not return.
I discover that PR Spitfires are notoriously difficult to depict unless you have definitive information on their individual appearance – which in this case I did not, so if you can offer any I'd be grateful.
As a purpose-built Mk IV rather than one of the earlier Mk 1 conversions, it probably had the two downward-pointing cameras in the rear fuselage and probably did not have the oblique, sideways-looking one. I have included an aerial mast – but it might not have had one.
Its pilot on 1 August 1942 was Warrant Officer Walter Harrison. He went to photograph Vegesack near Bremen on the north German coast, and did not return.
I discover that PR Spitfires are notoriously difficult to depict unless you have definitive information on their individual appearance – which in this case I did not, so if you can offer any I'd be grateful.
As a purpose-built Mk IV rather than one of the earlier Mk 1 conversions, it probably had the two downward-pointing cameras in the rear fuselage and probably did not have the oblique, sideways-looking one. I have included an aerial mast – but it might not have had one.
© Gary Eason gary@easonmedia.com to license
Picture keywords: aerial photography, photo reconnaissance, Spitfire 1D, Spitfire PR IV, Supermarine Spitfire, Walter Harrison
