Posted on 06/05/2006 6:19:33 AM PDT by Vectorian
The last time they flew across the Channel, they were 32 feet long, with Rolls-Royce engines and wings bristling with 20mm cannons.
Now they measure all of 18 inches, have no engine and not so much as a peashooter - but their "pilots" still risk being thrown into German captivity.
The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that a "big wing" of more than 10,000 inflatable Spitfires will this week cross into Germany and, when the World Cup starts on Friday, they could face the kind of frosty reception encountered by their wartime counterparts.
England football fans have been warned of arrest by the British Home Secretary, threatened with "zero tolerance" by a German police chief, and told not to mention the war by the creator of Basil Fawlty himself.
Some have responded by packing inflatable Spitfires by the thousand into their camper vans to sell throughout Germany and finance their World Cup trips.
Alf Ancell, 31, who designed the Spitfires, admitted he had found plenty of fans willing to sell the planes in Germany.
"I got 10,000 Spitfires in a couple of months ago and I am now down to my last 2,000 and expecting to sell the remainder.
"It's not a link to the War," he insisted. "It's just an English symbol of victory. They look like flags when you hold them aloft. I don't see how that can be inflammatory."
Planning to sell them on campsites, in beer tents, and on beaches, Fred Arnold, Andy Mitchel and Terry Dorell last week vowed never to surrender their blow-up Spitfires until the buyer paid £5. The three have packed their VW camper van with more than 1,000 Spitfires, bought for £3.75 each on a sale-or-return basis, and will this week be selling them to fellow fans all over Germany.
"They're original and brilliant," enthused Mr Dorell about the miniature fighters decorated with St George's Crosses and camouflage patterns. "They may not like it in Germany," he added. "but who gives a sausage?"
The answer, it seems, starts with John Cleese, the German and British police forces, the Home Office - not to mention RAF veterans plus television producers who may not relish deciding what to do when the camera pans to thousands of Spitfire-waving fans.
Cleese, famous for screaming "Don't mention the war" as a goose-stepping Basil Fawlty, has condemned the "ridiculous anti-German prejudices" of his comic creation.
Before he was sacked as home secretary in May, Charles Clarke told the 100,000 England fans expected to visit Germany that glorifying the country's Nazi past is a criminal offence and that brandishing inflatable Spitfires could land them in trouble. "It's not a joke, it is not a comic thing," he said.
Asst Chief Constable Stephen Thomas, who is heading the delegation of 82 British police officers in Germany, admitted that the Spitfire issue was "tricky".
"The Germans," he said, "have a sense of humour. It's not a criminal offence to sell or display these items, but we have real concerns about how people might behave once they have a bit to drink. It could step over into insulting or threatening behaviour."
At the German embassy, optimism was the defensive strategy of choice. "Let's wait and see," said a spokesman. "Maybe they won't inflate these toys."
• Fans have been told not to travel without measles vaccinations because an epidemic has infected more than 1,300 people in Germany this year. One area is North Rhine Westphalia, which includes two cities hosting the World Cup Cologne and Dortmund.
'Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but weren't Spitfires incapable of long range bomber escort and thus wouldn't have flown over German territory anyway. They were very effective in intercepting incoming german bombers and fighters but did not have the range to fly into Germany and still get home. '
True - at that time, no fighter in the world had the range to escort bombers between England and Germany. The bombers were coming from France though, not Germany.
'In fact i believe that the allies didn't have any fighter that could escort the bombers all the way in until the P-51 Mustang came on the scene. I believe it was Goebbles who said when he looked up and saw the Mustangs flying bomber escort over Germany he knew it was the beginning of the end. '
The P-51 couldn't escort bombers from England to Germany either when it was introduced with the thirsty and low-powered US engine it was designed for. As soon as we dropped the Rolls-Royce Merlin into it, it could! As one notable USAF pilot said about the P-51 - it can't do what a Spitfire can do, but it can do it over Berlin! :D
'So if the Spitfire played mostly a defensive role, what do the Germans have to complain about? If they were waving inflatable B-17s or B-24s I could understand.'
The Spitfire was an out and out attacking aircraft, it just so happened the war was going on above England, not Germany! Better still they should have been waving Lancaster Bombers as they carried more than twice the bomb load of the B24 and a lot more than a B17!
'I guess they're not part of the "I'm offended by the Crusader flag" contingent.'
Football is their religion!
Spitfires started showing up over German territory after the invasion, in late 1944 and into 1945 as part of the Tactical Air Force. They were used as escorts for ground-attack missions, and on fighter sweeps. And they were used (to a point) on heavy bomber escort, but only over the Low Countries and northern France--they didn't have the range to go any further.
And that inflatable thing doesn't look a BIT like a Spitfire. Looks more like a Brewster Buffalo with a bad paint job. :)
}:-)4
Does this make sense? How do the Spitfires glorify Nazism?..... StrongBlackWoman
.....an apparent radial engine, and where's the ellipsoid wing? I would never have figured out that is a model of a Spitfire! :-).......6SJ7
It could land them in trouble because it looks like a Focke-Wolfe and looks nothing like a Spitfire. :-)
Balloon models
Focke-Wolfe 190
Spitfire
'Football? In Europe... Oh, you mean soccer. That is a nice sport for the kids here in the US... '
American Football - oh you mean your pansy version of rugby for sissies who need crash helmets and padded bras in case they bruise themselves? ;-)
'As for the inflatable airplanes, it does seem much ado about nothing. The photo of the three guys with their planes is comical. Their mothers must be so proud of how fat their sons have come....'
Lectured on being fat by an American! Do those guys really qualify as fat on your side of the pond? :D
'They should have made inflatable Lancasters with little inflatable incediary bombs under the wings.'
Indeed, but they could've just as easily made B17's as the USAF was supposed to lead the firebomb attack on Dresden but the weather was too bad for the B17's so 796 Lancasters lead the attack. The next day the weather was better and 311 B17's successfully fire-bombed Dresden followed by another 986 B17's a couple of days later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II
Another reason ... the Spitfires were just plain pretty planes. Gorgeous things, the prettiest planes in the war, with those eliptical wings. The Germans, on the other hand, had the meanest, nastiest, wickedest looking planes. The Messerschmitt 109 comes to mind. Absolutely bad ass!
Focke-Wulf 190, with an engine made by BMW. The Messerschmitt 109, on the other hand, was powered by Mercedes Benz. Considering that the Focke-Wulf and the ME 109 were short-range planes and would be out of gas by the time they got over England, yes, they'd be in trouble! ;^)
Rolls Royce powered bouth the Spitfire and the legendary P-51 Mustang. They both had long-range capabilities and coudl fly deep into enemy territory.
Interestingly, many, many of the things we enjoy in our cars today, such as disc brakes, fuel injection, and turbochargers, came out of WWII aviation. Those things were on war planes first! Then they went to cars!
Many historians think that the Mustangs had a profound impact on the war. One guy said that the decision to put the Rolls Royce Merlin engine in the P-51 was directly responsible for shortening the war in Europe and saving many lives on both sides. I have on one history book the story of how the legendary Adolf Galland, an Me 109 pilot who had I think the most kills of any pilot in WWII, made some enemies when Herman Goering asked him what he would like for the air battle over England. Galland replied: "I should like an outfit of Spitfires for my squadron."
I love it: when the hummus hits the fan!!!
We would be better off if were the religion of more people!
Well to me they look less like Spitfires and more like P-47 Thunderbolts.
I think "fat" was supposed to be "far".
I think this goofy blow-up plane looks more like a Russian Polikarov with Swiss markings.
"padded bras"
I love it!!!
'I correct myself from what I wrote earlier -- the Daimer-Benz powered ME 109 could make it to England as a bomber escort, but couldn't stay for long because it would run out of fuel. '
A valid point, but from 1940 to 1944 they only had to fly from their airfields in France, not Germany to attack England and that flight could be as little as 22 miles. Us English had to fly all the way to Germany to bomb the nazi homeland.
Thanks - but that's not mine. I did own one for about 5 years in the late 70s thru early 80s.
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