18/06/2024
At the ACESQUADRON we are making the Mk26b Spitfire, the project is about remembrance, we also try to bring the lesser know people involved in the creation of the iconic legacy warbird, like Beverley Shenstone.
Beverley Strahan Shenstone MASc, HonFRAes, FAIAA, AFIAS, FCAISI, HonOSTIV was born on 10th June 1906 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
He was the eldest child of Saxon T. Shenstone and Kitty Alison (née Paterson), and the nephew of Allen Shenstone. His father died on Christmas Day 1915, leaving Beverley and his two younger brothers to be raised by Kitty and their paternal grandfather, Joseph Newton Shenstone. Beverley was taught by his uncles to sail. He designed, built and raced model yachts. As an undergraduate in 1927 he undertook a canoeing expedition throughout the waterways of South and South West England. At the end of this tour, he worked for few weeks in an Air Ministry laboratory located in the basement of the London Science Museum. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1928 with a degree in engineering, which was followed by master's degree research into flying boat stability supervised by Professor John H. Parkin.
In June 1929, Shenstone learned to fly under an RCAF cadetship, going solo in under 10 hours which earned him a permanent RCAF commission. In an era when most aircraft were fabric covered wooden biplanes, Shenstone realised that metal monoplanes were the future and that German industry was leading that field. He applied for a job with Dornier in Friedrichshafen but was unsuccessful. Perseverance and useful contacts paid off, with the assistance of Parkin and Captain M.C. Christie (the British Air Attache in Berlin) he got a position with Junkers in November 1929 at Dessau.
He worked for a year at Junkers, learning metal working techniques such as panel beating and riveting. He worked in technical departments such as the engine workshop. He also studied the all wing theories of Hugo Junkers. Shenstone worked with Yoshihara Seiji on preparing the latter's Junkers Junior for its flight from Dessau to Tokyo in August 1930.
In the summer of 1930, Shenstone learnt to glide at the Wasserkuppe. This was the premier gliding centre in Europe at the time. There he met Geoffrey Hill and Alexander Lippisch, both pioneers of all wing aircraft. At this time Lippisch was leading the technical branch of the Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft. Shenstone spent the winter of 1930/1931 working with Lippish and his team developing tail less gliders (and learning to ski). His friendship with Lippisch lasted for 40 years.
While in Germany, he travelled to Heidelberg and met Ludwig Prandtl, who was a pioneer in the application of systematic mathematical analyses to aerodynamics. It was also at the Wasserkuppe that he met Air Commodore John Adrian Chamier and acted as his translator. Air Commodore Chamier suggested that Shenstone should come to work for the British at Vickers-Armstrongs of which he was a director.
To find work, he moved to England in May 1931. Geoffrey Hill tried to get him a job at Westland but there was nothing suitable. He was interviewed by Sidney Camm but due to a “misunderstanding” walked out of the interview. Through Air Commodore Chamier he got an interview in 1932 with Reginald Mitchell at Supermarine (which was part of Vickers-Armstrong). While disappointed with Shenstone's knowledge of monoplane wing construction, Mitchell was impressed by his expertise in aerodynamic theory and gave him a full time position at £500 per annum following a two month trial.
As well as providing technical support, Mitchell charged Shenstone with bringing an external perspective to Supermarine's designs. As a result, Shenstone travelled with Ernest Hives of Rolls-Royce to Germany in early 1934 and later that year to the US with where he visited NACA (later to become NASA) and a number of aircraft manufacturers. As a result, he reported back to Mitchell on the latest NACA wing profiles and the importance being placed on a high level of aerodynamic finish by other designers.
Even before his Type 224 design was rejected by the Air Ministry, Mitchell had decided to commence a thorough reworking of the design, in particular the wing. Assisted by Shenstone's expertise in theoretical aerodynamics Mitchell with additional input from Ernest Mansbridge, Joe Smith and Alfred Faddy began to investigate using an elliptical wing. Both Mitchell and Shenstone were aware of the potential of an elliptical wing as Mitchell had proposed it for his Type 179 flying boat, while the Short Crusader seaplane which had been an entry for the 1927 Schneider Trophy had a similar lobe form wing. Meanwhile, Shenstone was aware that Frederick Lanchester had suggested in 1907 that it was better to spread the vortex flow along the wing instead of concentrating it at the tip, while Max Munk had also identified that when a wing has an elliptically distributed lift then induced drag will be reduced.
Continued iteration led the Supermarine designers to create a distorted elliptical wing with the wing tip pushed forward to produce more lift. With its main spar at right angles the result was a rigid stable wing that provided the stability needed for an aircraft with wing mounted guns. The new wing design was incorporated in the Type 300 proposal that eventually became the Spitfire.
In 1938, Shenstone left Supermarine and went to work for the Air Ministry as a senior scientific officer for the director of civil aviation. There he had a role encouraging cooperation and efficiency within the industry. In October 1940, he was sent to the US as part of the British Air Commission working to ensure that American lend lease aircraft were matched to the requirements of the RAF. In this role he was to take an interest in the development of the P-51 Mustang.
Despite his early research, in 1943, after a difficult experience crossing the Atlantic in a flying boat, Shenstone became convinced that they would be outmoded in post war aviation. This was not a popular position for a member of the Brabazon Committee and drew criticism from other members - The Brabazon Committee was a committee set up by the British government in 1942 to investigate the future needs of the British Empire's civilian airliner market following World War II. The study was an attempt at defining, in broad overview, the impact of projected advances in aviation technology and to forecast the global needs of the post war British Empire (in South Asia, Africa, the Near and Far East) and Commonwealth (Australia, Canada, New Zealand) in the area of air transport, for passengers, mail, and cargo.
The study recognized that the British Empire and Commonwealth as both a political and economic entity would have a vital need for aviation systems (principally aircraft) to facilitate its continued existence and self-reliance in the post war world. For military and commercial reasons, the empire simply could not continue to exist if did not understand the needs, and develop the industrial infrastructure to provide, the aviation systems and sub systems necessary to supply and maintain a global air transport service.
During a meeting one day with Beverley, RJ Mitchell said “he didn’t care what shape the wings were as long as they covered the b****y guns!?”
He retired at the end of 1966 and moved to Cyprus where he had the part-time role as technical advisor for Cyprus Airways. He remained in Cyprus until his death in November 1979.
The Supermarine Spitfire was fitted with a series of different wings during its service career. The type of wing generally indicated the armament of the fighter, or the range of guns that a particular aircraft could carry, and was combined with the Mk number to produce a full designation – Mk IIb or Mk Vc.
In each case the number of guns indicates the total for the fighter, not the total per wing.
“A” wing
The Spitfire I was originally armed with eight .303in Browning machine guns, each with 300 rounds. This type of wing was officially designated as the “A” wing on 15th March 1940, to distinguish between machine gun armed Spitfires and cannon armed aircraft. The vast majority of Spitfires in use during the battle of Britain were armed with machine guns.
“B” wing
The eight .303in machine guns of the Mk I Spitfire had given it a great deal of punch when it was designed, but when the Germans began to add armour to their bombers the .303 machine guns were found somewhat lacking, and the rifle calibre machine guns lost some of their effectiveness. Accordingly, experiments were made with the use of 20mm Hispano cannon, which gave it a great deal of punch.
The response was to fit the Spitfire with the 20mm Hispano cannon. This poses a variety of problems, not least of which was the size of the cannon. The only way to fit it in the Spitfire wing was to mount it on its side. A second problem was that the early cannons were prone to jam under the pressure of combat. If one cannon jammed, the recoil from the other one was enough to push the Spitfire off course.
The “B” wing entered service during 1940. No.19 Squadron used it during the battle of Britain, but the cannons were still causing problems. Finally in November 1940 No.92 Squadron was given Spitfires equipped with two 20mm cannon and four 0.303in machine guns. This proved to be a much more effective combination of weapons, and became the standard for the “B” wing.
“C” wing
Supermarine Spitfire FMk IX of No.602 Squadron
Spitfire FMk IX with "C" wing
The “C” wing appeared in October 1941. It was a “universal” wing that could take eight .303in machine guns, four 20mm cannon or two 20mm cannon and four machine guns. Each cannon now had 120 rounds, compared to the 60 of the “B” wing. This wing was used on the majority of Mk V Spitfires, normally with the combined cannon and machine guns configuration. The “C” wing also had the capability to carry two 250lb bombs under the wings, or one 500lb bomb under the fuselage. If machine guns were used, they were used in the outboard position. The “A” and “B” wings were not used after the Spitfire V.
“D” wing
This was a wing used on some photo reconnaissance Spitfires. Instead of guns this wing carried extra fuel, giving the reconnaissance aircraft a range of up to 2000 miles.
“E” wing
The “E” wing was a further development of the Universal. It could carry either four 20mm cannon or two 20mm cannon and two 0.5in Browning machine guns. This time the cannon took the outer position and the machine guns the inner. This was partly because it gave more room for machine gun ammunition and partly because the bombs were carried below the inner gun positions, and there had been some problems reported when both cannon and bombs were on the same part of the wing. The “E” wing appeared in the second half of 1944.
Mk 21/24 wing
The wing used in the Mk 21 Spitfire was significantly redesigned. The leading edge lost its curve, running straight out to the guns. Armament was standardised at four 20mm Hispano Mk II cannon, with 175 rounds for the inboard gun and 150 for the outboard gun. In official documents this was referred to as the “new shape wing”.
