just watched silver spitfire return to England after prolonged trip around the world on bbc. the mos

This morning...
I learned the Spitfire had fabric tail and elevators to reduce flutter. (after asking the pilot who taxied in with the P40.... I also asked about the Sea Fury that used to be based here, it went to Australia.

Time Warp said:

View attachment 14206
This morning...
I learned the Spitfire had fabric tail and elevators to reduce flutter. (after asking the pilot who taxied in with the P40.... I also asked about the Sea Fury that used to be based here, it went to Australia.

Click to expand...

That might be one reason, also if it has fabric parts on the tail part , bullets will go right through it, the rest remains intact so the pilot is still able to fly, depending on how much damage has been done.

Time Warp said:

I learned the Spitfire had fabric tail and elevators

Click to expand...

Fabric covered rudder and elevators.

Early Spitfires also had fabric-covered ailerons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Spitfire_(early_Merlin-powered_variants)

"From November 1940, a decision was taken that Supermarine would start producing light-alloy covered ailerons which would replace the original fabric covered versions. However, seven months after the decision was taken to install them on all marks, Spitfires were still being delivered with the original fabric covered ailerons. From May 1941 metal ailerons were fitted to all Spitfires coming off the production lines."