22.04.2009, 02:35
Are you sure it was that late Kimura? I argued this once before and was linked to documentation suggesting otherwise. Some British chick actually came up with the surge plate and it was initially named after her. Hers was a simple improvisation, later standardised in more refined form for manufacture in the later series Merlins, but I'm pretty sure they were first issued in or around Oct40.
Initially it just consisted of a metal disc with holes drilled into it, and that was fitted to the earlier series Merlins currently in RAF equip, well before the MkV.
I've also heard RAF pilots talk about its introduction "by the end of the Battle of Britain" although admitedly some pilots consider the BoB to have continued into 1941.
Anyone got a link?
Initially it just consisted of a metal disc with holes drilled into it, and that was fitted to the earlier series Merlins currently in RAF equip, well before the MkV.
I've also heard RAF pilots talk about its introduction "by the end of the Battle of Britain" although admitedly some pilots consider the BoB to have continued into 1941.
Anyone got a link?