Scribd
Upload
121 views1 page

Early Photo-Reconnaissance Spitfires: Hauptmann

1) In 1939, an Australian named Sidney Cotton persuaded the head of Fighter Command to convert two Spitfire fighters into unarmed photo reconnaissance aircraft by removing weapons and radios and adding cameras, demonstrating Longbottom's earlier proposal. 2) The first RAF high-speed, high-altitude photo reconnaissance mission of the war took place in November 1939 when one of these modified Spitfires flew a mission over Aachen, Germany from 33,000 feet. 3) Cotton's unit was expanded and renamed, eventually becoming the 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit which operated converted Spitfires for reconnaissance throughout the war from RAF Benson.

Uploaded by

elasu85
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
121 views1 page

Early Photo-Reconnaissance Spitfires: Hauptmann

1) In 1939, an Australian named Sidney Cotton persuaded the head of Fighter Command to convert two Spitfire fighters into unarmed photo reconnaissance aircraft by removing weapons and radios and adding cameras, demonstrating Longbottom's earlier proposal. 2) The first RAF high-speed, high-altitude photo reconnaissance mission of the war took place in November 1939 when one of these modified Spitfires flew a mission over Aachen, Germany from 33,000 feet. 3) Cotton's unit was expanded and renamed, eventually becoming the 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit which operated converted Spitfires for reconnaissance throughout the war from RAF Benson.

Uploaded by

elasu85
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Early photo-reconnaissance Spitfires[edit]

Shortly before the Second World War started Flg. Off. Maurice Longbottom submitted a paper to the
Air Ministry in which he proposed that the RAF equip itself with small, unarmed aircraft which,
stripped of unnecessary weight and equipped with cameras and extra fuel, could rely on high speed,
a fast climb and high altitude to avoid enemy defences. He was thinking primarily about the Spitfire
which, he argued, was the ideal aircraft for the role. Although his idea was received with interest, it
was shelved because there were not yet enough Spitfires available to allow any to be diverted from
equipping Fighter Command.
When early operations proved the vulnerability of the Blenheims and Lysanders, in October 1939 the
Australian Sidney Cotton, Acting Wing Commander of the newly formed and highly secret
"Heston Flight", met with Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, AOC of Fighter Command and
persuaded him to release two Spitfires to his unit. [123] Cotton had already proved Longbottom's theory
to be right in practice by using a modifiedLockheed 12A on clandestine photo-reconnaissance
missions over Germany.[122]
The two Spitfires were "Cottonised" by removing the radio, stripping out the armament, and adding
downward-facing F24 cameras with 5" lenses to replace the inner-wing guns. All panel lines and the
gun-ports were filled in with plaster of Paris and a special light "Camoutint Green" was applied to the
aircraft which was then polished. Thus modified, the Spitfire was capable of reaching over 390 mph.
[124]

While the fighter versions of the Spitfire stayed in Britain, the first PR missions were flown from
bases in France by Cotton's unit which was renamed "No. 2 Camouflage Unit". The first RAF highspeed, high-altitude photo-reconnaissance mission of the war took place on 18 November 1939
when Flt. Lt. "Shorty" Longbottom took off from Seclin and attempted to photograph Aachen from
33,000 ft (10,000 m).[17]
After the initial successes of these aircraft more Mk I Spitfires were converted in different ways to
accomplish different types of reconnaissance missions. On 17 January 1940, 2 Camouflage Unit
was renamed the "Photographic Development Unit" (PDU), while another PR Unit, 212
Squadron was formed in France.[125] Five months later, on 17 June 1940, Sidney Cotton was removed
from his role in the RAF for taking money to fly a French businessman to the UK while he was
evacuating British agents from Paris. In the following year, he was awarded an OBE in recognition of
his contribution to the development of photographic reconnaissance. [126] The PDU was expanded,
eventually becoming 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (1 PRU) in November 1940, operating
from RAF Benson as part of RAF Coastal Command.
On 3 June 1940, Hauptmann Werner Mlders of III./JG5

You might also like