A bit like London buses; you wait ages for one, then two come along together!

Here we see a Spitfire Mk 1a leading a Mk Vc onto the Duxford grass. The Mk 1 type had been in service since 1937 and the Mk V which was essentially a Mk 1 with a more powerful engine, introduced late in 1940.

In this picture, we can see the difference between the 'a' wing on the leading Spitfire, which could carry 8 machine guns and the 'c' wing on the Mk V which could carry either 4 cannon, or 2 cannon and 4 machine guns. This one is configured for the latter.

Note also how the markings changed during the course of the war; the Mk 1 has the Dark Earth with Dark Green topsides camouflage pattern, whilst the Mk V shows the later scheme introduced after 1941 which replaced Dark Earth with Ocean Grey, which was found to be more effective. The Mk V also carries a couple of 'friend or foe' visual identification aids; a pale band around the fuselage immediately in front of the tail plane, and yellow wing leading edges, so the plane could be identified when seen head on.

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Make:	Canon
Model:	Canon EOS 5DS R
Exposure:	0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture:	f/8.0
ISO Speed:	100
Focal Length:	560 mm
Lens:	EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III