In article <3ADCEBF0.8BA87C92@gte.net>, Joe Curry <spitlist@gte.net>
writes
>Michael,
>New Year models were started with the next number sequence. For example, The
>first 1974 (MkIV) model was FH 60001. Te last previous year's car was
>FH59387.
Oh, I see. I had assumed that that gap was explained by there being no
cars reported in what is a fairly narrow range of numbers.
> Some of the models have even greatef gaps, accounting for the missing
>cars you noticed.
>
>Don't use the data in the database as the gospel about the numbers
>manufactured.
>In fact the last 75 model according to the BMIHT was FH79821 (but that is not
>100 percent guaranteed). The first 1976 was FH80001.
>
>You also have to include the FM (US market) and the VIN mnumbered cars to
>arrive
>at the total for the 1500 model.
I did - but came up with a figure around 135,000... :-(
>
>Finally, Robson's figures are misleading even though he got his information
>from
>the BMIHT. I think it has to do with his formatting. Although I
>have not seen his production figures, I had a discussion with him a year or so
>ago and we reached the conclusion that his figures were accurate but
>somehow not really clear.
One other problem which I didn't mention last night was that Robson
ignores all the US 1500s that were manufactured whilst we in UK were
still buying MkIVs. This might go some way towards explaining the
discrepancy between the 91,137 and 95,829 figures.
If his figures are even accurate to within 10%, they also go some way
towards explaining why there are so many US Spitfire 1500 owners on this
list - over 80% of 1500s went for export.
> I received the starting and ending commission numbers
>from Anders Clausager when he was still at the BMIHT. He too
>admitted that there is no really definitive listing of the entire production
>sequence due to some missing data, most notably a fire which destroyed
>all the data on the CKD cars assembled in Belgium.
Good grief - and I thought researching nineteenth-century military
history was problematical!
>
>In addition to this, I have come to conclude that some of the numbers within
>certain series were assigned to CKD kits bound to off-shore assembly
>plants and for whatever reason never used. Therefore, you cannot do any sort
>of
>math to arrive at a comprehensive number for the total Spitfire
>production or that of any particular model.
>
>It's just like religion. You just gotta have "Faith"!
Keep the faith, brother.
ATB
Mike
--
Michael Hargreave Mawson, author of "Eyewitness in the Crimea,"
published by Greenhill Books on 28th March, 2001:
http://www.greenhillbooks.com/booksheets/eyewitness_in_the_crimea.html
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