# WW II Aircraft Pt 7: Supermarine Spitfire



## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

*Britain's premier fighter*

The Spitfire's role in the winning of the Battle of Britain, put it among the most admired fighters ever built and gave it an heroic romantic image never bestowed on any other aircraft.

Its designer R.J. Mitchell (1895-1937) was appalled when he realized how sharply the burgeoning military might of Nazi Germany contrasted with laggardly British re-armament. Mitchell determined to develop, before it was too late, a fighter that could match warplanes like the Bf 109 fighter and the Ju 88 'fast' bomber.

The Spitfire was built around the Rolls Royce PV 12 engine and the Air Ministry requirement for a fighter with eight machine guns. The graceful, highly maneuverable prototype with its light alloy fuselage and a 990 hp engine first flew on 5th March 1936 and reached a speed of 349.5 mph. Within three months, its manufacturers, Supermarine, had received a contract for 310 Spitfires with 200 more ordered for 1937.

When World War II began, nine British squadrons were equipped with Spitfire Is. This single-seater interceptor fighter was powered by a 1,030 hp Rolls Royce Merlin III twelve cylinder liquid cooled engine and armed with eight .303 inch Browning machine guns. With a maximum speed of 365 mph at 19,000 ft., Spitfire IAs had a range of nearly 600 miles and could climb at the rate of 2,500 feet per minute. These aircraft, with their 36 ft. 10 ins. wingspan, and length of nearly 30 ft., were the main breed of Spitfire contesting the Battle of Britain, although the Spitfire II, with its 1,175 hp Rolls Royce Merlin XII engine was present in small numbers.

The Spitfire went through 21 more variants before the final, 20,334th, was produced in 1947. During World War II, Spitfires served in the Mediterranean, North Africa, Australia, Russia and the Far East. The Spitfire was held in respect and fear by pilots of the German Luftwaffe. Legend has it that when victory in the Battle of Britain was slipping from the Germans' grasp, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering asked his pilots what they most wanted to reverse the situation. The answer was, reputedly:
'A squadron of Spitfires'.


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

Spitfire Mk1 battle of Britain


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

Spitfire Mk2


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

Spitfire Mk V introduced in 1941. Britsih colors have now changed from earth/green to grey/green pattern.


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

Spitfire Vs in the med had an ugly extra airfilter under the plane's nose.


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

The first US 8th air force fighter squadrons flew Spitfires from England


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

The Spitfire Mk IX was a major upgrade with new engine and four bladed propellar.

This one has 'invasion stripes' added for the D day landings in 1944


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

A Spitfire Mk XIV had a new engine and a five bladed propellar.


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

The last major Mk was the Spitfire Mk 24 which had many design changes and hardly looked like the Mk 1 at all.


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

Group Captain J.E. 'Johnny' Johnson was the highest scoring ace on the offical britsih record with 38 confirmed kills, all single seat fighters.






Johnson standing next to his Spit Mk IX, the letter code is his intials, this was permitted for several high scoring British aces.


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

Group Capatin AG 'Sailor' Malan was an ace in the battle of Britain, served in the RAF although he was from South Africa. He aquired the knickname 'sailor' from serving in the merchant marine before the war. Malan had 29 kills when he was taken off flight status in 1941.






Sailor standing next to a Mk 1 during the battle of Britain


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## Xenophon (Jul 13, 2009)

Pierre Closterman flew in the RAF and the Free french air force, racking up 32 air to air kills during the war.






Closterman's impressive 'kill board' (the aircraft is a late war Hawker typhoon fighter)


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## Vaccum John (Jul 14, 2009)

The distinctive silhouette imparted by the wing planform helped the Spitfire to achieve legendary status during the Battle of Britain. There was, and still is, a public perception that it was the RAF fighter of the battle, although the more numerous Hurricane actually shouldered a greater proportion of the burden against the Luftwaffe.


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## Mr. H. (Jan 4, 2013)

Spitfires buried in Burma during war to be returned to UK - Telegraph


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## nahyy (Jan 7, 2013)

Air Wael and this plane was an Old


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## Unkotare (Jan 12, 2013)

Why is this in the Education forum?


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## blimpo (Jan 25, 2013)

Unkotare said:


> Why is this in the Education forum?



I love the Spitfire pics, but I wondered the same thing.



So here is something I like..


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## Mr. H. (Mar 4, 2013)

Life-Size Fighter Plane Made From Egg Cartons | Watch the video - Yahoo! Screen

_An architect and a sculptor in Great Britain have just completed a life-size model of the iconic World War II era Spitfire fighter plane out of egg cartons. The model is thirty-six feet long, and required 6500 egg cartons.The model Spitfire was built for March Fourth, an event for the Help For Heroes armed forces charity. The model is currently on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridgeshire._


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## psikeyhackr (Mar 9, 2013)

The First Of The Few (1942) 

Interesting but SO 40s.

psik


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