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Supermarine Spitfire



 
 


The Supermarine Spitfire is a British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 single-seat fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets by dropping bombs....
 used by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts....
 and many other Allied
Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries officially opposed to the Axis powers of World War II during the World War II. Within the ranks of the Allies powers, the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the United States of America were known as "The Big Three"....
 countries through the Second World War and on into the 1950s as a frontline fighter and in secondary roles. It was produced in greater numbers than any other Allied design. The Spitfire was the only Allied fighter in production throughout the Second World War.

The Spitfire was designed by R. J. Mitchell
R. J. Mitchell

Reginald Joseph Mitchell Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, was an aeronautical engineering, best known for his design of the Supermarine Spitfire....
, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works
Supermarine

Supermarine was a United Kingdom aircraft manufacturer that become famous for producing a range of sea planes and the legendary Supermarine Spitfire fighter....
, since 1928 a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrongs.






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The Supermarine Spitfire is a British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 single-seat fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets by dropping bombs....
 used by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts....
 and many other Allied
Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries officially opposed to the Axis powers of World War II during the World War II. Within the ranks of the Allies powers, the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the United States of America were known as "The Big Three"....
 countries through the Second World War and on into the 1950s as a frontline fighter and in secondary roles. It was produced in greater numbers than any other Allied design. The Spitfire was the only Allied fighter in production throughout the Second World War.

The Spitfire was designed by R. J. Mitchell
R. J. Mitchell

Reginald Joseph Mitchell Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, was an aeronautical engineering, best known for his design of the Supermarine Spitfire....
, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works
Supermarine

Supermarine was a United Kingdom aircraft manufacturer that become famous for producing a range of sea planes and the legendary Supermarine Spitfire fighter....
, since 1928 a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrongs. He continued to refine the design until his death from cancer in 1937, whereupon his colleague Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith (aircraft designer)

Joseph Smith Order of the British Empire was an English people aircraft designer who took over as Chief Designer for Supermarine's upon the death of R....
 became chief designer. Its elliptical wing
Elliptical wing

An elliptical wing is a wing planform shape, first seen on aircraft in the 1930s, which minimizes Lift-induced drag. Elliptical taper shortens the Chord near the wingtips in such a way that all parts of the wing experience equivalent downwash, and lift at the wing tips is essentially zero, improving Aerodynamics efficiency due to a greater...
 had a thin cross-section, allowing a higher top speed than the Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane is a United Kingdom single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft. Some production of the Hurricane was carried out in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry....
 and many other contemporary designs.

The distinctive silhouette imparted by the wing planform
Planform

A planform or plan view is a vertical orthographic projection of an object on a horizontal plane, like a map.In aviation, a planform is the shape and layout of an fixed-wing aircraft's wing and fuselage....
 helped the Spitfire to achieve legendary status during the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the Luftwaffe during the summer and autumn of 1940 to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force , especially RAF Fighter Command....
. 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 potent Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe

is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
.

After the Battle of Britain the Spitfire became the backbone of RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command

Fighter Command was one of three functional Command that dominated the public perception of the Royal Air Force for much of the mid-20th century....
 and saw action in the European Theatre
European Theatre of World War II

The European Theatre of Operations was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe; during World War II, from Nazi Germany Invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until the end of World War II in Europe with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945 ....
, Pacific Theatre
Pacific Theater of Operations

The Pacific Theater #Theater of operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period....
 and the South-East Asian theatre
South-East Asian theatre of World War II

The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was the name given to the campaigns of the Pacific War in Burma , British Ceylon, British India, Thailand, French Indochina, British Malaya and Singapore....
. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire saw service in several roles and was built in many different variants.

The Spitfire will always be compared to its main adversary, the Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was a Germany World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt in the early 1930s. It was one of the first true modern fighters of the era, including such features as an all-metal monocoque construction, a closed canopy, and retractable landing gear....
: both were among the finest fighters of their day and followed similar design philosophies of marrying a small, streamlined airframe to a powerful liquid-cooled V12 engine
V12 engine

A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinder s mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually at a 60? angle to each other, but in some cases at a wider or narrower angle, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....
.

Design and development

Supermarine Spitfire Protoype K5054 Unpainted
R. J. Mitchell's 1931 design to meet Air Ministry specification F7/30
List of Air Ministry Specifications

This is a partial list of the United Kingdom Air Ministry specifications for aircraft. A specification started from an Operational Requirement, abbreviated "OR", describing what the aircraft would be used for - this in turn led to a specification e.g....
 for a new and modern fighter capable of , the Supermarine Type 224
Supermarine Type 224

The Supermarine Type 224 was a design submitted by R. J. Mitchell for a Royal Air Force competition to select a new fighter in 1934 in aviation....
, resulted in an open-cockpit monoplane with bulky gull-wings and a large fixed, spatted undercarriage
Undercarriage

In aviation, the undercarriage or landing gear is the structure that supports an aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxiing....
 powered by the evaporative-cooled Rolls-Royce Goshawk
Rolls-Royce Goshawk

The Rolls-Royce Goshawk was a development of the Rolls-Royce Kestrel featuring evaporative cooling. It provided 660 h.p. and powered the Short Knuckleduster, the Supermarine Type 224 and other prototypes....
 engine. This made its first flight in February 1934. This aircraft was a big disappointment to Mitchell and his design team, who immediately embarked on a series of "cleaned-up" designs, using their experience with the Schneider Trophy
Schneider Trophy

The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider" was a prize competition for seaplanes. Announced by Jacques Schneider, a financier, balloonist and aircraft enthusiast, in 1911, it offered a prize of roughly ?1,000....
 seaplanes as a starting point. The F7/30 design accepted was the Gloster Gladiator
Gloster Gladiator

The Gloster Gladiator was a United Kingdom-built biplane Fighter aircraft, used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s....
 biplane.

Mitchell had already begun working on a new aircraft, designated Type 300, based on the Type 224. With a retractable gear and the wingspan reduced by , the aircraft was submitted to the Air Ministry in July 1934, but again was not accepted. The design evolved through a number of changes, including an enclosed cockpit, oxygen-breathing apparatus, even smaller and thinner wings, and the newly-developed and much more powerful Rolls-Royce PV-XII
Rolls-Royce Merlin

The Rolls-Royce Merlin was a liquid cooled 27 litre 60? V12 internal combustion engine aircraft engine which became famous in World War II. Several versions of the Merlin were built by Rolls-Royce Limited , by Ford of Britain and in the United States as the Packard V-1650....
 Vee-12 engine, later named the Merlin. In November 1934, Mitchell, with the backing of Supermarine's owner, Vickers-Armstrongs, started detailed design work on the Type 300. The Air Ministry issued a contract AM 361140/34 on 1 December 1934, providing £
Pound sterling

----The pound sterling , subdivided into 100 pence , is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependency and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory....
10,000 for the construction of Mitchell's "improved F7/30 design". On 3 January 1935, the Air Ministry formalised the contract and a new Specification F10/35 was written around the aircraft.

Just 15 months later, after several major design changes and refinements, on 5 March 1936 the sleek new prototype (K5054) took off on its first flight from Eastleigh Aerodrome
Southampton Airport

Southampton Airport is the 20th largest airport in the United Kingdom, located in Eastleigh near Southampton.Southampton Airport is owned and operated by BAA Limited, which also owns and operates six other United Kingdom airports, including the three busiest airports serving London, and is itself owned by an international consortium led by...
 (later Southampton
Southampton

Southampton is the largest City status in the United Kingdom in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England, and is sited around 100 km south-west of London and 30 km north-west of Portsmouth....
 Airport). At the controls was Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers
Joseph Summers

Captain Joseph Summers, Order of the British Empire , was chief test pilot at Vickers-Armstrongs.He flew many aircraft for their first flights including the Supermarine Spitfire, and the Vickers Valiant....
, (chief test pilot for Vickers (Aviation) Ltd.), who was reported in the press as saying "Don't touch anything" on landing. This flight was just four months after the maiden flight of the contemporary Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane is a United Kingdom single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft. Some production of the Hurricane was carried out in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry....
.

Testing continued until 26 May 1936, when Summers flew K5054 to RAF Martlesham Heath
RAF Martlesham Heath

RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force RAF station in England. The field is located 1? miles SW of Woodbridge, Suffolk....
 and handed the aircraft over to Squadron Leader Anderson of the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE).

The Air Ministry placed an order for 310 aircraft on 3 June 1936, before any formal report had been issued by the A&AEE, interim reports being issued on a piecemeal basis. The British public first saw the Spitfire at the RAF Hendon
Hendon Aerodrome

Hendon Aerodrome was an aerodrome in Hendon, north London, England and between 1908 and 1968 was an important centre for aviation.It was situated in Colindale, seven miles north west of Charing Cross....
 air-display on Saturday 27 June 1936. Although full-scale production was supposed to begin immediately, there were numerous problems which could not be overcome for some time and the first production Spitfire, K9787, did not roll off the Woolston, Southampton
Southampton

Southampton is the largest City status in the United Kingdom in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England, and is sited around 100 km south-west of London and 30 km north-west of Portsmouth....
 assembly line until mid-1938. The first and most immediate problem was that the main Supermarine factory at Woolston was already working at full capacity fulfilling orders for Walruses
Supermarine Walrus

The Supermarine Walrus was a United Kingdom single-engine Amphibious aircraft biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and operated by the Fleet Air Arm....
 and Stranraers
Supermarine Stranraer

The Supermarine Stranraer was a 1930s United Kingdom flying boat designed and built by Supermarine which marked the end of biplane flying-boat development for the Royal Air Force....
. Although outside contractors were supposed to be involved in manufacturing many important Spitfire components, especially the wings, Vickers-Armstrongs (the parent company) were extremely reluctant to see the Spitfire being manufactured by outside concerns and were slow to release the necessary blueprints and sub-components. As a result of the innumerable delays in getting the Spitfire into full production, the Air Ministry put forward a plan that production of the Spitfire be stopped after the initial order for 310, after which Supermarine would build Bristol Beaufighter
Bristol Beaufighter

The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a United Kingdom long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's earlier Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber design....
s. The managements of Supermarine and Vickers were able to persuade the Air Ministry that the problems could be overcome and further orders were placed for 200 Spitfires on 24 March 1938, the two orders covering the K, L and N prefix serial numbers.

Name origin

The Air Ministry submitted a list of possible names to Vickers-Armstrongs for the new aircraft, now known as the Type 300. One of these was the improbable Shrew. The name Spitfire was suggested by Sir Robert MacLean, director of Vickers-Armstrongs at the time, who called his daughter Ann "a little spitfire".

The word dates from Elizabethan times and refers to a particularly fiery, ferocious type of person. The name had previously been used unofficially for Mitchell's earlier F7/30 Type 224 design. Mitchell is reported to have said that it was "just the sort of bloody silly name they would choose".

Airframe

In the mid-1930s, aviation design teams worldwide started developing a new generation of all-metal, low-wing fighter aircraft. The French Dewoitine D.520
Dewoitine D.520

The Dewoitine D.520 was a France fighter aircraft that entered service in early 1940, shortly after the opening of World War II. Unlike the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, which was at that time the List of aircraft of the Arm?e de l'Air, World War II's most numerous fighter, the Dewoitine D.520 came close to being a match for the latest Germany typ...
 and Germany's Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was a Germany World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt in the early 1930s. It was one of the first true modern fighters of the era, including such features as an all-metal monocoque construction, a closed canopy, and retractable landing gear....
 were designed to take advantage of new techniques of monocoque
Monocoque

Monocoque, from Greek language for single and French for shell , is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin....
 construction and new high-powered, liquid-cooled, in-line aero engines. They also featured refinements such as retractable undercarriages, fully enclosed cockpits and low drag, all-metal wings (all introduced on civil airliners years before but slow to be adopted by the military, who favoured the simplicity and manoeuvrability of the biplane).

Mitchell's design aims were to create a well-balanced, high-performance fighter aircraft capable of fully exploiting the power of the Merlin engine while being relatively easy to fly.

The design team's resultant airframe was complex: an exceptionally well-streamlined, semi-monocoque duralumin
Duralumin

Duralumin is the trade name of one of the earliest types of age hardening aluminium alloys. The main alloying constituents are copper, manganese and magnesium....
 fuselage featuring a large number of compound curves built up from a skeleton of 19 frames
Former

A former is a structural member of an aircraft fuselage, of which a typical fuselage has a series from the nose to the empennage, typically perpendicular to the roll axis of the aircraft....
, starting from the main engine bulkhead (frame number one). Aft of the engine bulkhead were five half-frames to accommodate the fuel tanks and cockpit. From the seventh, which was the frame to which the pilot's seat and (later) armour plating was attached, to the fifteenth, which was mounted at a forward angle just forward of the tailfin, the frames were oval, each reducing slightly in size, and had numerous holes drilled through them to lighten them as much as possible without weakening them. Frame 16 formed a double bulkhead with frame 17, which was extended to form the main spar of the vertical fin. Frame 18 formed the secondary spar. Just aft of this, the nineteenth frame formed the rudder post. A combination of 14 longitudinal stringers
Longeron

In aircraft construction, a Longeron or Stringer is a thin strip of wood or metal, to which the skin of the aircraft is fastened. Longerons are attached to formers , in the case of the fuselage, or ribs in the case of a wing, or empennage....
 and two main longerons helped form a light but rigid structure to which sheets of alclad
Alclad

Alclad is a trademark of Alcoa used as a generic term to describe corrosion resistant Aluminium sheet formed from high-purity aluminium surface layers metallurgically bonded to high strength Aluminium Alloy core material....
 stressed skinning were attached. There was ample room for camera equipment and fuel tanks which were to be fitted during the Spitfire's operational service life.

The skins of the fuselage, wings and tailplane were secured by rivets and, in critical areas such as the wing forward of the main spar where an uninterrupted airflow was required, with flush rivets. In some areas, such as the rear of the wing, the top was riveted and the bottom fixed by woodscrews into sections of spruce
Spruce

A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth....
; later pop-riveting
Rivet

A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before it is installed it consists of a smooth cylinder shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck-tail....
 would be used for these areas. From 1943 on, flush riveting was used throughout the entire airframe; the first version of the Spitfire to change to flush riveting being the Mk XII, closely followed by all Castle Bromwich built Mk IXs. At first, the ailerons, elevators and rudder were fabric-covered. However, when combat experience showed that fabric-covered ailerons were impossible to use at high speeds, fabric was replaced with a light alloy, enhancing control throughout the speed range.

Elliptical wing design

From early on, Mitchell and the design staff were contemplating an elliptical wing shape to solve the conflicting requirements of having the lowest possible thickness-to-chord
Chord (aircraft)

In reference to aircraft, chord refers to the distance between the leading edge and trailing edge of a wing, horizontal stabilizer or vertical stabilizer, measured in the direction of the normal airflow....
 ratio to reduce drag
Drag (physics)

The term drag is widely used in Physics and Engineering and is central to the field of fluid dynamics. "Drag" refers to forces that oppose the motion of a solid object through a fluid ....
, and having room to install a retractable undercarriage, as well as the projected armament and ammunition which, in April 1935, was changed from two .303 Vickers machine gun
Vickers machine gun

The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the Water cooling .303 British machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army....
s in each wing to four .303 Brownings.

It has been suggested that Mitchell copied the wing shape of the Heinkel He 70
Heinkel He 70

The Heinkel He 70 was a Germany mail plane, passenger, liaison, training and bomber aircraft of the 1930s. Although useful, it had a relatively brief commercial career before it was replaced by types which could carry more passengers....
. Mitchell's aerodynamicist, Beverley Shenstone, however, has pointed out that the He 70 was designed to fulfil a completely different role and that other aircraft also had elliptical wings. The Spitfire wing was much thinner with a completely different section. As a practical engineer, Mitchell was fully aware of the efficiency of the elliptical wing, as were Siegfried and Walter Günter, who designed the Heinkel.

A design aspect of the wing which contributed greatly to its success was an innovative spar boom design, made up of five square concentric tubes which fitted into each other. Two of these booms were linked together by an alloy web, creating a lightweight and very strong main spar
Spar (aviation)

In a fixed-wing aircraft, the spar is often the main structural member of the wing, running wingspan at right angles to the fuselage. The spar carries flight loads and the weight of the wings whilst on the ground....
. The undercarriage legs were attached to pivot points built into the inner, rear of the main spar and retracted outwards and slightly backwards into wells in the non-load-carrying wing structure. The narrow undercarriage track was considered to be an acceptable compromise as it allowed the landing impact loads to be transmitted to the strongest parts of the wing structure.

Ahead of the spar, the thick-skinned leading edge of the wing formed a strong and very rigid D-shaped box, which took most of the wing loads. At the time the wing was designed, this D-shaped leading edge was intended to house steam condensers for the evaporative cooling system intended for the PV XII. Constant problems with the evaporative system in the Goshawk
Rolls-Royce Goshawk

The Rolls-Royce Goshawk was a development of the Rolls-Royce Kestrel featuring evaporative cooling. It provided 660 h.p. and powered the Short Knuckleduster, the Supermarine Type 224 and other prototypes....
 led to the adoption of a 100% glycol
Ethylene glycol

Ethylene glycol is an alcohol with two -OH groups , a chemical compound widely used as an automobile antifreeze. In its pure form, it is an odorless, colorless, syrupy, sweet tasting, toxic liquid....
 cooling system, together with a new radiator-duct design, devised by Fredrick Meredith of the RAE
Royal Aircraft Establishment

The Royal Aircraft Establishment England, was a British research establishment latterly under the Ministry of Defence .The first site was at Farnborough Airfield in Hampshire to which was added a second site RAE Bedford in 1946....
 at Farnborough
Farnborough

Farnborough may refer to several places in England:* Farnborough, Hampshire**The Sixth Form College, Farnborough**Farnborough College of Technology...
, which used the cooling air to generate thrust, greatly reducing the drag produced by the radiators. This meant that the leading-edge structure lost its function as an evaporator, but it was later to become very useful as it was able to be adapted to house integral fuel tanks of various sizes.

The airflow through the main radiator(s) (from the Mk VII on there were two main radiator housings under the wings) was controlled by pneumatic exit flaps. In early marks of Spitfire (Mk I to Mk VI) the single flap was operated manually using a lever to the left of the pilot's seat, but from the Mk VII the two radiator flaps were operated automatically via a thermostat
Thermostat

A thermostat is a Measuring instrument for regulating the temperature of a system so that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint temperature....
.

The light alloy split flaps
Flap (aircraft)

Flaps are hinged surfaces on the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. As flaps are extended, the Stall of the aircraft is reduced....
 at the trailing edge of the wing were also pneumatically operated via a finger lever on the instrument panel. Only two positions were available; fully up or fully down (85 degrees). The flaps were normally lowered only during the approach for landing and for landing, and the pilot was to raise them before taxying.

The wing section used was a NACA 2200 series
NACA airfoil

The NACA airfoils are airfoil shapes for aircraft wings developed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics . The shape of the NACA airfoils is described using a series of digits following the word "NACA." The parameters in the numerical code can be entered into equations to precisely generate the cross-section of the airfoil and cal...
 which had been adapted to create a thickness-to-chord ratio of 13% at the root, reducing to 6% at the tip. A dihedral
Dihedral

Dihedral is the upward angle from horizontal of the wings or tail pane of a fixed-wing aircraft or the wing of a bird. Dihedral is also used in some types of kites such as box kites....
 of six degrees was adopted to give increased lateral stability.

Another feature of the wing was its washout
Washout (aviation)

Washout refers to a feature of wing design to deliberately reduce the Lift distribution across the Wingspan of the wing of an aircraft. The wing is designed so that lift is strongest at the wing roots and decreases across the span, becoming weakest at the wing tip....
. The trailing edge of the wing twisted slightly upward along its span, the angle of incidence
Angle of incidence

Angle of incidence is a measure of deviation of something from "straight on", for example:* in the approach of a ray to a surface, or* the angle at which the wing or Stabilizer of an airplane is installed on the fuselage, measured relative to the axis of the fuselage....
 decreased from +2 degrees at its root to -½ degree at its tip. This caused the wing roots to stall before the tips, reducing tip-stall that may have resulted in a spin. This washout was first featured in the wing of the Type 224 and became a consistent feature in subsequent designs leading to the Spitfire. Because of the washout one trait of the Spitfire was its stall warning which came in the form of a "judder" or buffeting which could be felt through the fuselage and control column. In 1942 NACA
NACA

NACA may refer to:*Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America a non-profit community advocacy and homeownership organization helping victims of predatory mortgages....
 tested a Spitfre VA and noted:
The Spitfire possessed good stall warning in the form of buffeting...The motion of the Spitfire in stalls was not violent; in slow angle-of-attack changes or in steeply banked turns, the nose tended to ease down at the start of the stall and even beyond maximum lift, no violent motions occurred. In steeply banked turns, with the gunports open, however, uncontrollable rolling instability was noted after an unmistakeable warning in the form of buffeting occurred.


Jeffrey Quill
Jeffrey Quill

Jeffrey Kindersley Quill OBE Air Force Cross FRAeS was a United Kingdom Royal Air Force officer and Test pilot and the second man to fly the Supermarine Spitfire after Vickers' chief test pilot, Joseph Summers....
, Supermarine's chief test pilot wrote:
The Spitfire's extremely docile behaviour in the stall was one of its greatest features. You could pull it well beyond its buffet boundary and drag it round with full power and little airspeed; it would shudder and shake and rock you from side to side, but if you handled it properly it would never get away from you...there are many pilots alive today who owe their survival to this remarkable quality in the Spitfire.


An RAE report in September 1940 said of the Mk. I Spitfire:
"If the stick is pulled back too far on the Spitfire in a tight turn, the aircraft may stall rather violently, flick over on to its back, and spin. Knowledge of this undoubtedly deters the pilot from tightening his turn when being chased, particularly if he is not very experienced."


In March 1943, the R.A.E.
Royal Aircraft Establishment

The Royal Aircraft Establishment England, was a British research establishment latterly under the Ministry of Defence .The first site was at Farnborough Airfield in Hampshire to which was added a second site RAE Bedford in 1946....
 noted that, at IAS
Indicated airspeed

Indicated airspeed is the airspeed read directly from the airspeed indicator on an aircraft, driven by the pitot-static system. IAS is directly related to calibrated airspeed , but includes instrument errors and position error....
, roughly 65% of aileron effectiveness was lost, principially due to wing twist. Another potential problem of the thin wing was the possibility of encountering 'aileron reversal
Control reversal

Control reversal is an adverse effect on the controllability of aircraft. To the pilot it appears that the flight controls have reversed themselves; in order to roll to the left, for instance, they have to push the control stick to the right, opposite of the normal direction....
' at high speeds; when the pilot attempted to roll the aircraft at these speeds, the aerodynamic forces on the ailerons would have been enough to twist the entire wingtip in the direction opposite to the aileron deflection. However, in spite of the thin wing aileron reversal was not a problem routinely encountered by Spitfire pilots. This was explained by Jeffrey Quill;
...had we, in 1941, been able to produce a design of aileron
Aileron

For the band with a similar name, see The AileronsAilerons are hinged control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft....
 capable of allowing much greater control displacements at very high speed we should soon have been in serious trouble with what was known as 'aileron reversal
Control reversal

Control reversal is an adverse effect on the controllability of aircraft. To the pilot it appears that the flight controls have reversed themselves; in order to roll to the left, for instance, they have to push the control stick to the right, opposite of the normal direction....
' arising from lack of torsional stiffness of the wing. In other words the load applied to the wings by more powerful ailerons would have caused the wings to twist, thereby nullifying or reversing the effect of the ailerons and, incidentally, causing damage to the structure itself.


As the Spitfire gained more power and was able to fly at greater speeds the possibility was that pilots would encounter aileron reversal, and the Supermarine design team set about redesigning the wings to counter this possibility. The original wing design had a theoretical aileron reversal speed of , which was somewhat lower than that of some contemporary fighters. The new wing of the Spitfire F Mk 21 and its successors was designed to help alleviate this problem; the wing's stiffness was increased by 47%, and a new design of aileron using piano hinges
Hinge

A hinge is a type of Bearing that connects two solid objects, typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them. Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about a fixed axis of rotation ....
 and geared trim tabs
Trim tabs

Trim tabs are small surfaces connected to the trailing edge of a larger control surface on a boat or aircraft. The angle of the tab relative to the larger surface can be adjusted to null out hydro- or aero-dynamic forces and stabilise the boat or aircraft in a particular desired attitude without the need for the pilot to constantly apply...
 meant that the theoretical aileron reversal speed was increased to .

At first the complexity of the wing design, especially the precision required to manufacture the vital spar and leading-edge structures, caused some major hold-ups in the production of the Spitfire. This was amplified when the work was put out to sub-contractors, most of whom had never dealt with metal-structured, high-speed aircraft. Over time, however, these problems were overcome and thousands of these wings, of six basic types
Supermarine Spitfire (early Merlin powered variants)

andThe United Kingdom Supermarine Spitfire was one of the most outstanding fighter aircraft of the World War II. The basic airframe proved to be extremely adaptable, capable of taking far more powerful engines and far greater loads than its original role as a short-range interceptor had allowed for....
, were built.

The ellipse also served as the design basis for the Spitfire’s fin and tailplane assembly, once again exploiting the shape’s favourable aerodynamic characteristics. Both the elevators and rudder were shaped so that their centre of mass was shifted forward, thus reducing control-surface flutter. The longer noses and greater propeller-wash resulting from larger engines in later models necessitated increasingly larger vertical and, later, horizontal tail surfaces to compensate for the altered aerodynamics, culminating in those of the Mk 22/24 series which were 25% larger in area than those of the Mk I.

Carburettor versus fuel injection

Early in its development, the Merlin engine's lack of direct fuel injection
Fuel injection

Fuel injection is a system for mixing fuel with air in an internal combustion engine. It has become the primary fuel delivery system used in gasoline Automobile engines, having almost completely replaced carburetors in the late 1980s....
 meant that both Spitfires and Hurricanes, unlike the Bf 109E, were unable to simply nose down into a steep dive. This meant a Luftwaffe fighter could simply "bunt" into a high-power dive to escape an attack, leaving the Spitfire sputtering behind, as its fuel was forced by negative "g"
G force

The term g-force refers to a measure of the apparent acceleration acting on a body measured in multiples of the sea level acceleration due to gravity on Earth....
 out of the carburettor. RAF fighter pilots soon learned to "half-roll" their aircraft before diving to pursue their opponents. The use of carburettors was calculated to give a higher specific power output, due to the lower temperature, and hence the greater density, of the fuel/air mixture fed into the motor, compared to injected systems. In March 1941, a metal diaphragm with a hole in it was fitted across the float chambers. It partly cured the problem of fuel starvation
Fuel Starvation

Fuel starvation and fuel exhaustion are problems that can affect internal combustion engines fuelled by either diesel, kerosene, petroleum or any other combustible liquid or gas....
 in a dive, and became known as "Miss Shilling's orifice
Miss Shilling's orifice

The Miss Shilling orifice was a very simple technical device made to counter engine cut-out in early Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane fighter aeroplanes during the Battle of Britain....
" as it was invented by a female engineer, Beatrice "Tilly" Shilling
Beatrice Shilling

Beatrice Shilling OBE PhD MSc CEng was an aeronautical engineer who was responsible for correcting a serious defect in the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine during the Second World War....
. Further improvements were introduced throughout the Merlin series, with Bendix
Bendix Corporation

The Bendix Corporation was an United States manufacturing and engineering company which during various times in its 60 year existence made brake systems, aeronautical hydraulics, avionics, radios, televisions and computers, and which licensed its name for use on home washing machines....
-manufactured pressure carburettors introduced in 1943.

Production

In February 1936 the Vickers-Armstrongs director, Sir Robert MacLean, guaranteed production of five aircraft a week, beginning 15 months after an order was placed. On 3 June 1936, the Air Ministry placed an order for 310 aircraft, for a price of £
Pound sterling

----The pound sterling , subdivided into 100 pence , is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependency and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory....
1,395,000. Full-scale production of the Spitfire began at Supermarine's facility in Woolston, Southampton
Southampton

Southampton is the largest City status in the United Kingdom in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England, and is sited around 100 km south-west of London and 30 km north-west of Portsmouth....
, but it quickly became clear that the order could not be completed in the 15 months promised. Supermarine was a small company, already busy building the Walrus
Supermarine Walrus

The Supermarine Walrus was a United Kingdom single-engine Amphibious aircraft biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and operated by the Fleet Air Arm....
 and Stranraer
Supermarine Stranraer

The Supermarine Stranraer was a 1930s United Kingdom flying boat designed and built by Supermarine which marked the end of biplane flying-boat development for the Royal Air Force....
, and its parent company, Vickers, was busy building the Wellington
Vickers Wellington

The Vickers Wellington was a United Kingdom twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R....
. The initial solution was to subcontract the work out.The first production Spitfire rolled off the assembly line in mid-1938, and was flown on 15 May 1938, almost 24 months after the initial order. The final cost of the first 310 aircraft, after delays and increased programme costs, came to £
Pound sterling

----The pound sterling , subdivided into 100 pence , is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependency and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory....
1,870,242 or £1,533 more per aircraft than originally estimated.

Castle Bromwich

With war becoming increasingly inevitable, and to help build Spitfires in the numbers anticipated, a huge new facility was started on 12 July 1938 at Castle Bromwich
Castle Bromwich

Castle Bromwich is a suburb situated within the northern part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the England West Midlands . It is bordered by the rest of the borough to the south east, North Warwickshire to the east and north east; also Shard End to the south west, Castle Vale and Minworth to the north and Hodge Hill to the west - al...
, Birmingham
Birmingham

Birmingham is a city status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Birmingham is the most populous of England's English Core Cities Group, and is the List of United Kingdom cities by population British city after London, with a population of 1,010,200 ....
, as a "shadow factory" to Supermarine's original factories in Southampton
Southampton

Southampton is the largest City status in the United Kingdom in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England, and is sited around 100 km south-west of London and 30 km north-west of Portsmouth....
: the most modern machine tool
Machine tool

A machine tool is a powered mechanical device, typically used to fabricate metal components of machines by machining, which is the selective removal of metal....
s then available were being installed two months after work started on the site. Although the project was at first managed and equipped by Morris Motors Ltd
Morris Motor Company

The Morris Motor Company was a United Kingdom automobile manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin Motor Company marque....
 under Lord Nuffield, who was an expert in mass construction in the motor-vehicle industry, it was funded by government money. However, the factory was still incomplete even as the first Spitfires were being built in June 1940 and there were numerous problems with the factory management and the workforce; When the project was first mooted it was estimated that the factory would be built for £2,000,000, however, by the beginning of 1939 this cost had doubled to over £4,000,000. The Spitfire's stressed-skin construction required precision engineering skills and techniques outside the experience of the local labour force and this was exacerbated by the Castle Bromwich management ignoring tooling and drawings provided by Supermarine in favour of tools and drawings of its own designs; Finally, on 17 May 1940, with no sign of a Spitfire being built, Lord Beaverbrook
Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook

William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Baronet, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, was a Canada-United Kingdom business tycoon, politician, and writer....
, Minister of Aircraft Production, outmanoeuvred Lord Nuffield and took over the Castle Bromwich plant for the government. Beaverbrook immediately sent in experienced management staff and experienced workers from Supermarine and Vickers-Armstrongs. Although it would take some time to resolve the problems, in June 1940, 10 Mk IIs
Supermarine Spitfire variants

The United Kingdom Supermarine Spitfire was facing several challenges by mid-1942. The debut of the formidable Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in late 1941 had caused real problems for RAF fighter squadrons flying the latest Supermarine Spitfire variants part one....
 were built, in July, 23 rolled out, 37 in August and 56 in September. These were the first of thousands of Spitfires to emerge from Castle Bromwich.

By the time production ended at Castle Bromwich in June 1945 a total of 12,129 Spitfires (921 Mk IIs, 4,489 Mk Vs 5,665 Mk IXs and 1,054 Mk XVIs) had been built.

Production dispersal

The Germans were fully aware of the importance of the Spitfire, and during the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the Luftwaffe during the summer and autumn of 1940 to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force , especially RAF Fighter Command....
 concerted efforts were made by the Luftwaffe to destroy the main manufacturing plants at Woolston and Itchen
River Itchen, Hampshire

The River Itchen is a river in Hampshire, England. It flows from mid-Hampshire to join with Southampton Water in the city of Southampton. The river has a total length of 28 miles , and is noted as one of England's - if not one of the World's - premier chalk streams for fly fishing, especially using Artificial fly or nymphing techniques....
, near Southampton
Southampton

Southampton is the largest City status in the United Kingdom in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England, and is sited around 100 km south-west of London and 30 km north-west of Portsmouth....
. The first raid, which missed the factories, came on 23 August 1940. Over the next month other raids were mounted until, on 26 September 1940, both factories were completely wrecked, with 92 people being killed and a large number injured: most of the casualties were experienced aircraft production workers.

Fortunately for the future of the Spitfire many of the production jigs and machine tools had already been relocated by 20 September, and steps were being taken to disperse production to small facilities throughout the Southampton area. To this end the British government requisitioned the likes of Vincent's Garage in Station Square Reading
Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a town in England, located at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, midway between London and Swindon off the M4 motorway....
, which later specialised in manufacturing Spitfire fuselages, and Anna Valley Motors, Salisbury
Salisbury

Salisbury is a city status in the United Kingdom in Wiltshire, England. The city forms the largest part of the Salisbury . It has also been called New Sarum to distinguish it from the original site of settlement at Salisbury, Old Sarum, but this alternative name is not in common use....
 which was to become the sole producer of the wing leading-edge fuel tanks for photo-reconnaissance Spitfires, as well as producing other components. A purpose-built works, specialising in manufacturing fuselages and installing engines, was built at Star Road, Caversham
Caversham, Berkshire

Caversham is a suburb in the unitary authority of Reading, Berkshire, England, although historically, Caversham was part of Oxfordshire. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, within the county of Berkshire, on the opposite bank from the rest of Reading....
 in Reading. The drawing office in which all Spitfire designs were drafted was relocated to another purpose-built site at Hursley Park, near Southampton. This site also had an aircraft assembly hangar, with its associated aerodrome, where many of the prototype and experimental Spitfires were assembled and flown.

Four towns and their satellite airfields were chosen to be the focal points for these workshops. They were:
  • Southampton and Eastleigh
    Eastleigh

    Eastleigh is a former railway town in Hampshire, England, and the main town in the Eastleigh . The town lies between Southampton and Winchester, Hampshire, and is part of the South Hampshire conurbation....
     Airport
  • Salisbury with High Post and Chattis Hill aerodromes
  • Trowbridge
    Trowbridge

    Trowbridge is the county town of Wiltshire, England, situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, approximately 12 miles southeast of Bath, Somerset....
     with Keevil
    Keevil

    Keevil is a small village and a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village has approximately 400 inhabitants; its population has remained fairly steady since 1800....
     aerodrome
  • Reading with Henley
    Henley-on-Thames

    Henley-on-Thames is a town on the north side of the River Thames in south Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, Berkshire, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead, England....
     and Aldermaston
    Aldermaston

    Aldermaston is an award-winning rural village and civil parish in Berkshire, South East England, with a population of 927. Situated near the border with Hampshire, Aldermaston is located on the southern edge of the River Kennet flood plain....
     aerodromes.


Completed Spitfires were delivered to the airfields on large Commer
Commer

Commer was a British manufacturer of commercial vehicles which existed from 1905 until 1979. Commer vehicles included car derived vans, light vans, medium to heavy commercial trucks, military vehicles and buses....
 "Queen Mary
Queen Mary trailer

A Queen Mary trailer is a type of semi-trailer designed for the carriage and recovery of aircraft. It was used by the Royal Air Force during and after World War II....
" low-loader articulated trucks, there to be fully assembled, tested, then passed on to the RAF.

Flight testing

One of the factors in the success of the Spitfire was that every single one built was flight tested before delivery. During the Second World War Jeffrey Quill
Jeffrey Quill

Jeffrey Kindersley Quill OBE Air Force Cross FRAeS was a United Kingdom Royal Air Force officer and Test pilot and the second man to fly the Supermarine Spitfire after Vickers' chief test pilot, Joseph Summers....
 was Vickers Supermarine's chief test pilot; he oversaw a group of 10 to 12 pilotsresponsible for testing all developmental and production Spitfires built by the company in the Southampton area. Jeffrey Quill was in charge of flight-testing all aircraft types built by Vickers Supermarine. He devised the standard testing procedures which, with variations for specific aircraft designs, operated from 1938. Alex Henshaw
Alex Henshaw

Alexander Adolphus Dumfries Henshaw Order of the British Empire was a United Kingdom air racer in the 1930s and a test pilot for Vickers Armstrong in the World War II....
, chief test pilot at Castle Bromwich from 1940, was placed in charge of testing all Spitfires built at that factory, coordinating a team of 25 pilots, and also assessing Spitfire developments. Between 1940 and 1946 Henshaw flew a total of 2,360 Spitfires and Seafires, more than 10% of total production.

Henshaw wrote about flight testing Spitfires
After a thorough pre-flight check I would take off and, once at circuit height, I would trim the aircraft and try to get her to fly straight and level with hands off the stick...Once the trim was satisfactory I would take the Spitfire up in a full-throttle climb at 2,850 rpm to the rated altitude of one or both supercharger blowers. Then I would make a careful check of the power output from the engine, calibrated for height and temperature...If all appeared satisfactory I would then put her into a dive at full power and 3,000 rpm, and trim her to fly hands and feet off at 460 mph IAS (Indicated Air Speed). Personally, I never cleared a Spitfire unless I had carried out a few aerobatic tests to determine how good or bad she was. The production test was usually quite a brisk affair: the initial circuit lasted less than ten minutes and the main flight took between twenty and thirty minutes. Then the aircraft received a final once-over by our ground mechanics, any faults were rectified and the Spitfire was ready for collection. I loved the Spitfire in all of her many versions. But I have to admit that the later marks, although they were faster than the earlier ones, were also much heavier and so did not handle so well. You did not have such positive control over them. One test of manoeuvrability was to throw her into a flick-roll and see how many times she rolled. With the Mark II or the Mark V one got two-and-a-half flick-rolls but the Mark IX was heavier and you got only one-and-a-half. With the later and still heavier versions, one got even less. The essence of aircraft design is compromise, and an improvement at one end of the performance envelope is rarely achieved without a deterioration somewhere else.


When the last Spitfire rolled out in February 1948, a total of 20,351 examples of all variants had been built, including two-seat trainers, with some Spitfires remaining in service well into the 1950s. The Spitfire was the only British fighter aircraft to be in continuous production before, during, and after the Second World War.

Operational history

The operational history of the Spitfire with the RAF started with the first Mk Is
Supermarine Spitfire variants

The United Kingdom Supermarine Spitfire was facing several challenges by mid-1942. The debut of the formidable Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in late 1941 had caused real problems for RAF fighter squadrons flying the latest Supermarine Spitfire variants part one....
, which entered service with 19 Squadron
No. XIX Squadron RAF

No. 19 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force....
 at RAF Duxford
Duxford Aerodrome

Duxford Aerodrome is located south of Cambridge in the village of Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England.The airfield is owned jointly by the Imperial War Museum and Cambridgeshire County Council and is the site of the Imperial War Museum Duxford and the American Air Museum....
 on 4 August 1938. The last flight of a Spitfire in RAF service, which took place on 9 June 1957, was by a PR 19, PS583, from RAF Woodvale
RAF Woodvale

File:Woodvale08 019.JPGRAF Woodvale is a Royal Air Force airport located four miles south of Southport, Merseyside in a village called Formby....
 of the Temperature and Humidity Flight. This was also the last known flight of a piston-engined fighter in the RAF.

The Spitfire achieved legendary status during the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the Luftwaffe during the summer and autumn of 1940 to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force , especially RAF Fighter Command....
 but continued to play increasingly diverse roles throughout World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 and beyond, often in air forces other than the RAF. The Spitfire became the first high-speed photo-reconnaissance
Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information. Militarily, its shorthand Australian, Canadian, and British form is recce , its American usage form is recon ....
 aircraft to be operated by the RAF. Sometimes unarmed, they flew at high, medium and low altitudes, often ranging far into enemy territory to closely observe the Axis powers
Axis Powers

The Axis powers were those countries that were opposed to the Allies of World War II during World War II. The three major Axis powers - Nazi Germany, Kingdom of Italy , and Empire of Japan - were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers....
 and provide an almost continual flow of valuable intelligence information throughout the war. In 1941 and 1942 PRU Spitfires provided the first photographs of the Freya
Freya radar

Freya was an early warning radar deployed by Germany during World War II, named after the Norse Goddess Freyja. During the war over a thousand stations were built....
 and Würzburg radar
Würzburg radar

The W?rzburg radar was the primary ground-based gun laying radar for both the Luftwaffe and the Wehrmacht during World War II. Initial development took place before the war, entering service in 1940....
 systems and, in 1943, helped confirm that the Germans were building the V1
V-1 flying bomb

The Fieseler Fi 103, better known as V-1...
 and V2
V-2 rocket

The V-2 rocket was the first ballistic missile and first man-made object to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight, the progenitor of all modern rockets....
 Vergeltungswaffe
Vergeltungswaffe

Vergeltungswaffen was a particular set of Wunderwaffen of Nazi Germany designed for long-range strategic bombing during World War II, particularly terror bombing and/or Aerial bombing of cities#European theatre....
 ("vengeance weapons") by photographing Peenemünde
Peenemünde

Peenem?nde is a village in the northeast of the Germany part of the Usedom island. It stands near the mouth of the Peene river, on the easternmost part of the German Baltic Sea coast....
, on the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53?N to 66?N latitude and from 20?E to 26?E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Denmark islands....
 coast of Germany.

In the Mediterranean the Spitfire blunted the heavy attacks on Malta by the Regia Aeronautica
Regia Aeronautica

The Italian Royal Air Force was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy . It was established as a service independent of the Regio Esercito from 1923 until 1946....
 and Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe

is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
 and, from early 1943, helped pave the way for the Allied invasions of Sicily
Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
 and Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
. Malta was the first location outside Britain where Spitfires saw service. Over the Northern Territory
Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal states and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions....
 of Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, RAAF Spitfires helped defend the port city of Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the List of Australian capital cities of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 120,900, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely peopled Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities....
 against air attack by the Japanese Naval Air Force
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, the organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War....
.
Spitfire Xi En 409

Speed and altitude records

Beginning in late 1943, high-speed diving trials were undertaken at Farnborough
Farnborough, Hampshire

Farnborough is a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England. It is best known as the home of the Farnborough Airshow which takes place once every two years....
 to investigate the handling characteristics of aircraft travelling at speeds near the sound barrier
Sound barrier

In aerodynamics, the sound barrier usually refers to the point at which an aircraft moves from transonic to supersonic speed. The term came into use during World War II when a number of aircraft started to encounter the effects of compressibility, a grab-bag of unrelated aerodynamic effects....
 (i.e., the onset of compressibility effects). Because it had the highest limiting Mach number
Critical Mach number

The Critical Mach number of an aircraft is the slowest Mach number at which the airflow over a small region of the wing reaches the speed of sound....
 of any aircraft at that time, a Spitfire XI was chosen to take part in these trials. Due to the high altitudes necessary for these dives, a fully feathering Rotol propeller was fitted to prevent overspeeding
Overspeed (engine)

Overspeed is a condition in which an engine is allowed or forced to turn beyond its design limit. The consequences of running an engine too fast varies by engine type and model and depends upon several factors, chief amongst them the duration of the overspeed and by the speed attained....
. It was during these trials that EN409, flown by Squadron Leader J. R. Tobin, reached 606 mph (975 km/h, Mach 0.891) in a 45-degree dive. In April 1944 the same aircraft suffered engine failure in another dive while being flown by Squadron Leader A. F. Martindale, when the propeller and reduction gear broke off. Martindale successfully glided the Spitfire 20 miles (32 km) back to the airfield and landed safely.

On 5 February 1952, a Spitfire 19 of No. 81 Squadron RAF based in Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
 reached probably the highest altitude ever achieved by a Spitfire. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant

Flight Lieutenant is a junior Officer #Commissioned officers rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations countries....
 Ted Powles, was on a routine flight to survey outside-air temperature and report on other meteorological
Meteorology

Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century....
 conditions at various altitudes in preparation for a proposed new air service through the area. He climbed to 50,000 ft (15,240 m) indicated altitude, with a true altitude of 51,550 ft (15,712 m). The cabin pressure fell below a safe level and, in trying to reduce altitude, he entered an uncontrollable dive which shook the aircraft violently. He eventually regained control somewhere below 3,000 ft (900 m) and landed safely with no discernible damage to his aircraft. Evaluation of the recorded flight data suggested that, in the dive, he achieved a speed of 690 mph (1,110 km/h, Mach 0.94), which would have been the highest speed ever reached by a propeller-driven aircraft, but it has been speculated this figure resulted from inherent instrument errors.

The critical Mach number of the Spitfire's original elliptical wing was higher than the subsequently-used laminar-flow-section, straight-tapering-planform wing of the follow-on Supermarine Spiteful
Supermarine Spiteful

The Supermarine Spiteful was a United Kingdom Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry specification List of Air Ministry Specifications#1940-1949 during the World War II as a successor to the Supermarine Spitfire....
, Seafang
Supermarine Seafang

The Supermarine Seafang was a United Kingdom Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry List of Air Ministry Specifications....
 and Attacker
Supermarine Attacker

The Supermarine Attacker was a United Kingdom single-seat naval jet fighter built by Supermarine for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was the FAA's first jet fighter....
, illustrating that Reginald Mitchell's thoughtful and practical engineering approach to the problems of high-speed flight had paid off handsomely.

Variants


As its designer, R.J. Mitchell will forever be known for his most famous creation. However, the development of the Spitfire did not cease with his premature death in 1937. Mitchell only lived long enough to see the prototype Spitfire fly. Subsequently a team led by his chief draughtsman, Joe Smith, developed more powerful and capable variants to keep the Spitfire current as a front-line aircraft. As one historian noted: "If Mitchell was born to design the Spitfire, Joe Smith was born to defend and develop it."

There were 24 marks of Spitfire and many sub-variants. These covered the Spitfire in development from the Merlin
Rolls-Royce Merlin

The Rolls-Royce Merlin was a liquid cooled 27 litre 60? V12 internal combustion engine aircraft engine which became famous in World War II. Several versions of the Merlin were built by Rolls-Royce Limited , by Ford of Britain and in the United States as the Packard V-1650....
 to Griffon
Rolls-Royce Griffon

The Rolls-Royce Griffon was a 2,240 in? , 6.0" bore x 6.6" stroke 60-degree v12 aero-engine. The usual assumption still prevails that the Griffon was derived from the Rolls-Royce R racing engine used in the Schneider Trophy races....
 engines, the high-speed photo-reconnaissance variants and the different wing configurations. More Spitfire Mk Vs were built than any other type, with 6,487 built, followed by the 5,656 Mk IXs. Different wings, featuring a variety of weapons, were fitted to most marks; the A wing used eight .303 machine guns, the B wing had four .303 machine guns and two 20-mm Hispano cannon
Hispano-Suiza HS.404

The Hispano-Suiza HS.404 was an autocannon widely used as both an aircraft and land weapon in the 20th century by United Kingdom, United States, France and numerous other military services....
, and the C or Universal Wing could mount either four 20 mm cannon or two 20 mm and four .303 machine guns. As the war progressed, the C wing became more common. The final armament variation was the E wing which housed two 20 mm cannon and two .50 inch Browning heavy machine guns.

Supermarine developed a two-seat variant
Variant

Variant is a free magazine based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is available in both print and internet editions, and is distributed mainly though arts and cultural institutions through United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland....
 known as the T Mk VIII to be used for training
Flight training

Flight training is a course of study used when learning to aviator an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills....
, but none were ordered, and only one example was ever constructed (identified as N32/G-AIDN by Supermarine). In the absence of an official two-seater variant, a number of airframes were crudely converted in the field. These included a 4(SAAF) Squadron Mk VB in North Africa, where a second seat was fitted instead of the upper fuel tank in front of the cockpit, although it was not a dual-control aircraft and is thought to have been used as the squadron "run-about." The only unofficial two-seat conversions that were fitted with dual-controls were a small number of Russian lend/lease Mk IX aircraft. These were referred to as Mk IX UTI and differed from the Supermarine proposals by using an inline "greenhouse" style double canopy rather than the raised "bubble" type of the T Mk VIII.

In the postwar era, the idea was revived by Supermarine and a number of two-seat Spitfires were built by converting old Mk IX airframes with a second "raised" cockpit featuring a bubble canopy
Bubble canopy

A bubble canopy is a Aircraft canopy made like a soap bubble, which attempts to provide 360? vision to the pilot....
. Ten of these TR9 variants were then sold to the Indian Air Force
Indian Air Force

The Indian Air Force is the airforce of the Armed Forces of India of India and has the prime responsibility of conducting aerial warfare and securing the Indian airspace....
 along with six to the Irish Air Corps
Irish Air Corps

The Irish Air Corps provides the air defence function of Oglaigh na h?ireann , in support of the Irish Army and Irish Naval Service, together with such other roles as may be assigned by the Government ....
, three to the Royal Dutch Air Force and one for the Royal Egyptian Air Force. Today, only a handful of the trainers are known to exist, including both the T Mk VIII and a T Mk IX based in the U.S., and the "Grace Spitfire
No. 485 Squadron RNZAF

No. 485 Squadron was a New Zealand Supermarine Spitfire squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II. It was the second New Zealand squadron to be formed in the European theatre, , and the first to be formed Article XV squadrons....
" ML407 – a variant of the Mk IX that is a privately owned (formerly IAC-162) TR9 and operates out of Duxford
Duxford

Duxford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, some ten miles south of Cambridge. Duxford gives its name to RAF Duxford, a former Royal Air Force airfield that was used as a sector station during the Battle of Britain....
, UK. The second cockpit of this aircraft has been lowered and is now below the front cockpit. This modification is known as the Grace Canopy Conversion, and was designed by Nick Grace, who rebuilt ML407. IAC-161 (Previously PV202) has also been recently restored to flying condition.

Naval variants

The Seafire, a name derived from Sea Spitfire, was a naval version of the Spitfire specially adapted for operation from aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a navy force to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations....
s. Although never conceived for the rough-and-tumble of carrier-deck operations, the Spitfire was considered to be the best candidate available at the time and went on to serve with distinction. Modifications included an arrester hook, folding wings and other specialised equipment. Some features of the basic design were, whilst unproblematic for land operation, problematic for carrier deck operations. One was poor visibility over the nose; and like the Spitfire, the Seafire had a relatively narrow undercarriage track which meant that it was not ideally suited to deck operations. The addition of heavy carrier equipment also added to the weight of the machine and reduced low-speed stability, critical for such operations, and normally a forte of the Spitfire. Early marks of Seafire had relatively few modifications to the standard Spitfire airframe; however cumulative front-line experience meant that most of the later versions of the Seafire had strengthened airframes, folding wings, arrestor hooks and other modifications, culminating in the purpose-built Seafire F/FR Mk 47

The Seafire II was able to outperform the A6M5 Zero at low altitudes when the two types were tested against each other during wartime mock combat exercises. Contemporary Allied carrier fighters such as the F6F Hellcat
F6F Hellcat

The Grumman F6F Hellcat was a aircraft carrier-based fighter aircraft developed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat in United States Navy service....
 and F4U Corsair
F4U Corsair

The Vought F4U Corsair was a Naval aviation fighter aircraft that saw service in World War II and the Korean War . Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company-built Corsairs were designated FG and Brewster Aeronautical Corporation-built aircraft F3A....
, however, were considerably more robust and practical for carrier operations. A performance advantage was regained when late-war Seafire marks equipped with the Griffon engines supplanted their Merlin-engined predecessors.
Spitfire Iv Xii Dp845

Griffon-engined variants

The first Rolls Royce Griffon-engined Mk XII flew on August 1942, but only five had reached service status by the end of the year. This mark could nudge in level flight and climb to an altitude of 24,000 ft (10,000 m) in under nine minutes. Although the Spitfire continued to improve in speed and armament, range and fuel capacity were major issues: it remained "short-legged" throughout its life except in the dedicated photo-reconnaissance role, when its guns were replaced by extra fuel tanks.

Newer Griffon-engined Spitfires were being introduced as home-defence interceptors, where limited range was not an impediment. These faster Spitfires were used to defend against incursions by high-speed "tip-and-run" German fighter-bombers and V-1 flying bombs over Great Britain.

As American fighters took over the long-range escorting of USAAF daylight bombing raids, the Griffon-engined Spitfires progressively took up the tactical air superiority role as interceptors, while the Merlin-engined variants (mainly the Mk IX and the Packard-engined XVI) were adapted to the fighter-bomber role.
Supermarine Spitfire F Mk Xiis of 41 Sqn
Although the later Griffon-engined marks lost some of the favourable handling characteristics of their Merlin-powered predecessors, they could still out-manoeuvre their main German foes and other, later American and British-designed fighters.

Griffon-engined Spitfires and Seafires continued to be flown by many squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force
Royal Auxiliary Air Force

The Royal Auxiliary Air Force is the volunteer active duty reserve element of the Royal Air Force, providing a primary reinforcement capability for the regular service....
 and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve until re-equipped in 1951–52.

In late 1962, Air Marshal Sir John Nicholls
John Nicholls

John Nicholls is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton Football Club in the 1960s and 1970s.The Carlton Football Club recruited Nicholls from the Maryborough Football Club in unusual circumstances: while they had intended only to recruit Don, John's elder brother ? who went on to play 77 senior games as a centreman fo...
 instigated an interesting trial when he flew a Spitfire against the supersonic jet Lightning F 3
English Electric Lightning

The English Electric Lightning is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft of the Cold War era, remembered for its great speed and unpainted natural metal exterior finish....
 interceptor in mock combat at RAF Binbrook
RAF Binbrook

RAF Binbrook, located at Binbrook, England, was opened as a Bomber Command station in June 1940 during World War II. It closed in 1942 for the installation of three concrete runways, reopening in 1943 as home to 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force....
. At the time British Commonwealth forces were involved in possible action against Indonesia over Malaya
Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation

The Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation was an intermittent battle over the future of the island of Borneo, between British-backed Malaysia and Indonesia in 1962?1966....
 and Nicholls decided to develop tactics to fight the Indonesian Air Force P-51 Mustang
P-51 Mustang

The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was a long-range single-seat fighter aircraft that entered service with Allies of World War II air forces in the middle years of World War II....
, a fighter that had a similar performance to the Spitfire PR 19. He concluded that the most effective and safest way for a modern jet-engined fighter to attack a piston-engined fighter was from below and behind; contrary to all established fighter-on-fighter doctrine.

Survivors

There are approximately 44 Spitfires and a few Seafires airworthy worldwide, although many air museums have examples on static display. For example, Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry
Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)

The Museum of Science and Industry is located in Chicago, Illinois in Jackson Park , in the Hyde Park, Chicago neighborhood adjacent to Lake Michigan....
 has paired a static Spitfire with a static Ju 87 R-2/Trop. Stuka dive bomber.
  • One of the most famous of all Spitfires still flying today is MH434, a Mk IXb (having a genuine combat history with 7 and half confirmed kills), owned and run by The Old Flying Machine Company. This plane was usually flown by Ray Hanna
    Ray Hanna

    Squadron Leader Raynham George Hanna Air Force Cross was a New Zealand born aviator in the RAF and a number of civilian companies. During his time in the RAF he was a founding member of the Red Arrows....
    , ex-Red Arrows
    Red Arrows

    The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force, based at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, UK ....
     leader and display pilot up until his death in late 2005. The plane has been seen by millions of people at European airshows. It is also a TV and film star in its own right and was the plane that flew the famous bridge scene in Piece of Cake
    Piece of Cake (TV series)

    Piece of Cake is a six part 1988 in television television series, depicting the life of a Royal Air Force fighter squadron from the day of the British entry into World War II through to one of the toughest days in the Battle of Britain ....
     and has been in many other TV and films including Operation Crossbow
    Operation Crossbow (film)

    Operation Crossbow is a 1965 in film spy thriller and World War II film, made from a story from Duilio Coletti and Vittoriano Petrilli. It is a highly fictionalized account of the real-life Operation Crossbow, but it does touch on the main aspects of the operation....
     and The Battle of Britain
    The Battle of Britain

    The Battle of Britain was the fourth of Frank Capra's Why We Fight series. It was released in 1943 in film and concentrated on the German bombardment of the United Kingdom in anticipation of Operation Sealion during the Second World War....
    , and also features on the cover of Jeremy Clarkson
    Jeremy Clarkson

    Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English people Presenter and journalist who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC Television show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May....
    's book I Know You Got Soul
    I Know You Got Soul

    I Know You Got Soul is a non-fiction book, first published in 2004, written by British journalist and television presenter Jeremy Clarkson. In the book, Clarkson puts forward candidates for charismatic machines and structures that he believes are held in special affection by people, almost to the point of having a soul....
    .
  • The RAF
    Royal Air Force

    The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts....
     Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
    Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

    The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a Royal Air Force Flight which provides an aerial display group comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane....
     at RAF Coningsby
    RAF Coningsby

    RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England. It has been commanded by Group Captain John Hitchcock since 15 December 2008 ....
     in Lincolnshire
    Lincolnshire

    Lincolnshire is a Counties of England in the east of England. It borders Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire....
     maintains and operates five Spitfires (of various marks) for flying, display and ceremonial purposes.
  • A Spitfire XIVe, MV293 owned by The Fighter Collection at Duxford is marked as MV268, JE-J, flown by Wing Commander Johnnie Johnson OC 127 Wing, Germany May 1945. There are regularly more than a dozen Spitfires on site at Duxford. Whilst some of these are under restoration in a private hangar, other flying and static examples can be seen in Hangars 1 to 5.
  • The Temora Aviation Museum in Temora, New South Wales
    Temora, New South Wales

    Temora is a town located in north east part of the Riverina area of New South Wales, 418 kilometres south west of the state capital, Sydney. At the 2006 Census in Australia the population of Temora was 4,086....
    , Australia, has two airworthy Spitfires: a Mk VIII and a Mk XVI, which are flown regularly during the museum's flying weekends.
  • A Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVIE is on display in the Polish Aviation Museum
    Polish Aviation Museum

    Polish Aviation Museum is a large museum of old aircraft and aircraft engines in Krak?w, Poland. It is located at the site of the no-longer functional Krak?w-Rakowice-Czyzyny Airport....
    .
  • The Hellenic Air Force Museum own and displays a Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXc.
  • Kennet Aviation, a British company specializing in ex-military aircraft has a Seafire XVII and a number of Seafire projects at its home airfield at North Weald Airfield
    North Weald Airfield

    North Weald Airfield is an operational airfield, near the village of North Weald Bassett in Epping Forest , Essex. It was an important base during the Battle of Britain, when it was known as the RAF Station RAF North Weald....
    .
Spitfireduxford2jm
* The Black Spitfire is a black-painted Spitfire which belonged to Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
i pilot and former president Ezer Weizman
Ezer Weizman

was the seventh President of Israel, serving a seven-year term from 1993 to 2000. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air Force and Defense Minister of Israel....
. It is on exhibit in the Israeli Air Force Museum in Hatserim
Hatserim Israeli Air Force Base

Hatzerim Israeli Air Force Base is an airbase of the Israeli Air Force located in the Negev Desert on the western outskirts of Beersheba, near Hatzerim....
 and is used for ceremonial flying displays.
  • Kermit Weeks
    Kermit Weeks

    Kermit Weeks is an aviation enthusiast, Aviator, and aircraft collector.Weeks was twice U.S. National Aerobatic Champion. He has 17 medals in world aerobatic competition ....
     keeps a restored Mk XVI at his Fantasy of Flight
    Fantasy of Flight

    Fantasy of Flight is an aviation-related attraction in Polk City, Florida, Florida, USA that takes visitors back to the pioneering days of early flight, World War I, World War II and beyond....
     museum in Florida
    Florida

    Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
    .
  • The , located in São Carlos, Brazil
    Brazil

    Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
    , owns the only airworthy Spitfire in South America
    South America

    South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
    , a Mk IXc donated to the museum by Rolls Royce
    Rolls-Royce plc

    Rolls-Royce Public limited company is a United Kingdom aircraft engine maker, and the second-largest in the world, behind GE Aviation. The company has related businesses in the defence aerospace, marine and energy markets....
     and painted in the colours and markings of RAF ace Johnnie Johnson.
  • One of the newest Spitfires to fly in Canadian skies is Michael Potter's Supermarine Mk XVI Spitfire SL721/N721WK/C-GVZB, refinished in the markings of No. 421 Squadron RCAF and is now registered in Gatineau
    Gatineau

    Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is situated on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and is located within Canada's National Capital Region ....
    , Quebec
    Quebec

    Quebec , in French language, Qu?bec , is a Provinces and territories of Canada in the Central Canada and Eastern Canada regions of Canada....
     as part of the Vintage Wings of Canada Collection.
  • A Seafire 47, the final aircraft in the long and distinguished line of aircraft, is airworthy among Jim Smith's superb collection after being restored by Ezell Aviation.
  • The Shuttleworth Collection
    Shuttleworth Collection

    The Shuttleworth Collection is an aeronautical and automotive museum located at the Old Warden airfield in Bedfordshire, England. It is one of the most prestigious in the world due to the variety of old and well preserved aircraft....
     maintains and displays an airworthy Mk Vc, AR501.
  • One Spitfire Mk IX is on display at the "Vigna di Valle Museum" (Italian Air Force Museum) Bracciano, Rome, Italy.
  • A Spitfire Mark XVI has been displayed at the Auckland War Memorial Museum
    Auckland War Memorial Museum

    The Auckland War Memorial Museum is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history , natural history, as well as military history....
    , New Zealand, since 1956 when New Zealander Sir Keith Park
    Keith Park

    Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park Order of the Bath, Order of British Empire, Military Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross , RAF , was a New Zealand soldier, First World War air ace, and later senior commander in the Royal Air Force in the World War II....
    , commander of No 11 Fighter Group, arranged for it to be donated.
  • The Lone Star Flight Museum
    Lone Star Flight Museum

    File:Lone Star Flight Museum front.jpgFile:B17-Thunderbird-runup WL.jpgThe Lone Star Flight Museum, located in Galveston, Texas, displays more than 40 historically significant aircraft and many hundreds of artifacts related to the history of flight....
     in Galveston, Texas has a Spitfire Mk XVI TE392/N97RW in flying condition painted in commemoration of Texas Ace, Lance C. Wade
    Lance C. Wade

    Wing Commander Lance Cleo "Wildcat" Wade Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross , was an United States pilot who joined the United Kingdom Royal Air Force during the Second World War and became a flying ace....
     who flew with the RAF from December 1940 until his death in Foggia Italy, 1944.
  • The Kent Spitfire, a MK IX Serial TA805, today flies from the ex-RAF station at Biggin Hill
    Biggin Hill

    Biggin Hill is a place and Wards of the United Kingdom in the London Borough of Bromley in London, England. It lies on the Bromley to Westerham road , some south of Bromley....
    . After the war it was used by the South African Air Force
    South African Air Force

    The South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra ....
    , recovered from a scrap yard, and returned to England in the early 1990s. It wears 234 Squadron markings with coding FX-M.
  • TE330, a LF Mk XVIe owned by the Subritzky family of the North Shore, Auckland
    Auckland

    The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban areas of New Zealand with over 1.3 million residents, percent of the country's population....
    , New Zealand
    New Zealand

    New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
     was sold for NZD$2.8 million in September 2008. TE330 was built at Castle Bromwich in late April 1945 and in 1957 joined the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
    Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

    The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a Royal Air Force Flight which provides an aerial display group comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane....
    . It was sold to the Smithsonian Institution
    Smithsonian Institution

    The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its Financial endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazine....
     in September 1959, and was put on display in the USAF
    National Museum of the United States Air Force

    The National Museum of the United States Air Force is the official National Museum of the United States Air Force and is located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Riverside, Ohio near Dayton, Ohio, Ohio....
     museum at Dayton, Ohio
    Dayton, Ohio

    Dayton is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, Ohio, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 166,179 at the United States Census, 2000....
     in 1961. In 1996 the aircraft was bought by a Hong Kong
    Hong Kong

    Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
     based businessman, James Slade, who shipped it to Don Subritzky for restoration work in 1997. In 1999 TE330 was sold to the Subritzky family. The airworthy aircraft was bought at the auction in New Zealand by Hong Kong businessman Yan-Ming Gao who intends to donate it to the China Aviation Museum in Beijing
    Beijing

    is a metropolis in northern China and the Capital of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the four municipality of China, which are equivalent to province in China's Political divisions of China....
    .
  • Spitfire RW388, Mk XVI Spitfire, is located at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
    Potteries Museum & Art Gallery

    The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery is in Hanley, Staffordshire, one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Admission is free.It holds an extensive collection of Staffordshire ceramics, and arts, craft, local history and natural history collections....
    , Hanley, Stoke on Trent. It was formally presented to the City of Stoke-on-Trent in 1972 and was built by the contractor Vickers Armstrong, in Castle Bromwich. The original contract number was B981867/39. It is fitted with a Merlin 266 (Packard) engine.
  • The Fighter Factory in Suffolk, Virginia
    Suffolk, Virginia

    Suffolk is an independent city located in the South Hampton Roads area of eastern Virginia. Geographically, it is the largest of the Seven Cities of Hampton Roads, and the largest independent city in land-area in the entire Commonwealth....
     has a 1943 Vickers
    Vickers

    Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 2004....
     Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX that flew 15 sorties in Italy and appeared in a William Wyler
    William Wyler

    William Wyler was a three-time Academy Award-winning film film director....
     film shot in Corsica
    Corsica

    Corsica is the Mediterranean islands#By area in the Mediterranean Sea . It is located west of Italy, southeast of the France mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
    , but wound up in an Israeli playground until the 1970s, when a collector took it back to England for restoration; FedEx
    FedEx

    FedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States. The name "FedEx" is a syllabic abbreviation of the name of the company's original air division, Federal Express, which was used until 2000....
     founder Fred Smith
    Frederick W. Smith

    Frederick Wallace Smith , or Fred Smith, is the founder, chairman, president, and CEO of FedEx, originally known as Federal Express, the first overnight express delivery company in the world, and the largest in the United States....
     bought it in 1986.
  • In 2008, Doug Brooker of Auckland, New Zealand, imported a two seat Spitfire Tr 9 MH367 (N367MH), previously owned by Peter Godfrey of Florida. The aircraft used components of MH367, a Castle Bromwich built F. Mk IX which was written off in 1948. MH367 arrived in New Zealand on 11 September 2008 (registered as ZK-WDQ) and has been painted in RAF desert colours with the markings of FL-A, a Mk IX flown by the New Zealand Squadron Leader Colin Gray
    Colin Falkland Gray

    Group Captain Colin Falkland Gray, Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross was the top New Zealand Flying ace in World War II....
    , C/O of 81 Squadron when based in Tunisia
    Tunisia

    Tunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast....
     in mid-1943. On 15 January 2009, during a transit flight from Auckland, the Spitfire suffered a heavy forced landing on Hood Aerodrome, near Masterton. The propellor, undercarriage and some fuel lines were damaged but MH367 is repairable.


Memorials

  • Sentinel
    Sentinel (sculpture)

    Sentinel is a 16m high sculpture by Tim Tolkien, installed upon a traffic island at the intersection of the Chester Road and the A47 road Fort Parkway at the entrance to the Castle Vale estate in Birmingham, England....
     is a sculpture by Tim Tolkien
    Tim Tolkien

    Tim Tolkien is a United Kingdom Sculpture who has designed several monumental sculptures, including the award-winning Sentinel .His other claim to fame is as the great-nephew of J....
     in Castle Bromwich
    Castle Bromwich

    Castle Bromwich is a suburb situated within the northern part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the England West Midlands . It is bordered by the rest of the borough to the south east, North Warwickshire to the east and north east; also Shard End to the south west, Castle Vale and Minworth to the north and Hodge Hill to the west - al...
    , England, commemorating the main Spitfire factory.
  • A sculpture of the prototype Spitfire, K5054, stands on the roundabout at the entrance to Southampton International Airport, which, as Eastleigh Aerodrome, saw the first flight of the aircraft in March 1936.
  • There is also a Spitfire on display on the Thornaby Road roundabout near the school named after Douglas Bader
    Douglas Bader

    Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Distinguished Service Order & Medal bar, Distinguished Flying Cross & Medal bar, Royal Aeronautical Society, Deputy Lieutenant was a Royal Air Force fighter ace during the World War II....
     who flew a Spitfire in the Second World War. This memorial is in memory of the old RAF base in Thornaby
    RAF Thornaby

    RAF Thornaby was a former RAF station located at the Teesside town of Thornaby-on-Tees, Cleveland, England . The station was created in the mid 1920s and fell into the hands of 18 group RAF Coastal Command in 1939....
     which is now a residential estate.
  • One of the few Spitfires still in its original paint is displayed in the Australian War Memorial
    Australian War Memorial

    The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national war memorial to the members of all its Australian Defence Force and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Australia....
     in Canberra; it has not been repainted since the Second World War.
  • A fibreglass replica of a Spitfire has been mounted on a pole in Memorial Park, Hamilton, New Zealand
    Hamilton, New Zealand

    Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's seventh largest territorial authorities of New Zealand....
     as a tribute to all New Zealand fighter pilots who flew Spitfires during the Second World War.
  • At Bentley Priory, London, fibreglass replicas of a Spitfire Mk.1 and a Hurricane Mk.1 can be seen fixed in a position of attack, diving on the Duchess' bedroom windows. This was built in memorial of everyone who worked at Bentley Priory during the War.


Operators

Spitfire At Temora Nswedit
:



Popular culture

  • The First of the Few
    The First of the Few

    The First of the Few, , is a 1942 in film Cinema of the United Kingdom, starring and directed by Leslie Howard , and co-starring David Niven....
     (also known as Spitfire in the U.S. and Canada) (1942) was a British film produced and directed by Leslie Howard
    Leslie Howard (actor)

    Leslie Howard was an English people Academy Award-nominated Stage and film actor, director, and Theatrical producer. He is best known by international audiences as Ashley Wilkes in the film Gone with the Wind ....
    , with Howard in the starring role of R.J. Mitchell. It tells the story of Mitchell's life and how he developed the design for the famous British fighter aircraft. David Niven
    David Niven

    James David Graham Niven was an English people Academy Award for Best Actor-winning actor probably best known for his roles as the punctuality-obsessed adventurer Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and the suave cat burglar Sir Charles Litton in The Pink Panther ....
     plays his friend and test pilot Geoffrey Crisp, who narrates the biography in flashback. Leslie Howard bore little resemblance to R.J. Mitchell, however, as Mitchell was a large and athletic man. Howard portrayed Mitchell as upper-class and mild-mannered. Mitchell – "the Guv'nor" – was in fact working-class and had an explosive temper; apprentices were told to watch the colour of his neck and to run if it turned red. Some of the footage includes film shot in 1941 of operational Spitfires and pilots of 501 Squadron
    No. 501 Squadron RAF

    No. 50I Squadron is one of the oldest units in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, the volunteer reserve part of the British Royal Air Force. The squadron won seven battle honours flying Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft during World War II, and was one of the most heavily engaged units in Fighter Command....
     (code letters SD).
  • Malta Story
    Malta Story

    Malta Story is a 1953 in film black and white war film based on the heroic defence of Malta, the island itself, its people, and the Royal Air Force aviators who fought to defend it....
     (1953), starring Alec Guinness
    Alec Guinness

    Sir Alec Guinness, Order of the Companions of Honour, Order of the British Empire was an Academy Award for Best Actor winning English actor....
    , Jack Hawkins
    Jack Hawkins

    John Edward "Jack" Hawkins was an English people film actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe n?e Goodman....
    , Anthony Steel
    Anthony Steel

    bgcolour =| name = Anthony Steel| image = replace this image male.svg?| imagesize =| caption =| birthname = Anthony Maitland Steel...
     and Muriel Pavlow
    Muriel Pavlow

    Muriel Pavlow is an English actress.Pavlow's roles include Miranda in "Quiet Wedding" , the Malta girl Maria in Malta Story where she played alongside Sir Alec Guinness, Joy, the girlfriend of Simon Sparrow, in Doctor in the House , and Thelma Bader, the wife of World War II fighter pilot Douglas Bader in Reach for the Sky ....
    , is a black and white
    Black-and-white

    Black-and-white is a number of monochrome forms in visual arts. Most forms of visual technology start out in black and white, then slowly evolve into color as technology progresses....
     war film
    War film

    War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about navy, air force or army battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoner of war, covert operations, Military education and training or other related subjects....
     telling the story of the defence of Malta
    Malta

    Malta , officially the Republic of Malta , is a densely populated developed country European microstates microstate in the European Union....
     in 1942. At that time the RAF was mainly using the Mark V Spitfire, however this type appears only occasionally in the film, in archive footage. Otherwise, Spitfires shown are mainly of the Mark IX, XIV and XVI types, which flew from Malta after 1943-44. Also shown in archive footage are aircraft types used in the assault on Malta, such as the Italian SM.79, and the German Bf109F
    Messerschmitt Bf 109

    The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was a Germany World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt in the early 1930s. It was one of the first true modern fighters of the era, including such features as an all-metal monocoque construction, a closed canopy, and retractable landing gear....
    .
  • Reach for the Sky
    Reach for the Sky

    Reach for the Sky is a 1956 in film Cinema of the United Kingdom biographical film of aviator Douglas Bader, based on the biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill....
     (1956) starring Kenneth More
    Kenneth More

    Kenneth Gilbert More Order of the British Empire was an England actor....
     tells the story of Douglas Bader
    Douglas Bader

    Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Distinguished Service Order & Medal bar, Distinguished Flying Cross & Medal bar, Royal Aeronautical Society, Deputy Lieutenant was a Royal Air Force fighter ace during the World War II....
    ; late mark Spitfires with 'teardrop' canopies, inappropriate for the period, were used for filming.
  • Battle of Britain
    Battle of Britain (film)

    Battle of Britain is a 1969 in film film directed by Guy Hamilton, and produced by Harry Saltzman and S. Benjamin Fisz. The film broadly relates the events of the Battle of Britain....
     (1969) starring Sir Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine
    Michael Caine

    Sir Michael Caine Order of the British Empire , is a two-time Academy Award and multiple BAFTA Award and Golden Globe winning England film actor who has appeared in more than one hundred films....
    , Christopher Plummer
    Christopher Plummer

    Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer, Order of Canada is a Canadian theater, film and television acting. In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theater, Plummer is perhaps best known for the iconic role of Georg Ludwig von Trapp in The Sound of Music ....
    , Ralph Richardson
    Ralph Richardson

    Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
    , Michael Redgrave
    Michael Redgrave

    Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave Order of the British Empire was a well-known English people stage and film actor, director, manager and author....
    , Susannah York
    Susannah York

    Susannah York is an Academy Award-nominated England film and television actor....
     and many others. Set in 1940, this film features several sequences involving a total of 12 flying Spitfires (mostly Mk IX versions), as well as a number of other flying examples of Second World War-era British and German aircraft. The film's production company was "Spitfire Productions, Steven S.A."
  • British band Iron Maiden
    Iron Maiden

    Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music band from Leyton, East London, England, formed in 1975. The band is led by founder, bassist and songwriter Steve Harris ....
    's song "Aces High
    Aces High (song)

    "Aces High" is a song written by Steve Harris . It is Iron Maiden's eleventh Single and the second from the 1984 album Powerslave . The song tells the story of a United Kingdom Royal Air Force aviator fighting against the Germany Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain , the first battle to be completely fought in the sky of the United Ki...
    " (1984) describes the aerial encounter between the RAF and Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain: "Bandits at 8 o'clock move in behind us, 10 ME 109s out of the sun, Ascending and turning our Spitfires to face them, Heading straight for them I press down my guns."
  • Piece of Cake
    Piece of Cake (TV series)

    Piece of Cake is a six part 1988 in television television series, depicting the life of a Royal Air Force fighter squadron from the day of the British entry into World War II through to one of the toughest days in the Battle of Britain ....
     (1987) starring Tom Burlinson
    Tom Burlinson

    Tom Burlinson is an Australian actor and singer, and has sung in concerts on stage as Frank Sinatra.Burlinson was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada....
    . When it aired on the ITV network in 1987, this was the most watched miniseries
    Miniseries

    A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes....
     in history. Based on the novel by Derek Robinson, the six-part miniseries covered the prewar era to "Battle of Britain Day," 15 September 1940. The series had time to develop its large cast, and depicted the air combat over the skies of France
    France

    France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
     and Britain
    United Kingdom

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
     during the early stages of the Second World War, though using five flying examples of late model Spitfires in place of the novel's early model Hawker Hurricanes. There were shots of several Spitfires taking off and landing together from grass airstrips.
  • Aces: Iron Eagle III
    Aces: Iron Eagle III

    Aces: Iron Eagle III is a 1992 in film war film directed by John Glen.The film starred Louis Gossett Jr. as Chappy Sinclair, reprising his role from the prior films in the series, Iron Eagle and Iron Eagle II....
    (1992), was a film that showed a late mark Spitfire with the teardrop canopy.
  • Dark Blue World
    Dark Blue World

    Dark Blue World is a 2001 film by Czech Republic director Jan Sverak about Czechoslovakian pilots who fought for the British Royal Air Force during World War II....
     (2001), starring Ondrej Vetchý
    Ondrej Vetchý

    Ondrej Vetch? is a Czech people actor.He is currently employed at The Drama Club in Prague....
     was a film about a Free Czech pilot flying a Spitfire during the Second World War. Besides original footage, it also used out-takes from the earlier Battle of Britain film.
  • American pilots in the movie Pearl Harbor
    Pearl Harbor (film)

    Pearl Harbor is a 2001 in film war film directed by Michael Bay. It features a large ensemble cast, including Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Jaime King, and Jennifer Garner....
     (2001) are shown flying Spitfires during part of the film. Ben Affleck
    Ben Affleck

    Ben Affleck is an United Statesn actor, film director and screenwriter. He became known in the mid 1990s, after his involvement in the film Mallrats , and has since become an Academy Award winner for his screenplay in Good Will Hunting in 1997....
    's character gets shot down over the English Channel
    English Channel

    The English Channel is an Arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest, to only in the Strait of Dover....
     in a Spitfire.
  • Several episodes of the ITV
    ITV

    ITV is a public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom television network of British television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC....
     series Foyle's War
    Foyle's War

    Foyle's War is a United Kingdom detective fiction drama created by screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz, and commissioned by ITV after the long-running series Inspector Morse came to an end in 2000....
     (originally airing in 2001) focus on young RAF pilots who fly Spitfires. A real Spitfire Mark V was used in the filming.
  • Spitfire Ace (2004) was a four-part mini series from RDF Media that depicted four young pilots undergoing the same training that Battle of Britain pilots would have received. One pilot was eventually selected to proceed to training in the "Grace Spitfire."
  • English band The Prodigy
    The Prodigy

    The Prodigy are a British people electronic music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990, in Braintree, Essex, England. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers and The Crystal Method, as well as other acts they are pioneers of the big beat electronic dance genre which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s, and are known for high-qua...
    's song "Spitfire
    Spitfire (song)

    "Spitfire" is the sixteenth single released by the England cross-genre band The Prodigy. It was initially released as a 12" vinyl record on 4 April 2005, as a digital download from iTunes the following day, and as a CD single on 11 April 2005....
    " (2005) pays homage to the fighter with the repeated line "If I was in World War II, they'd call me Spitfire."


Specifications (Spitfire Mk Vb)


See also



Citations


Bibliography

  • Air Ministry. A.P 1565B Spifire IIA and IIB Aeroplanes: Merlin XII Engine, Pilot's Notes. London: Air Data Publications, 1972. ISBN 0-85979-043-6
  • Andrews, C.F. and E.B. Morgan. Supermarine Aircraft since 1914. London:Putnam, 1987. ISBN 0 85177 800 3.
  • Bader, Douglas. Fight for the Sky: The Story of the Spitfire and Hurricane. London: Cassell Military Books, 2004. ISBN 0-30435-674-3.
  • Bungay, Stephen. The Most Dangerous Enemy – A History of the Battle Of Britain. London: Aurum, 2001. ISBN 1-85410-801-8.
  • Carpenter, Chris. Flightwise: Part 1, Principles of Aircraft Flight. Shrewsbury, UK: AirLife, 1996. ISBN 1-85310-719-0.
  • Cull, Brian with Fredrick Galea. Spitfires Over Malta: The Epic Air Battles of 1942. London: Grub Street, 2005. ISBN 1-904943-30-6
  • Deighton, Len. Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain. London: Grafton 1977. ISBN 0-78581-208-3.
  • Delve, Ken. The Story of the Spitfire: An Operational and Combat History. London: Greenhill books, 2007. ISBN 978-1-85367-725-0.
  • Dibbs, John and Tony Holmes. Spitfire: Flying Legend. Southampton, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1997. ISBN 1-84176-005-6.
  • Ethell, Jeffrey L. and Steve Pace. Spitfire. Osceola, Wisconsin: Motorbooks International, 1997. ISBN 0-7603-0300-2.
  • Flack, Jeremy. Spitfire - The World's Most Famous Fighter. London: Chancellor Press, 1994. ISBN 1-85152-637-4.
  • Flintham, Victor. Air Wars and Aircraft: A Detailed Record of Air Combat, 1945 to the Present. New York: Facts on File, 1990. ISBN 0-81602-356-5.
  • Green, Peter. "Spitfire Against a Lightning." Flypast No. 315, October 2007.
  • Green, William. Famous Fighters of the Second World War, 3rd ed. New York: Doubleday, 1975. ISBN 0-356-08334-9.
  • Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. The Great Book of Fighters. St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing, 2001. ISBN 0-7603-1194-3.
  • Gueli, Marco. "Spitfire con Coccarde Italiane (Spitfire in Italian service)." (in Italian) Storia Militare n. 62, November 1998.
  • Gunston, Bill et al. "Supermarine unveils its high-performance monoplane today (March 5)." The Chronicle of Aviation. Liberty, Missouri: JL International Publishing, 1992. ISBN 1-87203-130-7.
  • Henshaw, Alex. Sigh for a Merlin: Testing the Spitfire: 2Rev Ed edition . London: Crecy Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-9475-5483-5.
  • Henshaw, Alex. "Spitfire: A test pilot's defence." Aeroplane Monthly Vol 23 No 9, Issue No 269, September 1995.
  • Holland, James. Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege, 1940-1943. New York: Miramax Books, 2003. ISBN 1-4013-5186-7.
  • Holmes, Tony. Spitfire vs Bf 109: Battle of Britain. London: Osprey Aerospace, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84603-190-8
  • Jane, Fred T. “The Supermarine Spitfire.” Jane’s Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London: Studio, 1946. ISBN 1-85170-493-0.
  • Jane, Fred T. Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II(reprint). New York: Crescent Books, 1998. ISBN 0-517-67964-7.
  • McKinstry, Leo. Spitfire - Portrait of a Legend. London: John Murray, 2007. ISBN 0-71956-874-9.
  • Morgan, Eric B. and Edward Shacklady. Spitfire: The History. London: Key Publishing, 1992. ISBN 0-946219-10-9.
  • Morgan, M.B. and D. E. Morris. September 1940.
  • Price, Alfred. Spitfire: A Documentary History. London: Macdonald and Jane's, 1977. ISBN 0-354-01077-8.
  • Price, Alfred. Spitfire a Complete Fighting History. Enderby, Leicester, UK: The Promotional Reprint Company Limited, 1991. ISBN 1-85648-015-1.
  • Price, Alfred. The Spitfire Story. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982. ISBN 0-86720-624-1.
  • Price, Alfred. The Spitfire Story: Second edition. London: Arms and Armour Press Ltd., 1986. ISBN 0-85368-861-3.
  • Price, Alfred. Spitfire - Fighter Supreme. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1991. ISBN 1-85409-056-9.
  • Price, Alfred. Late Marque Spitfire Aces 1942 - 1945. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1995. ISBN 1-85532-575-6.
  • Price, Alfred. The Spitfire Story: New edited edition. London: Weidenfeld Military, 1999. ISBN 1-85409-514-5.
  • Price, Alfred. The Spitfire Story: Revised second edition. Enderby, Leicester, UK: Siverdale Books, 2002. ISBN 1-885605-702-X.
  • Price, Alfred and Spick, Mike. Handbook of Great Aircraft of WW II. Enderby, Leicester, UK: The Promotional Reprint Company Limited, 1997. ISBN 0-78580-669-5.
  • Quill. Jeffrey. Spitfire: A Test Pilot’s Story. London: Arrow Books, 1983. ISBN 0-09-937020-4.
  • Shores, Christopher and Brian Cull with Nicola Malizia. Malta: The Spitfire Year. London: Grub Street, 1991. ISBN 0-948817-16-X.
  • Smallwood, Hugh. Spitfire in Blue. London: Osprey Aerospace, 1996. ISBN 1-85532-615-9.
  • Spick, Mike. Supermarine Spitfire. New York: Gallery Books, 1990. ISBN 0-8317-14034.
  • "Spitfire: Simply Superb part three." Bromley, Kent UK: Air International Volume 28 Number 4, April 1985.
  • Tanner, John. The Spitfire V Manual (AP1565E reprint). London: Arms and Armour Press, 1981. ISBN 0-85368-420-0.


External links

  • and - Temora Aviation Museum
    Temora Aviation Museum

    The Temora Aviation Museum is an Australia aerospace museum located in Temora, New South Wales. The Museum was established in late 1999, based on the collection of warbird aircraft owned by David Lowy....
     page