(Supermarine) Spitfire @·AIRCRAFTUBE

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    Prototype K5054
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    In Malta
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    Spitfire Mk.I - K9795 9th production 19Sq - 1938
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    Spitfire Mk.IV XII - Griffon - Jeffrey Quill - 1942
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    Spitfire Mk.IX - 1948
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    Seafire F Mk.XVII
  • Spitfire Mk.IX - 611Sqn Biggin Hill - 1943 Spitfire Mk.IX - 611Sqn Biggin Hill - 1943
    Spitfire Mk.IX - 611Sqn Biggin Hill - 1943
  • Spitfire Mk.Vc Trop - 352 Yugo Sqn RAF, Balkan AF, August 1944 Spitfire Mk.Vc Trop - 352 Yugo Sqn RAF, Balkan AF, August 1944
    Spitfire Mk.Vc Trop - 352 Yugo Sqn RAF, Balkan AF, August 1944
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  • Spitfire Vb<br>USSR Lend-Lease<br>Abadan, Iran, 1943 Spitfire Vb<br>USSR Lend-Lease<br>Abadan, Iran, 1943
    Spitfire Vb
    USSR Lend-Lease
    Abadan, Iran, 1943
  • Spitfire Vbs - 40Sqn SAAF - Tunisia 1943 Spitfire Vbs - 40Sqn SAAF - Tunisia 1943
    Spitfire Vbs - 40Sqn SAAF - Tunisia 1943
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    Spitfire Mk.IX Hatzerim 1-2

Supermarine Spitfire

Produced by the Supermarine subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrongs, the Spitfire was designed by the company's Chief Designer R.J. Mitchell, who continued to refine the design until his death from cancer in 1937, the position of chief designer then filled by his colleague, Joseph Smith. Its elliptical wing had a thin cross-section, allowing a higher top speed than the Hawker Hurricane and other contemporary designs; it also resulted in a distinctive appearance, enhancing its overall streamlined features. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire saw service during the whole of the Second World War and subsequent years, in all theatres of war, and in many different variants.

Design and development

Supermarine's Chief Designer, R.J. Mitchell, had won four Schneider Trophy seaplane races with his designs: (Sea Lion II in 1922, S 5 in 1927, S 6 in 1929 and S 6b in 1931), combining powerful Napier Lion and Rolls-Royce "R" engines with minute attention to streamlining. These same qualities are equally useful for a fighter design, and, in 1931, Mitchell produced such a plane in response to an Air Ministry specification (F7/30) for a new and modern monoplane fighter.

This first attempt at a fighter resulted in an open-cockpit monoplane with gull-wings and a large fixed, spatted undercarriage powered by the evaporative cooled Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine. The Supermarine Type 224 did not live up to expectations; nor did any of the competing designs, which were also deemed failures.

Mitchell immediately turned his attention to an improved design as a private venture, with the backing of Supermarine's owner, Vickers-Armstrongs. The new design added undercarriage retraction, an enclosed cockpit, oxygen breathing-apparatus and the much more powerful newly developed Rolls-Royce PV-12 engine, later named the Merlin, powering all Spitfire Mk.I to Mk.IX variants after which the Rolls Royce Griffon engine was used.

By 1935, the Air Ministry had seen enough advances in the industry to try the monoplane design again. They eventually rejected the new Supermarine design on the grounds that it did not carry the required eight-gun armament, and did not appear to have room to do so.

Elliptical wing design

Once again, Mitchell was able to solve the problem. It has been suggested that by looking at various Heinkel planes, he settled on the use of an elliptical planform, which had much more chord to allow for the required eight guns, while still having the low drag of the earlier, simpler wing design. Mitchell's aerodynamicist, Beverley Shenstone, however, has pointed out that Mitchell's wing was not directly copied from the Heinkel He 70, as some have claimed. In addition to the Spitfire wing being much thinner with a completely different section, the matter is one of parallel development of the same technical solution; the elliptical planform is the most efficient in terms of lift distribution along the span, having good qualities at stall as well- a fact which would not have escaped Mitchell. In any event, the elliptical wing was enough to sell the Air Ministry on this new Type 300, which they funded by a new specification, F.10/35, drawn up around the Spitfire.

The elliptical wing was chosen for superior aerodynamic attributes, but it was a complex wing to construct, and the Messerschmitt Bf 1O9's angular and easy-to-construct wing offered similar performance (model per model) to the Spitfire. It has been reported that the Bf 1O9 took one-third the man hours to construct compared to the Spitfire.

One flaw in the thin-wing design of the Spitfire manifested itself when the plane was brought up to very high speeds. When the pilot attempted to roll the plane at these speeds, the aerodynamic forces subjected upon the ailerons were enough to twist the entire wingtip in the direction opposite of the aileron deflection (much like how an aileron trim tab will deflect the aileron itself). This so-called aileron reversal resulted in the Spitfire rolling in the opposite direction of the pilot's intention.

A novel feature in the final Spitfire design was its wing washout. The trailing edge of the wing twists slightly upward along its length, from −1/2 degree at its root to +2 degrees at its tip. This causes the wing roots to stall before the tips, reducing the potentially dangerous rolling moment in the stall known as a tip stall, that may result in spin. When the root stalls, the turbulent separated slipstream, departing from the wing top side, shakes the elevator and thus the aircraft's control column in a characteristic "judder", warning the pilot that he is about to reach the limit of the aircraft's performance, while full control is retained at the wingtips and ailerons. This allowed even average pilots to hold the Spitfire in a steep turn right at the point of stall, hoping that the pursuing enemy would have to fall out of his own steep turn first or would have to follow in a more gradual turn, eventually appearing in the Spitfire's gunsight.

The early versions were fitted with the P8 Air Ministry magnetic compass, of a nautical design which was of over-engineered brass construction and mounted on 4 anti-vibration dampers. Internally it also had a pressure diaphragm to compensate for altitude changes. The unit was modified later in the war with the rare P8 M, and later the P11. After the war this type of compass was replaced with the new American "Eyeball" type seen in most aircraft today.

Name

The Air Ministry submitted a number of names to Vickers-Armstrongs for the new aircraft, tentatively known as the Type 300, including 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, usually a woman. The name had previously been used unofficially for Mitchell's earlier F.7/30 Type 224 design. Mitchell is reported to have said that it was "just the sort of bloody silly name they would choose", possibly an oblique reference to an earlier, much less successful aircraft of his design that had been given the same name.

Production

The prototype (K5054) first flew on 5 March 1936, from Eastleigh Aerodrome (later Southampton Airport) just four months after the maiden flight of the contemporary Hawker Hurricane. Testing continued until 26 May 1936, when Captain J. "Mutt" Summers, (Chief Test Pilot for Vickers (Aviation) Ltd.) flew K5054 to RAF Martlesham Heath 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 of the 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 air-display on Saturday 27 June 1936.

To build the Spitfires in the numbers needed, a whole new factory was built at Castle Bromwich, near Birmingham as a "shadow" to Supermarine's Southampton factory. Although the project was ultimately led by Lord Nuffield who was an expert in mass construction, the Spitfire's stressed-skin construction was a bit too complex and Supermarine and Vickers-Armstrongs engineers were needed. The site was set up quickly from July 1938 - machinery being installed two months after work started on the site.

More than 20,300 examples of all variants were built, including two-seat trainers, with some Spitfires remaining in service well into the 1950s. Although its great wartime foe, the Messerschmitt Bf 1O9, in its many variants, rivalled the Spitfire's production statistics, the Spitfire was the only British fighter aircraft to be in continual production before, during and after the Second World War.

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, would develop 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 to Griffon engines, the high speed photo-reconnaissance variants and the different wing configurations. The Spitfire Mk.V was the most common type, with 6,479 built, followed by the 5,665 Mk.IX airframes produced. Different wings, featuring a variety of weapons, were fitted to most marks; the A wing used eight .303 machine guns, the B with four .303 machine guns and two 20 mm Hispano cannon, and the C or Universal Wing which 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 .5 inch Browning heavy machine guns.

Supermarine developed a two-seat variant to be used for training and was known as the T Mk.VIII, but no orders were received for this aircraft and only one example was ever constructed (identified as N32/G-AIDN by Supermarine). However, in the absence of an official two-seater variant, a number of airframes were crudely converted in the field. These included an RAF 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 in-line "greenhouse" style double canopy rather than the raised "bubble" type of the T Mk.VIII.

In the post-war 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. These were then sold to the Indian Air Force and Irish Air Corps. 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 USA and the "Grace Spitfire" - ML407, a T Mk.IX that is privately owned and operates out of Duxford, UK.

Naval variants

A naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire, called the Seafire, was specially adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. Modifications included an arrester hook, folding wings and other specialized equipment. However, like the Spitfire, the Seafire had a narrow undercarriage track, which meant that it was not well suited to deck operations. Due to the addition of heavy carrier equipment, it suffered from an aft centre-of-gravity position that made low-speed control difficult, and its gradual stall characteristics meant that it was difficult to land accurately on the carrier. These characteristics resulted in a very high accident rate for the Seafire.

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 combats. Contemporary Allied carrier fighters such as the F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair, however, were considerably more powerful. A performance advantage was regained when late-war Seafire marks equipped with the Griffon engines supplanted their Merlin-engined predecessors.

Griffon-engined variants

The first 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 400mph in level flight and climb to an altitude of 30,000 feet (10,000 m) in under eight 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 fuel.

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.

Although the Griffon-engined marks lost some of the favourable handling characteristics of their Merlin-powered predecessors, they maintained their manoeuvring advantage over nearly all contemporary German (and American) designs in Europe throughout their production.

Griffon-engined Spitfires and Seafires continued to be flown by many squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve until re-equipped in 1951-52. The last flight of a Spitfire in RAF service took place on 9 June 1957 by a PR19, PS 583 from RAF Woodvale as part of the Temperature and Humidity Flight. This is the last known flight of a piston engined fighter in the RAF.

Operational history

Early RAF service

The first Spitfire to enter service with the RAF arrived at 19 Squadron, Duxford, on 4 August 1938, and over the next few weeks, aircraft were delivered at the rate of one a week to both 19 and 66 Squadrons (also based at Duxford). The next to be equipped with Spitfires was 41 Squadron at Catterick, followed by a succession of squadrons stationed at Hornchurch in Essex. The public's first sight of the Spitfire in RAF colours was on Empire Air Day, 20 May 1939 during a display at Duxford in which the pilot "belly-landed" his aircraft having forgotten to lower his undercarriage and was consequently fined £5 by the Air Ministry. By the outbreak of the Second World War, there were around 400 Spitfires in service with the RAF, and a further 2,000 on order.

In an incident known as the Battle of Barking Creek on 6 September 1939, Spitfires were first blooded on a pair of unfortunate Hawker Hurricanes from no. 56 RAF Squadron. The Hurricanes were shot down by Spitfires of no. 74 RAF Squadron in a friendly fire incident over the Medway, leading to the death of P/O Montague Leslie Hulton-Harrop, the first British pilot fatality of the Second World War.

Battle of Britain

R.J. Mitchell and his Spitfire are often credited with winning the Battle of Britain. This is a view often propagated within popular culture, such as in the film The First of the Few. However, the maintenance of civilian morale under air attack is vital, and no doubt the Spitfire and its legend contributed to this.

The Spitfire was one of the finest fighters of the war; aviation historians and laymen alike often claim it to be the most aesthetically appealing. It is, however, frequently compared to the Hawker Hurricane, which was used in greater numbers during the critical stages of 1940. Although early Spitfires and Hurricanes carried identical armament (eight .303 inch / 7.696 mm machine guns), the placement of the Hurricane's guns was better, yielding a closer pattern of fire. A slower top speed, however, made the Hurricane more vulnerable against the German fighter escorts. Wherever possible, the RAF tactic during the Battle of Britain was to use the Hurricane squadrons to attack the bombers, holding the Spitfires back to counter the German escort fighters. In total numbers, the Hurricane shot down more Luftwaffe aircraft, both fighters and bombers, than the Spitfire, mainly due to the higher proportion of Hurricanes in the air. Seven of every ten German planes destroyed during the Battle of Britain were shot down by Hurricane pilots. Losses were also higher among the more numerous Hurricanes.

The Mk.I and Mk.II models saw service during the Battle and beyond, into 1941. Both of these used eight .303 machine guns and although having this number of guns sounds impressive, the fact is that this relatively small calibre armament was more suited to shooting down the wood-and-canvas machines of the First World War. It was relatively common during the Battle of Britain for the (metal) German planes to return safely to base with surprisingly high numbers of .303 bullet holes. The use of a smaller number of larger calibre guns would have been far more effective, and this was rectified in later versions of the Spitfire. The Mk.V entered service in early 1941, and was the first to feature an effective and reliable cannon armament (the Mk.IBs of 19 Squadron were tried out with two 20 mm Hispano-Suiza cannon fitted in 1940, although frequent stoppages meant the types were replaced by conventionally armed aircraft in September 1940). The "B" configuration of two 20 mm cannon and four .303 machine guns was standard during the mid-war years.

Another contemporary, the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Bf 109, was similar in physical dimensions, attributes and performance to the Spitfire. Some inherent advantages helped the Spitfires win many dogfights, most notably manoeuvrability: the Spitfire had higher rates of turn than the Messerschmitt. Good cockpit visibility was probably a factor as well, as the early Bf 109s had a narrow enclosure with heavily-framed, panelled cockpit windows. At this time, the Merlin engine's lack of direct fuel injection meant that both Spitfires and Hurricanes, unlike the Bf 109E, were unable simply to nose down into a deep dive. This meant the Luftwaffe fighters could simply "bunt" into a high-power dive to escape attack, leaving the Spitfire spluttering behind as its fuel was forced by negative "g" out of the carburettor. RAF fighter pilots soon learned to "half-roll" their aircraft before diving to pursue their opponents. The use of uninjected 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 in a dive, and became known as "Miss Shilling's orifice" as it was invented by a female engineer, Beatrice "Tilly" Shilling. Further improvements were introduced throughout the Merlin series, with injection introduced in 1943. Production of the Griffon-engined Spitfire Mk.XII had begun the year before.

European Offensive 1941-43

The introduction of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in late 1941 along the Channel front proved a shock to RAF Fighter Command, the new German fighter proving superior to the then-current Mk.VB in all aspects except turning radius. Losses inflicted on Fighter Command's Spitfires were heavy, as air superiority switched to the Luftwaffe through most of 1942, until the Merlin 61-engined Mk.IX version started to see service in sufficient numbers. In an attempt to achieve some degree of parity with the Fw 190, some squadrons still operating the Mk.V received specially modified versions that had four feet of wing-tip removed (to improve their rate of roll) and reduced supercharger blades on the Merlin for optimum performance at lower altitudes. These aircraft were designated LF Mk.V officially, but were also known by their pilots as "Clipped, Clapped and Cropped Spits," also referring to the fact that many of these Spitfires, thus modified, had seen better days.

As the American strategic bombing campaign gathered momentum in mid-1943, the need for fighter escort meant much of Fighter Command's Spitfire force was utilized in this role while the US fighter groups worked up to operational status. The inadequate range of the Spitfire, however, meant the RAF support operations were limited to northwestern France and the Channel. As the battle intensified over occupied Europe, USAAF fighters like the P-47, P-38 and P-51 bore the brunt of bomber protection. Spitfire IX squadrons had to bide their time until the invasion of Europe before fully engaging the Luftwaffe fighter force.

Mediterranean service

The first Spitfires to see overseas service were Mk.Vs flown from the deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle to Malta in March 1942. In the months that followed, some 275 Spitfires were delivered to the beleaguered island. To counter the prevalent dusty conditions, the Spitfires were fitted with a large Vokes air filter under the nose, which lowered the performance of the aircraft through induced drag. The Spitfire V and, later, much-improved, longer-ranged Mk.VIIIs also soon became available in the North African Theatre and, henceforth, featured heavily with the RAF, South African Air Force and USAAF during the campaigns in Sicily and Italy.

Asia and the Pacific

The Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Indian Air Force and the RAF also used Spitfires against Japanese forces in the Pacific theatre. The first Spitfires in the Far East were two photo-reconnaissance (PR IV) aircraft in October 1942. Japanese air raids on Northern Australia prompted the formation in late 1942 of No. 1 Wing RAAF (No. 54 Squadron RAF, 452 and 457 squadrons RAAF), flying the Spitfire Vb. The wing arrived at Darwin in February 1943, and saw constant action until September. In the Burma-India Theatre, the first Spitfire Vs were not received until September 1943. The Spitfire VIII were received by the RAAF in April 1944. Spitfire pilots in Asia and the Pacific were surprised to find that they could not follow many Japanese fighters, such as the Mitsubishi Zero, through a turn. Ironically, they were forced to adopt tactics similar to those used by German pilots when facing Spitfires; utilizing their higher speed, especially in a dive, to make swooping attacks, and pursuing Japanese planes which had reached the limits of their range.

D-day and beyond

After the Normandy landings, Spitfire squadrons were moved across the Channel, operating from tactical airfields close to enemy lines. As the Allied air forces achieved air supremacy, Spitfire pilots had fewer opportunities to combat German aircraft, concentrating their efforts on roaming over German territory, attacking ground targets of opportunity and providing tactical ground support to the army units. The Merlin's glycol cooling system proved particularly vulnerable to small arms fire, with one hit in the wrong place being enough to eventually seize the engine.

The newer, faster marks of Spitfire were retained in Britain to counter the V-1 flying bomb offensive in mid-1944, although these aircraft were deployed across the Channel before the war in Europe ended.

Postwar service

Following the Second World War, the Spitfire remained in use with many air forces around the world.

Europe

Soon after the end of the Second World War, the Swedish Air Force equipped a photo reconnaissance wing, F 11 in Nyköping (just south of Stockholm), with 50 Mk.19's, designated S 31. Several S 31 photographic missions in the late 1940s entailed flagrant violations of Soviet and, at least once, Finnish airspace in order to document activities at the air and naval installations in the Baltic and Kola regions. At that time, no Soviet fighter was able to reach the operational altitude of the S 31. No Swedish planes were lost during those clandestine operations. However, by the early 1950s, Soviet air defenses had become so effective that such practices had to cease. The S 31s were replaced by jet-powered SAAB S 29C's in the mid-1950s.

Spitfires played a major role in the Greek Civil War, flown by the RAF and SAAF during October-December 1944, and by the Hellenic Air Force from 1946 to the end of the war in August 1949.

Middle East

Spitfires last saw combat during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when, in a strange twist, Israeli Air Force Spitfires flown by former RAF pilots such as Ezer Weizman engaged Egyptian Spitfires and Royal Air Force Spitfires.

Some air forces retained Spitfires in service well into the 1960s.

Speed and altitude records

The Spitfire Mk XI flown by Sqn. Ldr. Martindale, seen here after its flight on 27 April 1944 during which it was damaged achieving a true airspeed of 606 mph (975 km/h).

Beginning in late 1943, high-speed diving trials were undertaken at Farnborough to investigate handling characteristics of aircraft near the sound barrier (i.e. the onset of compressibility effects). Because it had the highest limiting Mach number 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. It was during these trials that EN409, flown by Squadron Leader J. R. Tobin, reached 606 mph (Mach .891) in a 45-degree dive. In April 1944 the same aircraft suffered engine failure in another dive when being flown by Squadron Leader A. F. Martindale, and the propeller and reduction gear broke off. Martindale successfully glided the 20 miles (30 km) back to the airfield and landed safely.

"That any operational aircraft off the production line, cannons sprouting from its wings and warts and all, could readily be controlled at this speed when the early jet aircraft such as Meteors, Vampires, P-80s, etc. could not, was certainly extraordinary" ― Jeffrey Quill.

On 5 February 1952, a Spitfire Mk.19 of No. 81 Squadron RAF based in Hong Kong achieved probably the highest altitude ever achieved by a Spitfire. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Ted Powles, was on a routine flight to survey outside air temperature and report on other meteorological conditions at various altitudes in preparation for a proposed new air service through the area. He climbed to 50,000 feet (15,240 m) indicated altitude, with a true altitude of 51,550 feet (15,712 m), which was the highest height ever recorded for a Spitfire. 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. He 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 (or 1,110 km/h) or Mach .94, which would have been the highest speed ever reached by a propeller-driven aircraft. Today, it is generally believed that this speed figure is the result of inherent instrument errors and has to be considered unrealistic.

However, the critical Mach number of the Spitifire's elliptic wing was higher than the subsequently used wing with laminar-flow-section, straight-tapering planform wing of the follow-on Spiteful/Seafang/Attacker aircraft, bringing comment on the wisdom of replacing the old but better wing with the new one.

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Specifications of the F Mk.IX

  • Length : 31 ft (or 9.45 m).
  • Wing span : 36 ft 10 in (or 11.23 m).
  • Gross weight : 7,300 lb (or 3,311 kg).
  • Max Speed : 400 mph (or 349 kts or 644 km/h).
  • Service ceiling : 40,000 ft (or 12,192 m).
  • Max range : 434 mi (or 377 nm or 698 km).
  • Engine : Merlin 61 or 63.

Specifications of the FR Mk.XIVE

  • Length : 32 ft 8 in (or 9.96 m).
  • Height : 11 ft 8 in (or 3.56 m).
  • Wing span : 36 ft 10 in (or 11.23 m).
  • Wing area : 242 sq ft (or 22.48 m²).
  • Gross weight : 8,475 lb (or 3,844 kg).
  • Empty weight : 6,376 lb (or 2,892 kg).
  • Max Speed : 438 mph (or 381 kts or 705 km/h) at 24,500 ft (or 7,468 m).
  • Service ceiling : 43,000 ft (or 13,106 m).
  • Max range : 400 mi (or 348 nm or 644 km).
  • Engine : Rolls-Royce Griffon 65.
  • Power : 2,049 hp (or 1,529 kW).
  • Armament : Two 20 mm Hispano canons and two .50 machine guns.

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Supermarine Spitfire of Wikipedia ( authors )
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    Some media may have escaped the vigilance of Administrators with regard to copyrights. If a user reports copyright infringement, he will be asked to prove that he is indeed the rights's owner for the concerned media. If so, his decision on the Administrator's next action will be respected: A total suppression of the Media on the Website, or the addition of some owner's reference. The publication of a media on the internet normally having as a goal to make it visible to many people, the Administrators expect in any case that the second option will be most often chosen.

    Pursuant to the Law on copyright and related rights, the user has the right to download and reproduce information on the Website for personal use and provided that the source is mentionned. They cannot however be used for commercial or advertising purposes.

    Using Blogs and filing comments

  • Moderator : The Administrator reserves the right to prevent the publication of comments that are not directly related to the Service without providing any explanation. Similarly, all insults, out of scope or unethical material will be banned.
  • Identification : Persons wishing to post a comment or use any form of contact are required to provide identification by the means of a valid e-mail address.
  • Responsibilities : Comments are posted on the Website under the unique responsability of their authors and the Administrators may in no case be liable for any statements or claims that the users might have issued.

    • As the comment system is hosted and maintained on servers external to the Website, the Administrators may in no circumstances be held responsible for the use that administrators of these servers or other third parties may have with those comments or filed data.

    Content Liability

    The Administrators carefully check the reliability of the sources used. They cannot, however, guarantee the accuracy of any information contained on the Website, partly because of the multiple sources from which they come.

    JavaScript and cookies - Storing information

    This Website imperatively uses JavaScript and cookies to function properly. Neither of these technologies, or other means shall in no case be used on the Website for the retention or disclosure of personal information about Visitors. Exceptions to this rule will involve storing the Users banned for inappropriate comments they might have given as well as contact information for Users wishing to subscribe to future newsletters.

    When a user accesses the Website, the corresponding servers may automatically collect certain data, such as IP address, date and time of Website access, viewed pages and the type of browser used. This information is kept only for the purpose of measuring the number of visitors to the different sections of the site and make improvements.

    Donations - Advertising

    To continue providing the Service for free, the Webmaster reserves the right to insert advertising or promotional messages on any page of the Site. In the same idea, any donations will only by used to cover the running costs of the site, such as hosting, connection fees, hardware and software necessary for the development and maintenance of the Website.

    Links and other websites

    Administrators shall in no case be liable for the non-availability of websites operated by third parties to which users would access through the Website.

    Administrators assume no liability for any content, advertising, products and/or services available on such third party websites. It is reminded that those sites are governed by their own terms of use.

    Placing a link to third party sites or authorize a third party to include a link on their website refering to this Website does not mean that the Administrators recommend in any way the products or services offered by these websites.

    Modifications

    The Webmaster reserves the right to modify at any time without notification the present terms of use as well as all content or specific functionality that the Website offers.

    The modified terms and conditions immediately apply to the using Visitor when changes come online. Visitors are invited to consult the site regularly on the most current version of the terms and conditions

    Governing Law and Jurisdiction

    These general conditions are governed by Belgian law.

    In case of dispute regarding the interpretation and/or execution of the above terms, the parties agree that the courts of the district of Nivelles, Belgium shall have exclusive jurisdiction power.

    Credits page

    Wikipedia.org

    Wikipedia is a collaboratively edited, multilingual, free Internet encyclopedia.

    Youtube

    YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, view and share videos.

    Special thanks to all Youtube quality aviation vids providers, specially (Those I forgot, please excuse me or report) :

    Airboyd
    Andys Video
    Aviation videos archives
    Bomberguy
    Classic Aviation TV
    Historical Aviation Film Unit
    Horsemoney
    Jaglavaksoldier
    Joluqa Malta
    Just Planes
    Koksy
    Classic Airliners & Vintage Pop Culture
    Memorial Flight
    Octane130
    Okrajoe
    SDASM archives
    Spottydog4477
    The Aviators TV
    Valentin Izagirre Bengoetxea
    Vexed123
    VonBerlich
    Zenos Warbirds

    Bundesarchiv

    The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv are the National Archives of Germany.

    FAQ

    I don't see my comments any more!

    Please note that each page has it's own comment entry. So, if you enter a comment i.e. on the B-747, you will only see it on that related page.

    General comments are accessed via the "BLOG En" button.

    Comments are moderated, so please allow some delay before they appear, specially if you are outside Europe.

    Menus are developing below the page, because they are too long!

    But they remain accessible, for example by scrolling the mouse wheel, or with your finger (on the menu) on a smartphone or tablet.

    I see adds on all videos.

    Use a good free add remover software.

    The site is loading random pages at startup.

    We think it is a good way to bring back the memory of aircraft, persons or events sometimes quite forgotten.

    HELP PAGE

    Why this site?

    Discovery

    This website is dedicated to one's aeronautical passion (which I hope we share) and was realised mainly as an educationnal tool. Knowing that, you'll notice that each new visit brings random topics for the purpose of making new discoveries, some achievements or characters certainly not deserving the oblivion into which they have sometimes fallen.

    By these pages, we also want to pay tribute to all those who gave at one time or another, their lives or health in the name of freedom, aeronautical security or simply our comfort.

    Centralisation

    Internet is full of websites dedicated to aviation, but most are dedicated to subjects or periods that are very limited in space or time. The purpose of this site is to be as general as possible and thus treats all events as well as characters of all stripes and times while putting much emphasis on the most significant achievements.

    The same years saw birth of technologies like photography and cinema, thus permitting illustration of a large part of important aeronautical events from the start. Countless (and sometimes rare) media recently put online by enthousiasts finally give us access to these treasures, but the huge amount of information often makes things a little messy. A centralization effort is obviously most needed at this level.

    All persons who directly or indirectly contributed to the achievement or posting of such documents are here gratefully acknowledged.

    General

    Fluid website

    This site automatically fits the dimensions of your screen, whether you are on a desktop computer, a tablet or a smartphone.

    Bilingual website

    You can change the language by clicking on the flag in the upper left or via "Options" in the central menu. Of course, the videos remain in the language in which they were posted ...

    Browser compatibility

    The site is not optimized, or even designed to run on older browsers or those deliberately deviating from standards. You will most probably encounter display issues with Internet Explorer. In this case, it is strongly recommended installing a modern (and free!) browser that's respecting the standards, like Firefox, Opera, Chrome or Safari.

    Cookies and Javascript

    This site uses cookies and JavaScript to function properly. Please ensure that your browser is configured accordingly. Neither of these technologies, or other means shall in no case be used on the Site for the retention or disclosure of personal information about its Visitors. See the "Legal" page for more on this subject.

    Website layout

    Left menus

    Because of the lack of space on smartphones and small tablets, these menus are hidden. Everything is nevertheless accessible via the main menu option, located between the video and photo sections. This menu is placed there for compatibility reasons with some browsers, which play the videos over the menus.

    "Search" and "Latest" :
    The link "In Titles" restricts the search to the titles of different forms. Use this option if you are looking for a plane, a constructor, a pilot or a particular event that could have been treated as a subject.

    The link "In Stories" will bring you to a search in all texts (the "Story" tab) and will take more time. The search term will appear highlighted in green when opening the corresponding story.

    Would you believe, "Timeline" will show all subjects in chronological order.

    "Random" will reload the entire page with a new random topic.

    The bottom section keeps you abreast of the latest five entries. New topics are added regularly. Don't hesitate to come visit us often : add bookmark.

    Blogs and Comments central section

    Under the photos section comes the comments tabs window :

    You can enter general comments in your own language via one of the two buttons on the left (BLOG EN and BLOG FR). Note that these buttons are accessible regardless of the language to allow some participation in the other language.

    All comments are subject to moderation and will be published only if they comply with the basic rules of decorum, while remaining relevant to the purpose of this site.

    The third tab allows you to enter comments on the shown topic and is bilingual. Personal anecdotes, supplements and other information questions will take place here.

    The "Story" tab shows the explanatory texts. They are most often taken from Wikipedia, a site where we participate regularly.

    The "Data" tab is reserved for list of features and specifications.

    Right menus

    On a smartphone, the lack of space is growing and this menu is moved to the bottom of the page to give priority to videos and pictures.

    The top right icons are links to videos posted by third parties (on their own responsabilities) or by ourselves. The link below these icons will take you to the channel of the one who posted the video. Feel free to suggest other videos if you think they are of some interest (Use the BLOG button or the "Contact" link).