Click on Picture to enlarge     First Flight of the Spitfire

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Supermarine Spitfire Mk. Vc

Following the Battle of Britain in 1940, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had planned to replace its Spitfire Mk. I and II fighters with the Mk. III, which had been under development for two years. The Mk. III included significant improvements such as an improved wing design, a retractable tail wheel, and a new Rolls-Royce Merlin XX engine.

Before the RAF could put the Mk. III into production, however, the Germans introduced the improved Messerschmitt Bf 109F. Since this new German fighter greatly outperformed the current Spitfires at high altitude, the RAF could not wait for the factories to be retooled for the Mk. III, and they hurriedly developed an interim aircraft, the Sptifire Mk. V (the Mk. IV designation had already been assigned to another version).

Essentially, the Mk. V consisted of a modified Mk. II airframe with a new Rolls-Royce Merlin 45 engine (a Merlin XX modified to ease production and improve high altitude performance). Initially, the wing remained unchanged, but three different types emerged depending on the armament. With the suffix letter indicating the type of wing, the Mk. Va had eight Browning .303 machine guns, and the Mk. Vb had two Hispano 20 mm cannon and four machine guns. The Spitfire Mk. Vc introduced the "universal" wing which enabled this variant to be fitted with various combinations of armament, including four 20 mm. cannon and four .303 machine guns.

Most Spitfire Mk. Vc fighters had the B version armament with the outer cannon positions being covered, but the C wing carried 120 rounds for each cannon versus only 60 for each cannon on the B wing. The universal wing also used a strengthened landing gear that had been moved two inched forward to correct the Spitfire's tendency to nose over on its propeller. In addition, the Spitfire Mk. Vb and Mk. Vc could carry two 250-LB bombs or one 500-LB bomb.

Unwilling to wait while the Mk. V went into hurried production, the RAF quickly converted more than 100 Spitfire Mk. I aircraft into the Mk. V version. These converted aircraft started arriving at the combat units in March 1941. In addition to these converted aircraft, a total of 6,464 Spitfire Mk. Vs were built between 1941 and 1943. Fighting on every front during the war, these Mk. Vs equipped more than 140 RAF squadrons, including the "Eagle" Squadrons composed of American volunteers flying for the RAF. Nine other Allied nations, including the United States, flew Mk. Vs. The United States Army Air Forces' (USAAF) 31st and 52d Fighter Groups flew them first during Operation TORCH, the invasion of North Africa in November 1942. Some of the American pilots removed one machine gun from each wing to lessen weight and thereby improve maneuverability. Also, to protect the engine in the desert climate, the RAF tropicalized (Trop) the Spitfire Mk. Vs by adding either a Vokes or a smaller Aboukir air filter to the aircraft.

Originally, the Spitfire had been designed as a short-range home-defense fighter, but by 1941, the RAF had begun offensive operations over Nazi-occupied Europe. To extend the Mk. Vs range, the RAF adopted 30- and 9-gallon jettisonable fuel tanks which fit flush under the fuselage. Also, as the war progressed and fewer enemy fighters were encountered, the Spitfires began flying ground strafing missions. To improve the low-altitude characteristics, most Spitfire Mk. V's had their wingtips removed. Categorized as low-altitude fighters, these aircraft carried the prefix of "L.F." (i.e. Spitfire L.F. Mk. Vc).

Suggested Reading:

Philip D. Caine, American Pilots in the RAF
Vern Haugland, The Eagles' War

 

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The Air Force Museum's Aircraft
The aircraft on display is a Spitfire Mk. Vc (Trop) built for Supermarine under license by Vickers-Armstrong in June 1943. Shipped to Australia in September 1943, it served with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). This aircraft is temporarily replacing the Hawker "Hurricane" that is normally displayed with the Battle of Britain Dispersal Hut. It is painted in the Standard RAF camouflage scheme for northern Europe to represent an aircraft flown by Americans with the RAF Eagle Squadrons. Our Hurricane has been removed from display to undergo final restoration, and it will be returned to this display in time for the opening of our third building. At that time, this Spitfire will be repainted to represent one flying with the USAAF in North Africa in 1943 and will take its place in the greatly expanded World War II gallery.

SPECIFICATIONS
Span: 36 ft. 10 in. (32 ft. 7 in. in L.F. version)
Length: 29 ft. 11 in.
Height: 11 ft. 4.75 in.
Weight: 6,785 lbs. maximum takeoff
Armament: Normally two Hispano 20 mm cannon (120 rounds per gun) and four Browning .303 machine guns (350 rounds per gun). Some with four Hispano 20 mm. cannon
Bomb load: two 250-lb. bombs or one 500-lb. bomb
Engine: One twelve-cylinder, liquid-cooled Rolls-Royce Merlin 45 of 1,470 hp.
Crew: One

PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 374 mph. at 13,000 ft.
Service Ceiling: 37,000 ft.

 

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Production of some 40 different variants of the Spitfire took place throughout the war and after. They served in every combat area, operating as fighters, fighter-bombers, reconnaissance aircraft and carrier-based fighters with the Royal Navy.

Deliveries of production Spitfire I's began in June 1938, just over two years after 'Mutt' Summers flew the prototype at Southhampton on the 5th of March, 1936.1 In the two years preceding production, Supermarine laid out their Woolston factory for large-scale production and organized one of the largest subcontract schemes ever envisioned in Britain. Until that time, as it was becoming increasingly obvious that there was no limit to the likely demand for the Spitfire. It was also obvious that one factory alone was not going to be able to meet the demand even with subcontracting. Large scale plans were laid during 1937 for the construction by the Nuffield Group of a large new shadow factory at Castle Bromwich near Birmingham for Spitfire production. On April 12,1938 a contract was placed for 1,000 Spitfires to be built at this new factory, of which the actual construction had not then even begun. By the time of the Munich crisis on 12-13 September, 1938, only five Spitfires had been completed.2 In the following year, on April 29 further contracts were placed with Supermarine for 200 Spitfires and on August 9 for 450. When Britain went to war on September 3,1939 a total of 2,160 Spitfires were already on order. 3

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TE566 Spitfire in Czech colors by Todd Ferris.

Structurally the Spitfire was a straightforward design with a light alloy monocoque fuselage and a single spar wing with stressed-skin covering and fabric-covered control surfaces. The Spitfire was adapted from Reginald Mitchell's aesthetically pleasing 1925 F.7/30 design. To preserve the clean nose-cowling lines originally conceived by Mitchell, the radiator was located beneath the starboard wing with the smaller oil cooler causing some asymmetry beneath the port wing, and the carburetor air intake under the center fuselage. A De Havilland two-blade wooden fixed-pitch propeller was employed by the prototype and the first Spitfire I's had the Airscrew Company's wooden fixed-pitch two-blade. Later a De Havilland three-blade, two position propeller was adopted after trials on the first prototype. The new propeller gave a 5 mph increase in speed. In 1940 De Havilland three-blade constant-speed propeller were substituted. Production Spitfires had a fixed tail wheel and triple ejector exhaust manifolds. 4 The PV.12 engine which became the X80 HP Rolls-Royce Merlin II and later the Merlin III engine was installed. 5

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No 312 Czechoslovak Squadron RAF Spitfire MK II, P8081/DU-R Garfield Weston, Flt. Lt. Adolphe Vybiral.	First Skirmish of the Battle of Britain. Spitfire MK I, 14 Sqd RAF, Flt Lt. Adolf Malan.
Shown above is the Spitfire Mk IIA of WWII ace Flt. Lt. Adolphe Vybiral. No 312 Czechoslovak Squadron RAF, formed at Duxford with Hurricanes on the 29th of August 1940 with Czechoslovak personnel as a fighter unit. The squadron moved to various bases and re-equipped with the Spitfire Mk.IIA in October 1941, which it flew for three months before converting to later Mk Spitfires. The squadron was disbanded after the war in 1946.	On the morning of the 10th of July 1940, a convoy codenamed 'Bread' was detected by a reconnaissance Dornier Do17P of 4(F)1 21 when rounding the North Foreland in Kent. Six Spitfires of No.74 Sqn (Hornchurch) intercepted but were outnumbered by more than 20 Bf 109s of I/JG 51. Despite this they forced the Dornier to crash land, while only taking damage to two of the Spitfires. K9953/ZP-A was flown by Flight Lt. Adolf 'Sailor' Malan of the No.74 Sqn during this action. It went to No.7 OTU after the Battle of Britain before being passed to No.57 OTU where it was wrecked in a collision in 1943.

The Spitfire I weighed 5,280 lb. had a wing loading of 24 lbs/ft sq. and a fuel capacity of 85 Imperial gallons. Its maximum speed was 362 mph its maximum diving speed was 450 mph its initial climb rate was 2,500 ft./min. and it took 9.4 minutes to climb to 20,000 feet. Its combat range was 395 miles and its roll rate was 140 deg/sec. Standard armament in what was known as the A wing was eight 0.303-in. Browning machine-guns with 300 rounds of ammunition. The speed of the Spitfire I was marginally higher than that of its principal opponent the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Bf 109E and it was infinitely more maneuverable than the German fighter although the Bf 109E could out climb and out dive the British fighter and its shell-firing cannon had a longer range than the Spitfire's machine-guns. 6

The 1,175 hp Merlin XII was adopted as the standard power plant in the Type 329 Spitfire II with a Rotol three-blade propeller and 73 lb. of amour protection but this variant was otherwise similar to the Spitfire I. Deliveries of the Spitfire Mk IIs began in 1940 following the Mark I production lines and became the first major production variant to be delivered from Castle Bromwich. By April 1941 650 Mk IIs had left the Bromwich factory and the changeover was complete. Most of the Mk Is were then relegated to the training role. 7 In 1941 the Merlin 45 series of two-stage single-speed engines was adopted and the Type 349 Spitfire V so powered followed the Mark II into production and service. The Spitfire V loaded weight had crept up to 6,417 lb. and the maximum speed up to 369 mph. The first squadron to fly the Spitfire V was the No. 92 and in March 1942, fifteen Spitfire VBs which had been shipped to Malta on H.M.S. Eagle, became the first Spitfires to serve outside Europe. Spitfires of this Mark were later to serve in the Western Desert and the Pacific and Burma areas. 8

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A restored Spitfire Mk IIB (Photo - Canada Aviation Museum).

In the normal course of development, means were sought to increase the altitude performance of the Spitfire which was inferior to that of the Messerschmitt Bf 109E . This called for two principal modifications, the introduction of a pressurized cabin and the use of an engine suitably rated for higher altitude. The first version of the Spitfire so equipped was the Mark VI derived directly from the Mark VB as a result of work on pressure cabins at the Royal Aircraft Establishment and Supermarine during 1940-41. At the R.A.E., R7120 was fitted with a Merlin 47 (the high rated version of the Merlin 45) with a four-blade Rotol propeller with Jablo blades and a pressure cabin. The same engine was employed by the 100 Spitfire VI (Type 350) fighters built by Supermarine the first two of these AB176 and X4942 serving as prototypes. The production Spitfire VI also had an increase in wing area to improve controllability at high altitudes the wing being of pointed planform with a span of 40 ft. 2 in. The pressure cabin was contained between the bulkheads fore and aft of the cockpit and a special non-sliding hood was fitted to simplify the sealing problem. A Marshall blower provided a cabin differential of 2 lb./s. in. reducing apparent altitude from 40,000 feet to 28,000 feet. In other respects including armament the Spitfire VI was similar to the Mark VB. 9

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A Second World War vintage Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX (L.F.), rebuilt by Canada's National Aviation Museum. The L.F. was the low-altitude version of the Mk.IX, configured with a Merlin 66 engine and clipped elliptical wings. Normal armament was two 20mm cannon and four machine-guns. The Mk.IX entered service in late 1942. (Photo: Canadian Forces)

The Spitfire VII (Type 351) was a more extensive re-design for high-altitude work and was the first of the Spitfire series intended to make use of the two speed Merlin 60 series of engines. These two-stage engines were coupled with a re-designed cooling system which showed itself in the enlarged air intake under the port wing matching that to starboard. The wing outline remained similar to that of the Spitfire VI but the ailerons were reduced in span. The chord and area of the rudder were increased and the elevator horn balance was extended. Structural changes were made to the fuselage to take the increased engine loads and a double-glaze sliding hood was fitted to the cockpit. The retractable tail wheel first developed for the Spitfire III was applied in production for the first time on the Mark VII and the universal C -type wing was employed. Maximum speed jumped by 44 mph to 408 mph and normal loaded weight climbed to 7,875 lbs. 10

Production of some 40 different variants of the Spitfire took place throughout the war and after. They served in every combat area, operating as fighters, fighter-bombers, reconnaissance aircraft and carrier-based fighters with the Royal Navy. Griffon engines replaced Merlins after a time, and the Spitfire XIX reconnaissance version became the fastest of all the wartime Spitfires with a speed of nearly 460 mph (748 km/h). The last Spitfire was built in 1947. As a fighter, at all altitudes it had proved superb, while continuous edges gained firstly by German Bf 109s and Focke Wulfs 190s and then by different versions of the Spitfire led to closely-matched battles throughout the war. 11

 

 

Specifications:
	Mk VB	Mk XIV
Dimensions:
Wing span:	36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)	36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
Length:	29 ft 11 in (9.11 m)	32 ft 8 in (9.95 m)
Height:	11 ft 5 in (3.63 m)	12 ft 8 in (3.85 m)
Weights:
Empty:	5,065 lb. (2,297 kg)	6,600 lb. (2,993 kg)
Loaded:	6,650 lb (3,016 kg)	8,500 lb (3,855 kg)
Performance:
Maximum Speed:	374 mph (601 km/h) @ 13,000 ft (3,962 m)	448 mph (720 km/h) @ 26,000 ft (7,924 m)
Service Ceiling:	37,000 ft. (11,277 m)	44,500 ft. (13,563 m)
Range:	1,135 miles (1,826 km)	850 miles (1,367 km)

Powerplant Mk VB:	Powerplant Mk XIV:
Rolls Royce Merlin 45, 1,440 hp, (1,073 kw), Vee 12 cylinder, Liquid-cooled.	Rolls Royce Griffon 65, 2,050 hp, (1,528 kw), Vee 12 cylinder, Liquid-cooled.
Armament Mk VB:	Armament Mk XIV:
Two 20 mm cannon and four .303 calibre machine guns, external bomb load of one 500 lb (226 kg) or two 250 lb (113 kg).	Two 20 mm cannon and four .303 calibre machine guns, external bomb load of 1,000 lb (454 kg).

Notes:
1. Gunston, Bill. Aircratf of World War II. New York: Crescent Books, 1980. 193.
2. Donald, David. The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. New York: Barnes & Noble Inc., 1998. 871.
3. Green, William. "The Supermarine Spitfire" Famous Fighters of the Second World War (New York: Doubleday and Company, 1967). 26.
4. Ibid.
5. Gunston. 193.
6. Green. 27.
7. Moyes, Philip J.R. "The Supermarine Spitfire I & II: Number 41" Aircraft in Profile. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1965.
8. Green. 28.
9. Green. 30.
10. Green. 31.
11. Taylor, Michael J.H. and John W.R. Taylor. Encyclopedia of Aircraft. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1978. 209.

by Christopher Whitehead.

 

Into RAF Service

The second of the RAF's modern eight-gun monoplane fighters, the Spitfire, entered service with No 19 Squadron based at Duxford some nine months after the first Hurricanes had been delivered to No 111 Squadron at Northolt. Commanded by Squadron Leader Henry Cozens, No 19 began to exchange its Gauntlet biplanes for Mk I Spitfires when K9789 arrived on 4 August 1938.

The prototype Spitfire, photographed, most appropriately, at Duxford during the recent 60th Anniversary celebrations

At the time of the 1938 Munich Crisis, No 19 was the only squadron to possess any Spitfires at all. The second unit to receive Spitfires was No 66 Squadron, also at Duxford, which acquired K9802 on 31 October 1938. Thus, by the end of 1938, the RAF had two fully-equipped Spitfire squadrons with 100 per cent reserves. By the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, Spitfires equipped nine squadrons - Nos 19, 66 and 611 at Duxford, Nos 54, 65 and 74 at Hornchurch, No 72 at Church Fenton, Nos 41 and 609 at Catterick and No 602 at Abbotsinch. Additionally, No 603 Squadron was in the process of replacing its Gladiators at Turnhouse. A total of 306 Mk Is had been delivered of which 36 had been written off in training accidents.

The first 77 Mk Is had a two-bladed, fixed-pitch propeller. Subsequent aircraft received three-bladed, two-position airscrews, with fine pitch for take-off and coarse pitch for cruising, and these were subsequently retro-fitted to the earlier aircraft. Taller pilots found the headroom very restrictive and this led to the original flat cockpit canopy being replaced by the bulged version which was to become a feature of all future marks. Other improvements included the provision of an armor-plated windscreen and 6mm armor panels on the rear engine bulkhead and behind the pilot's seat. Heating for the guns was also installed after it was found that they froze at high altitude. The original armament of eight .303 Browning machine guns had been chosen because of the ready availability of this weapon but, in June 1939, two 20mm Hispano cannon were fitted to L1007 for trails. These proved unsuccessful as the Hispano had been designed to be mounted on top of a fighter's engine block which would be solid enough to absorb the recoil. The mountings in the Spitfire's wings were too flexible causing the guns to jam. Nevertheless, the Hispano was ordered into production, pending a satisfactory solution to this mounting problem.

This shot of a Mk II Spitfire shows the famous elliptical wing shape to great effect

Many pilots found the new aircraft difficult to adapt to - those used to open cockpits, often found the closed canopy claustrophobic and left it fully open. Additionally, these pilots were unfamiliar with the retractable undercarriage, and numerous early accidents were caused by their forgetting to lower the Spitfire's wheels. The aircraft did have a warning klaxon but, as this tended to sound whenever vibration increased, it was often switched off - with embarrassing consequences! Taxying was a zig-zag process requiring the aircraft's tail to be swung from side to side so that the pilot could see ahead beyond the aeroplane's long nose. Combined with the narrow-track and somewhat fragile undercarriage , this made crosswind landings hazardous. Nevertheless, it was considered that the aircraft could be flown without risk by the average fully-trained fighter pilot. New pilots came to the Spitfire via Magister and Master trainers and a short spell at an Operational Training Unit (OTU). Experienced pilots converted to type directly on the squadrons.

Yet the Spitfire legend was in great danger of failing to take off at all. Initial production was so slow that the Air Ministry seriously considered canceling the type in favor of using the production capacity at Supermarine for the manufacture of other aircraft such as the Beaufighter. The problem was caused by the Spitfire's advanced design, particularly the elliptical wing, which necessitated radical new production techniques to be introduced by inexperienced sub-contractors. The Air Ministry was calling for 12,000 fighters, including those from the next generation - the Tornado, Typhoon and Whirlwind. In the event, however, Supermarine was able to convince the Ministry that output would improve with practice and Lord Nuffield's experience of mass car production was turned to good account in the aircraft industry. This resulted, among other measures, in the building of the 'shadow' factory for Spitfire production at Castle Bromwich.

Before the outbreak of war, considerable interest in buying Spitfires or arranging license production had been shown by many foreign countries, including Japan. In the event, one example was flown to the French before war dictated that all future production would be earmarked for the RAF. Orders placed before September 1939 amounted to 1,160 to be built by Supermarine with a further 1,000 to be produced by the Nuffield organization.

 

1939 - Into Action

Tragically, the first aircraft to fall to a Spitfire's guns were two Hurricanes of No 56 Squadron, shot down by aircraft from No 74 Squadron over the Medway on 6 September 1939. This episode, in which a Blenheim was also shot down by friendly anti-aircraft fire, became known as 'The Battle of Barking Creek' and was caused by a technical fault in the fighter control system. The Spitfire pilots were subsequently exonerated from any blame at a court martial, and as a direct result, the highest priority was given to the production of Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) equipment, forerunner of the modern encoding transponder.

Mk 1a Spitfire No AR213 photographed at Boscombe Down

On 16 October 1939, Junkers Ju-88s of 1/KG 30 led by Hauptmann Helmuth Pohle attacked British warships in the Firth of Forth. Nine of the Ju-88s were intercepted over Rosyth by three Spitfires of 603 Squadron, each of which attacked Pohle's aircraft which was hit repeatedly and crashed into the sea. Pohle was the only survivor and was taken prisoner of war. This, the first enemy aircraft to be destroyed by Fighter Command, was credited to Squadron Leader Ernest Stevens, the commanding officer of 603 Squadron. At the same time, two other sections of 603 Squadron engaged and shot down a Heinkel He-111 which had been sent to observe the results of Pohle's raid. Three more Spitfires, this time from 602 Squadron, were joined by two of 603 in time to catch one more of the Ju-88s and shoot it down. Later that day, another He-111 was shot down by 603 Squadron. Thus did the Spitfire spectacularly open its account against the enemy.

The first enemy aircraft to fall on British soil in the Second World War was a Heinkel He-111, which was shot down at Haddington, East Lothian, on 29 November. The aircraft was originally attacked by Flying Officer Archie McKellar of 602 Squadron, who was then interrupted by the arrival of three Spitfires from 603 Squadron. Although argument rages to this day as to which squadron was the victor, the 'kill' was credited to McKellar.

Spitfires based in England registered their first success when 41 Squadron from Catterick brought down a Heinkel He-111 off Whitby. No 74 Squadron from Hornchurch scored its first success when three Spitfires attacked a Heinkel He-111 off Southend and although the Heinkel was not seen to crash, two of its unhappy crew were picked from the sea the next day.

Until this time, photographic reconnaissance was traditionally assigned to bomber-type aircraft, however, the concept of using a small, unarmed aircraft, relying solely on its speed to provide protection was proposed by Flying Officer 'Shorty' Longbotham. The Spitfire was the obvious choice for the task, and the first two Mk Is were converted in October 1939. A five-inch focal length camera was mounted in the in-board gun bay of each wing, inclined so that the field of photography overlapped slightly to give a stereoscopic effect. Stripped of guns, ammunition and radio, and with a high-gloss paint finish, the resulting PR IA was some 30 mph (50 km/h) faster than the standard Spitfire. Contrary to popular belief, the Spitfire was based in France before the Germans overran that country, the Special Survey Flight being established at Seclin with one PR IA. It flew its first sortie on 18 November and, although the mission was unsuccessful because of adverse weather, it nevertheless proved that the Spitfire was eminently suitable for the task.

A Spitfire Mk 1 of 74 squadron RAF as based at Hornchurch, Essex in May 1939

Throughout this period of the so-called 'Phoney War' - although the Royal Navy has never recognized this description - training was continuous. Excursions by the Luftwaffe over the United Kingdom were comparatively rare and no Spitfire fighters had been sent overseas. The 'Battle of Barking Creek' brutally brought home the necessity of harnessing the different skills and aspects of air defense into one cohesive whole, and full use was made of the time available. Fighter squadrons were expected to operate by day and night, but, after a large number of night accidents, nearly 60 of which involved Spitfires, the Air Ministry reviewed the situation. The Spitfire was particularly difficult to fly at night because of the poor visibility over the nose and the necessity of flying a curved landing approach. The pilot was virtually blind during the final stages of the landing and the problem was exacerbated by the narrow-track undercarriage. Exhaust flame dampers had not yet been fitted and the pilot's night vision suffered accordingly. Consequently, Spitfire night flying was discontinued except on moonlit nights.

 

1940 - The Battle For Survival

 

The Mk IIa Spitfire of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.  This, the World's oldest flying Spitfire, entered service on 15 August 1940.

The 'Phoney War' continued for the first few months of 1940 until, on 9 April, the Germans invaded Norway. One month later, they invaded the Low Countries and France.

Form 10 May, Spitfire squadrons were authorized to carry out offensive patrols across the Channel. Spitfires first met Bf-109s and Bf-110s on 23 May: two of each type of Messerschmitt were lost, as were three Spitfires of 92 Squadron. Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, head of Fighter Command, successfully resisted pressure from the highest levels to reinforce the fighters in France with Spitfire squadrons, thus preserving the Spitfire force for the forthcoming sterner battles in defense of Britain. Despite this, 67 Spitfires were lost during the Battle of France and the Dunkirk evacuation. Some of the RAF squadron commanders learned valuable lessons from these experiences, including the realization that the Luftwaffe's tactical formation of the 'finger four' was superior to the RAF's traditional vic of three aircraft and that it was advantageous to harmonies the fire of the guns to converge at 250 yards rather than 400. All benefited from the replacement of 87 octane petrol with 100 octane, which increased the Spitfire's speed by 25 mph (40 km/h) at sea level and by 34 mph (55 km/h) at 10,000 feet.

After the fall of France, photographic reconnaissance came under the control of Coastal Command, using types including Spitfires, Wellingtons and Hudsons. The duck-egg blue camouflage gave way to deeper PR blue for high-altitude operations and a pale pink for low level work.

The Battle of Britain was fought between 10 July and 31 October 1940. At the beginning, Fighter Command had 27 squadrons of Hurricanes and 19 of Spitfires and it was the Hurricanes that bore the brunt of the fighting. Between the beginning of July and the end of October, 565 Hurricanes and 352 Spitfires were lost.

During the Battle, 19 Squadron was issued with half a dozen cannon-armed Spitfires, designated Mk IB as opposed to the eight machine gun-armed Spitfire, the Mk IA. The cannon's hitting power was recognized but jamming was still a problem and little success was achieved. Nevertheless, further cannon-armed Spitfires were issued to 92 Squadron and it was eventually realized that the best mix was an aircraft with two cannon and four machine guns.

The performance of the Spitfire Mk I and the Messershmitt Bf-109E was very similar. The former possessed a better turning radius at any height and was slightly faster below 15,000 feet, but the Messerschmitt was superior in the climb and marginally faster above 20,000 feet. The Messerschmitt's Daimler-Benz DB 601A engine had the advantage of fuel injection which enabled the aircraft to bunt (push negative g at the top of a maneuver or climb) without losing power. The Merlin engine of the Spitfire had a float-type carburetor which necessitated the aircraft performing the longer maneuver of rolling inverted before diving to maintain positive g, thus preventing the engine from cutting out as a result of fuel starvation.

A Mk IIa of 315 (Polish) Squadron, Northolt, Middlsex, July 1941

In August 1940, the chief test pilot of Supermarine, Jeffrey Quill, arranged to be posted to No 65 Squadron for operational experience. He joined on 5 August but was recalled to Supermarine 19 days later to test the Spitfire Mk III. Nevertheless, he saw considerable combat in this short period and his experiences led to two important changes in the Spitfire. At high speed, the stick force from the ailerons had been very heavy and this was found to be due to the fabric covering of the ailerons ballooning and causing a thicker trailing edge section. This was cured by fitting stiffer, metal-covered ailerons. Quill also initiated an improvement in the optical quality of the cockpit side panels. He was concerned about rearward vision from the cockpit and this subsequently led to changes to the canopy and rear fuselage. One recommendation not implemented, however, was the installation of ammunition round counters, so the pilots still had no means of knowing how much ammunition they had left.

On 24 September, the Luftwaffe raided the Supermarine works at Woolston, on the outskirts of Southampton. Little damage was done to the factory, but nearly 100 workers were killed when a shelter was hit. The area was bombed again two days later, killing 30 more and severely damaging the factory, halting production. This resulted in plans being implemented for the large scale dispersal of production facilities to some 60 different sites. On 30 September, the Westland factory at Yeovil, which had just begun to prepare for Spitfire production, was bombed by He-111s. As a result of these raids, only 59 Spitfires were produced in October, less than half the total for August - indeed, such was the need for fighters that a Spitfire fitted with a pair of Blackburn Roc floats was reconverted to a standard Mk I. The trial of the Spitfire as an amphibian had been mounted because of the lack of suitable airfields during the Norwegian campaign and the need to seek alternatives. Never again did production fall so low.

In August, VHF radio was fitted to a Mk I of 19 Squadron for the first time. However, HF equipment was not fully replaced for another two years.

Late in 1940, the first examples of the Bf-109F were encountered over Southern England. it proved far superior to the Hurricane and more maneuverable than the Spitfire above 25,000 feet. The Spitfire Mk III was still in the development stage and thus there was an urgent need to fill the gap.

After winning the Battle of Britain, Fighter Command quickly went on to the offensive. On 20 December, two Spitfires of No 66 Squadron flew the Command's first patrol over France since its fall. Such operations by pairs of fighters were known as 'rhubarbs'. They were to prove expensive.

 

1941 - Leaning Into France

 

This Mk Vc is in the desert colors of 154 squadron as operated from Protville, Tunisia later in the war.

Early 'rhubarbs' failed to tempt the Luftwaffe into action and, to try to provoke the enemy further, small numbers of bombers with heavy fighter escorts were sent over. These were known as 'circuses'. The first was mounted on 10 January 1941 and consisted of six Blenheims with an escort of six squadrons of Spitfires and Hurricanes. It cost the RAF one Hurricane shot down and two Spitfires written off in landing accidents, one pilot being fatally injured.

After Coastal Command had taken control of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, Bomber Command decided it needed one of its own. Consequently, No 2 PRU was formed at Oakington under the command of 3 Group. Six Spitfire Mk ICs were used to photograph areas before bombing raids, in order that targets could be properly marked. The Spitfires then re-photographed the areas after the raid so that the damage could be assessed.

By the end of April, all Spitfire squadrons had re-equipped with Mk IIs, the Mk Is continuing to give valuable service at the Operational Training Units. Mk II units immediately began to re-equip with Mk Vs as they became available. Initially seen as a 'stop-gap' to produce a Spitfire with the improved performance above 25,000 feet necessary to counter the Bf-109, pending the availability of the Spitfire Mk VI, the Mk V was subsequently produced in greater numbers than any other version of the Spitfire. The first Mk Vs were converted Mk Is and IIs, the first flying on 20 February. By the end of the month, No 92 Squadron was receiving its first Mk VBs.

The Mk V was the equal of the Bf-109F, which had hit development snags and did not become fully operational until May, by which time production of the Spitfire Mk V was well underway. With the German invasion of Russia in June, the threat of a renewed air offensive against Britain disappeared and with it the need for the Spitfire Mk VI. So, the 'stop-gap' Mk V remained in full production.

During the first six months of 1941, Fighter Command lost 57 aircraft compared to some 20 German losses. Despite the cost, offensive operations over France continued in an effort to relieve the pressure on the Russians by tying down German aircraft in the West. In fact, large numbers of German fighters had been moved to the Russian front and those that remained in the West chose to fight only in the most advantageous conditions. On 7 August, six Blenheims were escorted by 18 squadrons of Spitfires and two of Hurricanes. The Luftwaffe refused to be drawn: nevertheless, five Spitfires and a Hurricane were lost. Two days later, the legendary Douglas Bader failed to return, the tail of his Spitfire being severed after a collision with a Bf-109. Bader spent the rest of the war as a prisoner.

In September, a new, fast, radial-engined fighter began to be encountered in small numbers. The Focke-Wulf Fw-190 had arrived.

Towards the end of the year, the first squadrons with ex-patriate Allied personnel began to form. The first was No 340 Squadron on 7 November with French pilots, followed ten days later by the Belgian squadron, No 349. Squadrons of Poles, Czechs, Dutch and Norwegians also flew Spitfires. Language difficulties, and the fact that, to open the throttle the lever was pushed forward - the opposite to most continental aircraft - led to a spate of early accidents until pilots became used to their new mounts. One welcome improvement to the Spitfire arrived in the form of a diaphragm-operated carburettor for the Merlin engine which solved the problem of the engine cutting out under negative G's.

Fighter sweeps over France were temporarily suspended in November on the orders of Winston Churchill. Although they had served to keep the squadrons combat ready, and had taken the offensive to the enemy, they had cost the RAF dearly in pilots and aircraft. In June, July and August alone, Fighter Command lost nearly 200 pilots.

On 11 December, Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, a 19-year old American flying with No 412 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force, was killed when his Spitfire collided with an Oxford trainer from Cranwell. Among his effects was a poem, written shortly before he died and entitled 'High Flight'. The first and last lines are inscribed upon the marker of his grave at nearby Scopwick.

'Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.'

 

1942 - The Fight Continues

 

A Mk VIII of 615 squadron, RAFas operated from Palel in India.

At the beginning of 1942, Fighter Command had 60 squadrons of Spitfires. The Fw-190 was first encountered in quantity during operations in connection with the dash through the English Channel by the warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau from Brest to Wilhelmshaven on 12 February 1942. Despite being aware of the imminence of the break-out, a combination of bad weather and unserviceabilities in the patrolling aircraft had given the Germans a head start. The ships were eventually discovered by a section of Spitfires of 91 Squadron, and by the Senior Air Staff Officer of No 11 Group, Group Captain Victor Beamish, who was aloft in another Spitfire. Spitfires subsequently fought a series of running battles with Fw-190s and Bf-109s.

The Fw-190's advantage came from its powerful BMW engine and its high-rate of roll. The Spitfire Mk V was finding itself outmatched, and 59 were lost in April. In May, the Bf-109G appeared, optimised for high-level operations. The first of 100 Spitfire Mk VIs had entered into service in April with No 616 Squadron, intended for high-altitude operations where the Bf-109 had previously reigned supreme. In response to the introduction of the Fw-190, another 'interim' mark of Spitfire was proposed, pending full scale development of the Mk VIII. The result was the Mk IX. Like the Mk V, this 'stop-gap' was also an outstanding success, 5,665 being built, the second highest number of any mark!

In June, an Fw-190 landed at Pembrey after its pilot had become lost. This gave the RAF an early opportunity to test the aircraft against the Spitfire Mk V, and it proved superior in all respects except for turning ability. Pending the arrival of the Spitfire Mk IX, some Mk Vs had their wing tips removed, decreasing the span by four feet four inches. The 'clipped-wing' Spitfire was marginally faster than the standard Mk V but had a considerably better rate of roll. A Merlin with a modified supercharger was also fitted, which gave a speed at low level equivalent to that of the Fw-190. Such Spitfires were known as 'clipped and cropped'.

The first Spitfire Mk IXs went to No 64 Squadron at Hornchurch in July. When tested against the captured Fw-190, the Mk IX was found to compare favourably. It was just in time. The Luftwaffe began to respond to Fighter Command's offensive by mounting very-low-level hit-and-run raids with small numbers of Fw-190s.

On 19 August, 6,000 Canadian troops were put ashore at Dieppe for a large-scale raid. Code-named Operation Jubilee, the raid was a costly failure but provided invaluable lessons for subsequent seaborne invasions. Of the 67 RAF squadrons committed in support, 48 were of Spitfires - 42 with Mk Vs, four with Mk IXs and two with Mk VIs. Of the 106 Allied aircraft lost, 88 were fighters, most of them Spitfires.

On 29 September, the RAF's Nos 71, 121 and 133 'Eagle' Squadrons flown by American volunteers became the 334th, 335th and 336th Squadrons of the United States Army Air Force. Their primary task was to act as escorts to B-17 bombers, a role for which the Spitfire had never been envisaged and for which it was unsuitable.

The Photographic Reconnaissance Unit was split into four squadrons in October. Nos 541, 542 and 543 were fully equipped with Spitfire Mk IVs, while 544 Squadron had other types as well as some Mk IVs.

European operations had taken precedence over those in the Middle and Far East theatres. The first overseas deployment of Spitfires as fighters took place on 7 March, when 15 tropicalised Mk Vs carrying 90-gallon slipper fuel tanks took off from the flight deck of HMS Eagle bound for Malta, 600 miles (960 km) away. Subsequent deliveries in the same manner turned the air battle for Malta in the RAF's favour. One aircraft suffered fuel-feed failure and became the first Spitfire without a hook to land on an aircraft carrier. By August, the Spitfire had entirely taken over the air defence of Malta. To relieve the aircraft carriers from their ferry role, Spitfire Mk VCs were fitted with an extra internal 29-gallon tank and an external jettisonable 170-gallon tank. Armament was reduced to two machine guns. In this form, the aircraft were able to fly the 1,100 miles (1,750 km) from Gibraltar to Malta, where the extra tanks were removed and the armament refitted. These flights commenced in October. Malta-based Spitfires of 126 Squadron were the first to carry two 250lb bombs, which they did during operations over Sicily.

The first Desert Air Force squadron to receive Spitfires was No 145 in April 1942. These were tropicalized Mk VBs. One was stripped of amour and two 0.5-inch machine guns replaced the normal armament. Fitted with a four-bladed propeller and with its Merlin suitably 'tweaked' to give more power at high altitude, this aircraft climbed to 42,000 feet to shoot down a Ju-86P reconnaissance aircraft. Subsequently, Ju-86Ps were intercepted and brought down from heights of 45,000 and 50,000 feet.

The Seafire was first in action during the Allied invasion of Morocco and Algeria when a Mk IB of No 801 Squadron from HMS Furious shot down a Dewoitine 520 on 8 November. American Spitfire Mk VBs were also used during these landings.

The Fw-190 arrived in the Western Desert in November and, the following month, a few Spitfire Mk IXs were attached to 145 Squadron to counter them. Other overseas deployments of Spitfires had seen three Mk IVs being sent to Vaenga, in North Russia, to keep on eye on German warships. While there, they carried Soviet markings.

Pending availability of the PR Mk XI, 15 Mk IXs were modified for PR work. They were first used operationally in November by No 541 Squadron.

 

 

1943 - The Tide Turns

The Poles attached to No 145 Squadron with Spitfire Mk IXs shot down more enemy aircraft in the first two months of 1943 than any other Polish unit in the whole year. In February, No 72 Squadron arrived in North Africa with Mk IXs.

A PRMk XI, Photo Reconnaissance Spitfire Variant.

By this time, most 11 Group squadrons had Mk IXs and operations over France and the Low Countries continued with Spitfires escorting the Bostons of 2 Group, mounting fighter sweeps and undertaking shipping reconnaissance sorties. The USAAF had embarked upon its daylight bombing offensive and Spitfire squadrons provided escort for the early and closing stages of the missions - despite the fact that Spitfires were equipped to carry drop tanks of various capacities, the tanks themselves were in short supply.

The first Griffon-engine Spitfire, the Mk XII, came into service with No 41 Squadron in February. Although only 100 were built, they was more than a match for the Fw-190. No 91 Squadron was also equipped with Mk XIIs and, operating from Westhampnett with 41 Squadron, formed a bomber support wing, escorting Typhoons and the bombers of 2 Group. A superb fighter at low level, the Mk XII had little combat success because the Luftwaffe declined to be drawn down. At greater heights, the Mk IX was much the superior of the two.

In early 1943, as a result of the Dieppe raid, Air Sea Rescue squadrons began to receive Spitfire IIs equipped to drop a dinghy, food and medicine packs to ditched aircrew. The Spitfire was able to defend itself while waiting for a Walrus amphibian, which it could then escort home.

In May, 143 Mk VBs were handed over to the Russians. By the end of the war, these had been followed by nearly 1,200 LF Mk IXs. Portugal received nearly 50 Mk Vs in 1943 and a number went to Turkey in the same year. The export of Mk Vs was not at the expense of RAF strength as by this stage they were being replaced by Mk IXs. In fact, production of the Mk IX at Woolston finished in June 1943 but continued at Castle Bromwich until the end of the war.

The very unusual TMk IX 2 seat trainer.

It was a PR Mk IX of 542 Squadron which brought back pictures of the breached dams following 617 Squadron's legendary raid in May. The Spitfire Mk VII was coming into service, albeit at a very slow rate, but its performance proved disappointing. Only six squadrons were equipped with this mark and, as the high-level threat had disappeared, they operated as normal fighters providing top cover.

August and September saw a series of strafing attacks on enemy airfields in the English Channel area in a largely unsuccessful attempt to gauge the Luftwaffe's real strength, but strafing proved costly in both pilots and aircraft.

After the entry of Japan into the war, the idea of fitting floats to Spitfires was revived. Three Mk Vs were converted and, in October they were sent to Egypt, the plan being to operate them from unoccupied islands in the Dodecanese against transports re-supplying the German-held islands in the group. However, before the Spitfires arrived, the Germans occupied the Dodecanese in force, thus denying the RAF the use of any of these islands.

In the Near East, both Spitfires and Seafires took part in the invasion of Sicily, an aircraft of 72 Squadron being the first to land there on 11 July. During the final period of the North African campaign, particular carnage had been wrought amongst the Luftwaffe's air transport fleet as it endeavored to keep troops re-supplied. This continued in Sicily as the Germans tried to fly in fuel. On 25 July, Spitfires of 322 Wing shot down 21 Ju-52s and four Bf-109s in the space of ten minutes.

A Mk IX Spitfire at a recent Air Show.

During the Salerno landings on the Italian mainland, much of the combat patrolling over the beachhead was carried out by Seafires and in five days, the Fleet Air Arm lost 60, mostly due to carrier-landing accidents. On 12 September, the Spitfires of 324 Wing joined the surviving Seafires ashore at Paestum. In the absence of enemy air activity, the Spitfire was being used increasingly as a fighter-bomber whilst in Northern Europe, Spitfires were taking part in 'Noball' operations against V-1 launch sites, escorting Hurricane IVS.

Early in 1943, three Spitfire Mk VC squadrons, No. 607, 615 and 136, were based around Darwin, Australia, to counter Japanese air raids. In combat, the Spitfire was faster than the Zero but was at a disadvantage in a dogfight. Further quantities of Spitfire could not be spared for operations in the Far East until September 1943. Their first victory was a Dinah reconnaissance aircraft shot down by 615 Squadron over the Burma front. On the last day of the year, 136 Squadron intercepted a formation of Japanese bombers and fighters and shot down 12 for the loss of one Spitfire.

The first Seafires in the Far East formed one flight of 834 Squadron aboard the escort carrier HMS Battler in October. No 889 Squadron arrived later in the year on HMS Atheling.

 

1944 - The Return To France

 

A Mk XIV Spitfire on Final Approach.

On 1 January 1944, there were six squadrons of Spitfires in the Far East, two with Mk VCs and four with Mk VIIIs, the latter version being considered superior to the Zero. By March, the VCs had been replaced and there was a total of seven squadrons of Mk VIIIs. During the 80-day siege of Imphal, for which the garrison's survival depended upon resupply by air, the defending Spitfires were so successful that only three Allied transports were shot down.

In Europe, the Mk XIV entered service with No 610 Squadron early in the year. Attacks on the enemy's road and rail communications were stepped up in preparation for the invasion of Normandy, and although the Germans knew an invasion was imminent, the wide dispersal of targets throughout the Channel area and inland gave no clue as to where it would be mounted.

On D-Day, 6 June, the RAF's Order of Battle included 55 squadrons of Spitfire fighters, plus two squadrons of Spitfires and four of Seafires engaged in air spotting duties and a further four air sea rescue squadrons which had some Spitfires. Marks ranged from Mk Vs to Mk XIVs. No 118 Squadron must have felt rather remote as the only Spitfire squadron left in 13 Group, way up north at Skaebrae. Nine squadrons gave initial air cover to the first troops ashore, while others patrolled the convoys with the vital task of preventing enemy air reconnaissance. In fact, the enemy was hardly seen, mustering no more than 100 sorties during the hours of daylight. One Spitfire pilot had a grandstand view of the invasion - he was shot down into the channel on 5 June and was not picked up from his dinghy until 7 June!

The first Allied fighters to operate from Normandy after the invasion were the Spitfire Mk IXBs of No 222 Squadron, which landed at St. Croix-sur-Mer on 10 June. These were refuelled and re-armed by a Servicing Commando Unit, before taking off to continue their patrol. On 17 July, Spitfire Mk IXBs of 602 Squadron strafed a staff car. The car, containing Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Commander of the German defences, turned over into a ditch and the Field Marshal was taken to hospital with severe fractures to his skull.

The breakout from the Normandy beachhead was achieved by a classic pincer movement between British and American troops, which forced the retreating German Army into the Falaise Gap. Here, 22 squadrons of Typhoons and Spitfires decimated the enemy forces, attacking with rockets, bombs and guns. The Luftwaffe hardly put in an appearance, thus enabling the RAF to operate their aircraft in pairs with little hindrance. No sooner were they refuelled and re-armed than they were back in the fray, some pilots flying up to six sorties a day. In this classic example of the use of tactical air power, the enemy lost the equivalent of eight infantry and two armoured divisions.

On 12 June, the first V-1 flying bombs bean to fall on England. Eleven fighter squadrons were called upon to deal with the threat, including those operating Spitfire Mk IXs, Mk XIIs and Mk XIVs, but the only aircraft capable of catching a V-1 in level flight was the Tempest V. To try to improve the Spitfire's speed the armour and some of the guns were removed and the whole aircraft polished, after which the Mk XIIs and Mk XIVs did well. Apart from shooting down the missiles, another technique was to edge the tip of one wing beneath that of the V-1 so that the disturbed airflow tipped the V-1 over to one side and toppled its gyro, causing it to fall to earth. Spitfires were also employed in attacks against the launch sites as fighter-bombers, a technique which had been tried out first by No 126 Squadron in Sicily. A Wing of four squadrons of Mk XIVEs was formed specifically for this task, each aircraft carrying two 250lb or one 500lb bomb. Other Spitfire squadrons escorted formations of heavy bombers against the same targets.

Spitfires also acted as fighter-bombers in support of the British Second Army's drive to the Rhine. During the ill-fated Arnhem operation and on subsequent resupply flights, they escorted the transport aircraft. On 5 October, the first Me-262 jet fighter to be shot down was credited to the Spitfires of No 401 Squadron.

The versatile Spitfire found alternative employment on more humanitarian duties, when underwing mountings were modified to carry a pair of small beer barrels in place of the bombs. Aircraft returning to the Continent from England were warmly greeted!

The year ended with the launch of the German offensive through the Ardennes under the cover of fog and it was not until the weather lifted on 23 December that Allied aircraft were able to support the hard-pressed ground troops, when the Spitfires' main role was to escort the medium bomber squadrons.

 

1945 - Victory

 

A fine example of a Mk XVI at the recent 60th anniversary day at Duxford

On New Year's Day 1945, the Luftwaffe staged a final grand gesture. Gambling on the element of surprise, which was achieved, some 800 aircraft of all types carried out a dawn attack on Allied Airfields.

One of the worst hit was 131 Wing at St Denis-Westren. The three Polish squadrons - Nos 302, 308 and 317 - lost about 20 Spitfires, some from forced landings due to lack of fuel and Nos 308 and 317 Squadrons each lost a Spitfire in combat. By contrast, the Wing claimed 18 Fw-190s shot down.

No 485 Squadron at Maldeghem was also badly hit, losing 14 of its Mk IXs destroyed on the ground. At Ophoven, Nos 130 and 350 Squadrons had 10 Mk XIVs badly damaged but curiously Nos 41 and 610 Squadrons at the same airfield were unscathed. The five Canadian squadrons of 126 Wing at Heesch lost one pilot from No 442 Squadron in combat, together with his Mk IX and another pilot from the same squadron was injured when he crashed on landing. In all, five Spitfires were lost in the air and two crashed on their return, six pilots were killed and one was wounded. Spitfire pilots claimed 56 of the enemy, mostly Bf-109s and Fw-190s.

Although precise records do not exist, approximately 200 Allied aircraft were destroyed in this action, but, as most were caught on the ground, personnel casualties were light. In contrast, the Luftwaffe lost 300 aircraft and over 200 pilots. Many of the Allies' losses were Typhoons and Spitfires, which were quickly made good. The Luftwaffe never recovered from their losses.

The Spitfire F.21 entered service with No 91 Squadron at Manston in January, despite having suffered early handling problems. The squadron began operations with modified aircraft from Ludham in March, flying armed reconnaissance and on 16 April, two aircraft strafed a midget submarine they caught on the surface and claimed it as sunk.

Spitfires also escorted Lancasters and Halifaxes on two of the last major raids of the war - daylight attacks on Heligoland and Wangerooge. One of the pilots was Bobby Oxspring who had started on Spitfires with No 66 Squadron in February 1939 and was now finishing the war as Wing Leader of No 24 Wing, still flying Spitfires.

A PRMk XIX about to land.

The PRMk XIX of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.    This was the last photo-reconnaissance variant produced.

As well as providing escort to the bombers, Spitfires were being used as dive-bombers with 250lb and 500lb bombs or, more rarely, as rocket-firing fighter-bombers. Little was seen of the Luftwaffe after New Year's Day but the flak remained intense and accurate. Targets for the Spitfires were varied, and included factories, road and railways communications and German Troop positions.

More than 3,000 F.21s had been ordered when the end of the war brought drastic cuts and only 120 were built - enough to equip four squadrons. A few were fitted with contra-rotating propellers, which eliminated skidding and made the aircraft very stable as a gun platform. This idea was later adopted for the Seafire 47.

In the Far East, there were some 21 squadrons of Spitfires, including nine squadrons of the Indian Air Force, all but one of them equipped with Mk VIIIs. There were also two squadrons of Seafires aboard HMS Indefatigable in January 1945 as part of the British Pacific Fleet. In March, the 21st Carrier Group included three squadrons of Seafires which covered the landings in Rangoon and Penang and the raids on the oil fields in Sumatra. In the absence of any Japanese air activity, the Seafires also strafed enemy positions, ships and airfields. No Seafires were lost in combat, but a number succumbed to landing accidents. The first aerial combat successes came on 1 April when three kamikaze Zeros were shot down.

The last Seafire squadrons to see action were Nos 801 and 880. Carrying American auxiliary fuel tanks which improved their range by 50%, their Mk IIIs shot down eight Zeros without loss while escorting Avengers on 15 August. On VJ-Day, there were 12 FAA Seafires squadrons, all but four flying the Seafire MkIII. The Griffon-engine Seafires were too late to see war service but then quickly replaced the Mk IIIs, the first of these being the Mk XV.

RAF fighter squadrons in the Far East were in the process of being re-equipped with P-47 Thunderbolts, however the end of the war brought a cessation to the American Lend/Lease program, thus earning a reprieve for the remaining Spitfires.

The air reconnaissance task was performed almost entirely by No 81 Squadron, whose equipment included a small number of FR.18s and PR.19s. For the first two to three months of the campaign, all tactical air reconnaissance was performed by one Spitfire and one pilot who, at one stage, flew at least once a day on 56 consecutive days. By June 1949, there were three Spitfires on detachment from Singapore at Kuala Lumpur. In March 1950, all were transferred to No 60 Squadron at Tengah. They returned to No 81 Squadron later in the year, bringing that unit's strength to five Spitfires.

Click on Picture to enlarge

The last RAF Spitfire offensive sorties anywhere were flown by the FR.18s of No 60 Squadron on 1 January 1951. No 81 Squadron continued to operate three FR.18s in the reconnaissance role, together with two PR.19s until replaced by Meteor FR.10s in 1954. The Spitfire's last operational photographic reconnaissance mission was flown by PR.19 PS888 on 1 April 1954. That same year, the Burmese Air Force acquired 30 LF Mk IXs from Israel to replace the 20 Seafire Mk IIIs and a handful of Spitfire FR.18s originally supplied by the UK, for use in the close support role. The last Spitfire sortie in Hong Kong took place on 21 April 1955 when a Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force F.24 participated in The Queen's Birthday flypast.

No Spitfires saw service in the Korean War, although No 2 Squadron of the South African Air Force trained on LF Mk IXs before taking its Mustangs to war. HMS Triumph was in Far East waters with No 800 Squadron and its Seafire F.47s on board however, and their first operation was a strike by 12 Seafires and 9 Fireflies on Haeju airfield on 3 July 1950. Because of their short range, the Seafires were frequently given the Combat Air Patrol task over the fleet. During the Inchon landings in September, Seafires flew armed reconnaissance missions and spotted for the bombarding cruisers. But, by the end of the month, No 800 Squadron had only three serviceable aircraft and no replacements were available in the Far East. The inevitable crop of landing accidents and cumulative airframe stress damage meant the end of the Seafire's operational life. Nevertheless, the squadron flew 245 offensive patrols and 115 ground attack sorties before HMS Triumph was replaced by HMS Theseus with its Sea Furies and Fireflies.

Nearer to home, the Sate of Israel came into being on 15 May 1948. To mark the occasion, two Egyptian LF Mk IXs bombed and strafed Tel Aviv, one being shot down by ground fire. A few days later, the RAF's Nos 32 and 208 Squadrons were strafed at Ramat David. Later the same day, four more Spitfires attacked the airfield and three were shot down by the combined efforts of four FR.18s of 208 Squadron and the RAF Regiment's gunfire. Being the meat in the Israeli-Egyptian sandwich was not a sinecure for the RAF as was evidenced on another occasion when, during the course of a routine patrol along the border between the two countries, an FR.18 of No 208 Squadron was shot down by Israeli ground fire. While circling the crash site, the other three members of the formation were 'bounced' and shot down by Israeli Spitfires, with one RAF pilot being killed.

Spitfires operated alongside Bf-109s in the embryo Israeli Air Force, as they had earlier alongside Fw-190s in the Turkish Air Force. With the lifting of the arms embargo, Israel acquired newer types with which to re-equip. The last nation in the Middle East to operate Spitfires was Syria, which kept its F.22s until 1953.

The final Seafire was the F.47, the naval version of the Spitfire F.24. Ninety were built, the last being delivered in March 1949. It had the longest range of any Seafire mark and had a top speed of 452 mph. However, a Mk XVII holds the record for the Fleet Air Arm's fastest aircraft when a machine from No 778 Squadron achieved Mach 0.88 in a dive. It was also the last Seafire to see service, No 764 Training Squadron finally relinquishing its Mk XVIIs on 23 November 1954.

Even though withdrawn form front-line service, the Spitfire had continued in a number of non-operational roles, including anti-aircraft co-operation. The last three actively employed by the RAF were the PR.19s of the Temperature and Humidity Flight which made over 4,000 meteorological flights before being replaced by Mosquitoes in June 1957.

In November 1944, the Air Fighting Development Unit had recommended that, because of the instability of the first F.21s, not only should the mark be withdrawn from service immediately but no more effort should be made to perpetuate the Spitfire family! Fortunately, the F.21's faults were rectified and both the Spitfire and the Seafire were further developed to the stage where they warranted new names - the Spiteful and the Seafang. Beautiful and fast though they were, the jet age had arrived with its potential of expanding performance still further, and thus a mere 17 Spitefuls and 18 Seafangs were built, only 11 of the latter actually flying. Nevertheless, both types played a part in the research into transonic aerodynamics, particularly in the area of laminar flow wings as used on the Attacker.

In all, over 20,000 Spitfires and Seafires were built. Today, a handful fly on in the hands of private owners and with the Royal Air Force's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Whenever the song of a Merlin is heard, it will always evoke an image of Reginald Mitchell's magnificent creation - the Spitfire.

 

 

Supermarine  Spitfire

 

Click on Picture to enlarge

There is, without a doubt, that the Supermarine Spitfire was one of the most famous of all World War Two aircraft. It was glamorized by the media, and children young and old would look up towards the skies watching a dogfight or see a squadron of RAF fighters come swarming in towards a formation of German bombers. They would hardly know one aircraft from another, but they would all include a Spitfire in their exclamations. "It's a Spitfire" or "D'yer see that Spitfire shoot that bomber down.

But the Spitfire that we knew at the end of the war was far different from the version that flew in the Battle of Britain and even to that of pre 1939 Spitfires. At wars end, the Supermarine Spitfire was a streamlined fighting machine, it was the mainstay of Fighter Command, but let us not take anything away from the Hurricane which in itself was a superb aircraft.

Supermarine gained their experience in fast and maneuverable aircraft with experience gained in winning the Schneider Trophy Air Races. But the concept of the Spitfire really began way back in 1930 when Supermarine submitted their design (Westland and Blackburn Aircraft Companies also submitted designs) in relation for the construction of an all metal type fighter aircraft that would have a fabric covered wing area as well as tailplane sections. This was to comply with specification F.7/30.

The wings were of gull wing design, the fixed undercarriage had streamlined fairings over the wheels, and it was powered by a single Rolls Royce Goshawk engine which provided just 600 horsepower giving the Type 224 a top speed of only 228 miles per hour (367 kph).  Armament was two .303 guns in the fuselage and one in each of the wheel fairings. The 224 first took to the air on 19th February 1934, and because of its poor performance it failed to be accepted as a potential fighter aircraft. Supermarine had great plans for the Type 224, but because of its failure in every department, the company had to do something quick to be able to prove to the authorities that they were capable of producing a good hard working fighter aircraft.

 

The Type 300 - Spitfire MK I / MK II / MK III

 

Supermarine had for some time enjoyed success in aircraft design and with many aircraft bearing similarities to the Schneider successes including the 224, something different had to be designed. Sydney Camm was now in the process of designing the Hurricane at Hawker's works at Weybridge. Naturally Supermarine knew of this and it soon became apparent as to the design and the potential of the Hurricane.

Reginald Mitchell set about in designing a completely new type of aircraft. They stayed with the required specifications as called by F.7/30 in producing a metal bodied cantilever type fighter aircraft. Mitchell decided that the wings should be metal as well as the fuselage believing that fabric covered wings on an aircraft with a metal body at high speed would provide the aircraft with weak spots. The cockpit of the aircraft was enclosed and formed part of the design lines of the body, while the narrow undercarriage was retractable with the wheel being lifted into wheel wells under the wings.

The design was a streamlined, yet strong, an aircraft that had all areas that would cause any form of resistance to wind removed. It was claimed, as the aircraft made its early test flights that not only did this Type 300 look exciting it was yet the most attractive aircraft ever designed.

By the end of 1934 the Type 300 was eventually ordered as a prototype, and further testing was done and it was put through a series of strenuous tests. By 1935, the aircraft with its Rolls Royce PV12 now glycol cooled engine (this engine was later to be known as the Merlin), and four .303 Browning machine guns in each wing gave a performance good, or maybe even better than expected.

The aircraft flew on official tests in March 1936, and by June of the same year, and by now the name Type 300 had been dropped and the name Spitfire had been officially adopted, the aircraft went into production as Spitfire Mk I. Already Rolls Royce had reworked the Merlin power unit and the Merlin II and III had the power output increased to 1,000 hp. The basic design was a 12 cylinder unit in V formation. The first Spitfire I's began flying on May 14th 1938 with the first of them going into service use by the RAF in August.

Flying the Spitfire was like driving a sports car. It was faster than the old Hurricane , much more delicate. You couldn't roll it very fast, but you could make it go up and down much easier. A perfect lady. It wouldn't do anything wrong. The Hurricane would drop a wing if you stalled it coming in, but a Spitfire would come wafting down. You couldn't snap it into a spin. Beautiful to fly, although very stiff on the ailerons - you had to jam your elbow against the side to get the leverage to move them. And so fast!!! If you shut the throttle in a Hurricane you'd come to a grinding halt; in a Spitfire you just go whistling on.
[1] P/O H.G.Niven 601 & 602 Squadrons, having flown both Hurricane and Spitfire.

Specifications:
Type	Monoplane
Military Use	Front Line Fighter
Power Plant	Rolls Royce Merlin II
Horsepower	1,175 hp
Maximum Speed	355 mph
Climbing Rate	0 -20,000ft/9.04min
Working Range	575 miles.
Empty Weight	5,067 lbs
Loaded Weight	6,409 lbs
Service Ceiling	34,000 feet
Wingspan	36 ft 10 in (11.23m)
Overall length	29 ft 11 in
Overall height	11 ft 5 in
Total Wing Area	242 sq ft
Armament	8 x .303 Browning machine guns

Spitfire Mk I's remained until June 1940, but until then, thirty of them had been equipped with twin 20mm cannons at the expense of the .303 Brownings. To distinguish the two, the Spitfire Mk I's equipped with machine guns were designated IA's, while those that had the cannons fitted were designated IB's. In all, 1,537 Spitfire Mk IA's were built and 30 Spitfire Mk IB's. The Spitfire IB's were not favoured with pilots, the cannons were often jamming leaving them a defenceless aircraft and pilots requested to be returned to the Spitfire IA's.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Mk I's were the mainstay of Fighter Command along with the Hurricane. When air support was needed in Norway and in France, Fighter Command sent only one squadron to Norway and ten to France. By this time Britain had lost some 500 fighters in this early part of the war. The Mk I Spitfire was to continue service throughout the Battle of Britain, and was a worthy opponent of its German equivalent, the Messerschmitt Me 109. But in August 1940, at the height of the battle, the Spitfire Mk I gave way to a faster and more powerful Mk II with its Merlin Mk XII power plant. Most of these MK II's were to arrive after the Battle of Britain, although some squadrons had been allocated them in late August and during September 1940. The first recorded Mk II being shot down was with 611 Squadron on September 11th 1940.

By now, the Supermarine Spitfire, with not only the specifications, but as further testing of the aircraft proved, was a fighter aircraft that was superior in every department to anything that was flying at the time. Sleek and swift, maneuverable, strong and well constructed.

The Merlin engine had received a power increase to 1,175 horsepower and was designated the Merlin XII. The differentiating versions of A's and B's continued and production of these totaled 751 Mk IIA's and 170 Mk IIB's.

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The Spitfire Mk III, also introduced in 1940, but not allocated to operational service until 1941, while still cosmetically looking like a Spitfire, it had a greater improvement in airframe construction and also had a reduced wing span. Again, improvements had been made to the Merlin XII engine and was re-designated the Merlin XX, and the tail wheel was also made to retract into the fuselage. When it seemed that the Mk III was almost at its best, and in July 1940 it was intended to build 1,000 of them, but a slightly redesigned version, a prototype Mk V was under way and testing was being done on a four cannon arrangement. Because of this, the target of 1,000 Mk III's was never reached.

We should note here that there were three versions of Mark I Spitfire. The Mark I was provided with only four .303 Browning machine guns, and although all Series I aircraft did not have armour plating protection fitted during production, this was added to the aircraft whilst it was in service. The Mark IA varied only slightly to the Mark I, in that it had eight .303 Browning machine guns, four in each wing. The Mark IB reverted back to four .303 Browning machine guns, but with the addition of a 20mm cannon.

The Mark II differed from all the Series I Marks by having the Merlin II engine upgraded to the more powerful Merlin XII. Armour plating was now fitted on the production line as standard, and like the Series I Spitfires, there were those fitted with eight .303 browning machine guns designated as Mk IIA and others fitted with four .303 Brownings and a 20mm Hispano cannon. Although the first Mk II Spitfires were delivered to the RAF on June 3rd 1940, there were still more Mk Is produced than the Mk IIs. In fact the comparison figure was 1,531 to 920.
Specifications and notes taken from THE NARROW MARGIN by Wood & Dempster.

 

Supermarine went back to the Mk I airframe for the prototype Mk V and and installed a more potent Merlin 45 engine that although rated at 1,185 horsepower, its combat rating at 9,250 ft was actually 1,470 hp. The Merlin 45 engine was also installed into the Mk II airframe and in total 150 of these were made and became known as Mk V conversions. The designated Spitfire Mk V as well as boasting the 1,185hp Merlin 45 engine, had either eight .303 machine guns, four in each wing, these were Mk VA's and only 94 were built. The MK VB was equipped with four .303 machine guns, two in each wing and two 20mm cannons, and 3,911 of these were built. The Mk V also saw the introduction of the series "C", and the Spitfire MK VC had four cannons with four machine guns and these totaled 2,467 aircraft.

The first prototype MK V flew in December 1940 and MK VA's were placed in service almost immediately. The MK VB saw service in March 1941, (I have no record as to when the MK VC entered service).

 

Many versions of the MK V followed, depending as to which field of conflict the aircraft were assigned to. Some were assigned to low altitude flying and for this many of the MK VB's had their wing span reduced to 32 feet 2 inches and the Merlin 45 engine was replaced by the Merlin 45M, the Merlin 50M and the Merlin 55M, all of which performed better at low altitudes. These low altitude versions were designated LF MK VB's. Other versions included the medium altitude Mk's. These aircraft were designated F MK VA, F MK VB and F MK VC. The Merlin power plant was configured in a number of configurations and all these F series MK V's has either a Merlin 45, 46, 50, 50A or 56 engine installed. All these MK V's became successful fighter aircraft.

First deliveries of Spitfires with major changes took place in February 1942 when the Spitfire MK VI was introduced. The MK VI received the all new Merlin 47 engine that was rated at 1, 415 hp providing the aircraft with a top speed of 374 mph and the pilot cockpit was now pressurized. This MK VI also had an increase in wing span being increased to 40 feet 2 inches.

 

The Spitfire At Sea

 

Contrary to the belief of many, the Hurricane and Gladiator was not the only fighter to be equipped with facilities to operate from the Navy's aircraft carriers. The Spitfire also served from these floating bases during WWII.

 

The admiralty saw the potential of the Spitfire, and requested that a version be designed that could operate from its aircraft carriers. The request was granted and designs were made for a Sea Spitfire. As early as 1940, designs were being submitted based on the Spitfire MK I which would have an arrestor hook and folding wings so that it could be stored in aircraft carrier hangers below deck. But in 1940 there was a shortage of fighter aircraft during both the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain that supply of Spitfire Mk I's to the RAF took precedence over the Admiralty's request hence supply of Spitfires to the Navy did not commence until early 1942. The first Spitfire to fly with arrestor hook and folding wings did not take place until January 1942 when a modified MK VB made tests with the Navy. A further conversion took place that provided the aircraft with catapult spools and the undercarriage was given additional strengthening, and an A frame type of arrestor hook was incorporated.

 

It was not until about March 1942 that this naval version of the Spitfire was given the name of Seafire. The first conversion was known as the Seafire MK I and the second conversion was known as the Seafire MK II. The Royal Navy was supplied with 165 Seafire's during the early part of 1942 which were based on the Spitfire VB.

 

In June 1942, 375 Seafire MK IIC's were supplied to the Royal Navy. these where basically Spitfire MK VC's and given the same conversions as the MK II with the exception that the Merlin 32 engine drove a four bladed propeller which improved low altitude flying. In the November of 1942 a Seafire MK IIC was altered so that the wings could be folded for storage on aircraft carriers, this was to be a prototype for the proposed MK III. Manufacture of the Seafire MK III was given to both the Westland Aircraft Company and Cunliffe-Own Ltd, which now also boasted a powerful 1,470 hp Merlin 55. 1,263 of these MK III were made all being used by Britain's Navy by June 1943. Many of these MK III's also had the Merlin 55M engines that had increased horsepower to 1,585. Other than these aircraft, there were many more Spitfires and Seafires produced. Each one being produced for its own individual reason to that it would perform well to the task that it was designed for. These Models included:

 

 

The Spitfire MK V / MK VI

 

Model	Date	Power	Notes
Spitfire IX	July 1942	Merlin 61 S/Charged	5,656 units were produced. Max fighting ceiling was increased by 10,000 feet and max speed had been increased to 410 mph.
Spitfire XVI	October 1944	Packard Merlin 266	1,054 units were produced. New rudder and cut down rear fuselage. Two 20mm fitted to outer wing bays and two .5 machine guns to wing inner bays in 1945.
Spitfire VII	Sept 1942	Merlin 64 (1,710hp)	This version was primarily developed a s a high altitude fighter. Fitted with pressurised cockpit. Only 140 were produced.
Spitfire VIII  F Mk VIII  LF Mk VIII  HF Mk VIII	July 1943	Merlin 63 (1,710hp)  Merlin 61 (1,565hp)  Merlin 66 (1,705hp)  Merlin 70 (1,655hp)	1,658 units were produced. Developed as a general purpose fighter. Many variants were made using a variety of Merlin engines. These can be read in both columns 1 and 3. Most of these aircraft saw service in the Middle East.
Spitfire XII	Late 1943	Griffon IIB (1735hp)	Once known as the Mk IV and first prototypes ordered as early as 1940, and used the Rolls Royce Griffon engines. 750 were originally ordered, but develop- ment was slow and did not fly till Nov 1941. Saw service in 1943 and only 100 built. Changed to Mk XX
Spitfire XIV	January 1944	Griffon 65 (2035hp)	957 units were built. Longer nose, large radiators and vertical tail, this two stage supercharged Griffon engine with 5-bladed propellers gave the XIV a top speed of 450mph. Two cannon and four .303 machine guns as armament.
Spitfire XVIII	June 1945	Griffon 65 (2035hp)	Very similar to the XIV, but having lengthened fuselage, more vertical tail, increased fuel capacity and strengthened wings. Only 300 built.
Spitfire 21	April 1945	Griffon 64 (2375hp)	First prototype early as 1942, was to have been the second prototype IV, New wing design and ailerons. Called the Victor for a time. Carried 4 x 20mm cannons, wider undercarriage track extra fuel capacity. 120 units were produced.
Spitfire 22   Spitfire 24	April 1946 to  March 1948	Griffon 64 (2375hp)	The 21 suffered handling problems, and the introduction of the 22 fared no better. The lengthened fuselage had now been reduced as before, a rear view hood was fitted, and more modern electric were installed. 287 were produced, but were discontinued in favour of the Prototype 24. This had two extra fuel tanks in the rear fuselage, larger tail fin, and improved laminar flow on the wings. The Type 24 proved to be a Spitfire that had reached its absolute perfection.  No more Spitfires were produced after this.

 

 

Supermarine further developed the Seafire with types 45, 46 and 47. Fitted with the Rolls Royce Griffon 61 which produced 2,035hp giving the Seafire a top speed of 455 mph. The type 46 was fitted with an all round vision bubble canopy. Like the Spitfire, the Seafire had reached its peak and was the ultimate Seafire. It continued service with the Royal Navy finally curtailing its long career during the Korean War. One of the few aircraft that still bearing its original design saw service in two wars.

 

But the story of Spitfire does not end there. In 1942, under specification request F.1/43, another aircraft was designed based on similar lines to the Spitfire. The experience gained in the Spitfire's production was used in the new design of the Type 371. But because of Spitfire production, it was two years before 371 saw its first flight. At the commencement of production the aircraft was designated the Supermarine Spiteful. It used the same fuselage as the Spitfire, a longer nose to enclose the Griffon 61 engine with two stage supercharger, completely redesigned wings that were very un-Spitfire, a bubble canopy and larger tail fin.

 

In January 1945, a second prototype included a five bladed propeller, slimmer fuselage and the Griffon 61 engine was replaced with the 2,375hp Griffon 69. Top speed of the Spiteful was a staggering 486 mph, and it would climb to 20,000 feet in just 4.9 minutes. Only about 20 were built with just 16 of them taking to the air. This was due to the fact that at the end of the war, the jet engine was making an impact in aircraft manufacture, and even Supermarine was busy designing its first jet aircraft the Attacker in 1944.

 

But in 1945, Supermarine was to have one last attempt at producing a piston engine propeller driven aircraft. This was the Seafang, a naval version of the Spiteful. Specifications were similar to the Spiteful with the exception that fittings that would make it destined for naval operations were included. After this, Supermarine was to enter the jet age and, Reginald Mitchells Spitfire will go down in the annals of modern history as one of the exciting and successful fighter aircraft of the Second World War.

 

 

The Supermarine Spitfire History

 

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The Supermarine Spitfire was much more than just a highly successful fighter aircraft. It was, and indeed to many people still is, the symbol of victory against overwhelming odds and is probably the only fighter to achieve a truly legendary status.

Certainly no other fighter is more deserving of a place in aviation history.

In forty major variants it was built in greater numbers than any other British aircraft of the time, it flew operationally on every front between 1939 and 1945 and it was engaged in every major action fought by the Royal Air Force.

 

The Designer

 

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Reginald Joseph Mitchell

Reginald Joseph Mitchell, designer of the Supermarine Spitfire, was born in Talke Village near Stoke on Trent on 20 May 1895.

Leaving school in 1911 aged 16 he joined the locomotive engineering company, Kerr Stewart & Co of Stoke as an apprentice and upon completion of his apprenticeship he began working in the drawing office.

At night school however he continued his education studying engineering, mechanics and higher mathematics and with the use of a home based lathe he mastered practical engineering.

In 1917, at the age of 21, a partnership that was to have a significant effect upon his future was formed when he joined the Supermarine Aviation Works as a designer and by 1918, recognizing the excellent skills that he had, Reginald Mitchell was appointed Chief Designer by Hubert Scott-Paine the Managing Director of Supermarine.

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R J Mitchell (Centre) with the Schneider Team

As seaplane manufacturers, Supermarine were attracted by the Schneider Trophy contests although until 1922 when Mitchell took over complete control of the design for that years entry, the competition was dominated by Italy, who having won the Trophy in 1920 and 1921 meant that a further win in 1922 would secure them the Trophy outright.

Mitchell set about totally redesigning Supermarine's Sea King II, an amphibian fighter aircraft and fitting it with a 450hp Lion it was renamed the Sea Lion II.

It was the only challenger to the Italian's in the 1922 Schneider Trophy and flown by Captain Henri C Baird it won, also taking four new Marine World Records.

In 1925 the Air Ministry decided that their high speed research program should encompass the British entry in the Schneider Trophy and a Service High Speed Flight racing team was established at Felixstowe with Government funding for Supermarine to develop a brand new aircraft to improve upon the Mitchell designed S.4 which had crashed before that years race due to flutter in the wing.

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The Classic Profile

By 1927 the new S.5 aircraft had been built, and this was the fore-runner to the Supermarine Spitfire.

In the ensuing years this design received a substantial amount of improvements and in the legendary 1931 Schneider Trophy with America, France and Italy withdrawing due to technical problems the S.6B won the Trophy outright at an average speed of 340.08 mph.

Based on this legendary design the Air Ministry invited Mitchell to tender for the F7/30 the new fighter aircraft to replace the existing ageing biplanes, following which he submitted the Type 224 design on 20 February 1932.

It was not however until September 1933, following substantial modifications that he was instructed to proceed to produce this new low cranked wing monoplane with fixed undercarriage and of an all metal construction.

Mitchell was however a sick man. He underwent an operation to remove abdominal cancer late in 1933 and almost died. He was told that if their was no recurrence within five years he would likely survive but following that operation he never fully recovered his vitality and remained a weak man.

In an attempt to convalesce he went on a continental holiday to Germany in 1934 although seeing the rise to power of Hitler and the re-emergence of Germany's military aviation programme he realised that the RAF would require both a new fighter and new bomber to counter this potential threat.

This was in effect the start of the end for Mitchell as with the intense pressure that he placed himself under, he literally devoted his life to the project.

Over the next two years his health deteriorated and resisting all medical advice he drove himself hard, working not only on the Spitfire but also the Type 317 long range, four engined bomber.

In March 1937 he finally entered a specialist clinic upon the insistence of his wife but it was too late, the doctors advised that he probably had no longer than three months to live, and the next month he left for the American Foundation in Vienna having meticulously set his affairs in order.

His stay at the Foundation was however short and he returned to Britain in early May.

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The Supermarine Works circa 1924

On 11th June 1937 Reginald Joseph Mitchell died aged just 42.

He would never realise the tremendous contribution that his life and work had made, not just to aviation, but to the Nation as a whole.

The two pictures below have been kindly supplied by Peter A Weston who joined Supermarine as an apprentice in 1938 (read his story on the "Memories" page)

The first shows the front of Supermarine Works facing the river and the Prototype Sea Otter coming down the slip for its first flight. The building on the left are the Main offices, R. J. 's office is in the second lot of windows down from the top.

 

The Schneider Trophy

 

 

Introduction

When Flight Lieutenant John Boothman achieved an average speed of 340.08 mph (547.305 km/h) over the triangular Schneider Trophy course in the Supermarine S6B seaplane on 13 September 1931, to make Great Britain the outright winner with three successive victories, the competition which had been instituted nearly nineteen years earlier came to an end.

The Schneider Trophy

On 5 December 1912, at a banquet in Paris following the Gordon-Bennett races for balloons and landplanes, an award by wealthy aviation enthusiast Jacques Schneider for hydro-aeroplanes - to encourage the development of seaplanes - had been announced. His trophy - depicting, in silver and bronze, a winged figure kissing another one resting on the waves - was first competed for at Monaco on 16 April 1913.

The winner was a Frenchman, Maurice Prevost, who achieved 45.75 mph (73.63 km/h) over a triangular course totalling 174 miles (280 km) compared with 217 miles (350 km) in later contests in a Deperdussin monoplane with a 160 hp Gnome engine.

Over the eighteen years which spanned the twelve contests, much had changed. Technological development, sharply spurred by the First World War, inevitably meant enormous increases in power and speed. The spirit of the competition also changed: from being a private-enterprise contest for aero clubs affiliated to the FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) it had become a state-supported international event with the participation, from 1923, of Service teams.

 

The Prototype

 

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The Prototype's First Takeoff

The Prototype's First Takeoff

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The Prototype

The first "unofficial" Spitfire was a total failure.

The name Spitfire was also "unofficial" at that stage, Mitchell preferring the name "Shrew"

Despite Reginald Mitchell's tremendous skills it was originally designed to meet the Air Ministry's demands for a new generation of fighter aircraft to replace the ageing existing aircraft designed around the twin gun, open cockpit biplane, the specifications being issued by the Air Ministry in 1931 and annotated F7/30.

Mitchell's original design was for a low cranked monoplane with fixed undercarriage and of an all metal construction with open cockpit and two machine guns in the forward fuselage sides and two mounted in the wing roots, all synchronized to fire through the propeller arc.

This aircraft, designated the Type 224, was flown for the first time on 19 February 1934 in the capable hands of "Mutt" Summers, the chief test pilot for Vickers and Supermarine.

The performance of the aircraft was however far lower than anticipated and the cooling system regularly failed. Despite experimentation with new designs submitted to The Air Ministry in June 1934 under Specification 425a based on the original F7/30 his plans were still turned down.

Mitchell however persevered and developed his original plans still further by designing the new fighter with thinner elliptical wings and a smaller span, a stressed skin construction and a faired cockpit with Perspex cover - this was known as the Type 300.

A new engine, the Rolls Royce Merlin, 27 litre PV-12, was to be installed and the Air Ministry, now impressed formalized a contract on 3 January 1935 with the official specification written to suit Mitchell's design being designated F37/34 as a short appendix to the original F7/30 Specification.

By early March of 1936 the prototype, K5054, had completed the ground trials and engine run-up tests and the necessary Aeronautical Inspection Directorate's Certificate had been issued and so The Spitfire was ready for the first flight.

There has been much debate upon the exact date that this flight took place although the Spitfire historian Alfred Price uncovered a hand written report of the expenditure on the Spitfire program dated 29 February 1936 amounting to £14,637 on which is hand written "flown 5 March 1936".

Bearing in mind that Reginald Mitchell was such a stickler for detail, and the fact that he would have attended the Board meeting on 2 April 1936 at which this certificate was presented, it can be taken that the Spitfire's first flight was on 5 March 1936 at Eastleigh. This has now been confirmed by the discovery of an original file, thought to have been destroyed, which reveals that the first flight lasted just 8 minutes starting at 4.35pm.

Once again the pilot for the new aircraft's first flight was "Mutt" Summers and in his usual apparent manner he stepped from the aircraft and tersely conveyed to the assembled crew that he had found no problems - then he added "I don't want anything touched" - and so the first official Spitfire was born.

Over the next three days a further three flights took place, all piloted by "Mutt" lasting 23 minutes, 31 minutes and 50 minutes during which time he flight tested the aircraft with a variety of stalls and steep turns to fully explore the flight characteristics of this unique aircraft.

Over the next few months further trials were carried out with no major problems and K5054 was delivered to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at Martlesham Heath for official trials on 26 May 1936.

The Air Ministry were so impressed with this new fighter aircraft that prior to the full test program being completed they issued a contract for 310 Spitfires on 3 June 1936.

K5054 - The Prototype, believed to have been taken early May 1936

As for the Prototype itself, it was first involved in an accident during performance trials at Martlesham Heath on 22 March 1937 following an oil pressure failure where a wheels up landing was made on heath land beside the Woodbridge - Bawdsley road although minor damage was sustained and the aircraft was subsequently repaired.

Regrettably the aircraft was totally destroyed on 2 September 1939 in a crash at Farnborough where the pilot, F/Lt White, was also killed.

These photographs show the prototype with Mutt Summers, Chief Test Pilot, taxiing, taking off and landing and have been kindly supplied by Peter Weston. (Click on the thumbnail for a full size image)

 

 

The Test Pilot

 

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Capt J "Mutt" Summers - early 1930's

The Test Pilot for the prototype Spitfire, registration K5054, first flown at Eastleigh, on 5 March 1936 was Captain J "Mutt" Summers, Chief Test Pilot for the Vickers and Supermarine companies.

Over the period 1936 to 1945 there was a total of 49 Test Pilots involved in the development of the various Marks and Variants and details are given below in alphabetical order together with their rank as at the time of joining.

 

 

 

 

 

The Supermarine Company

The following is a personal account from Peter Weston who was an apprentice at Supermarine as to what exactly happened within the Factory. Peter has also kindly provided a number of photographs taken inside the factory showing the various stages of production and to access these photographs please click on the link below. The page may take some time to download to your browser so please be patient - the wait is worth it.

 

 

SuperMarine Aviation Co. Ltd  Woolston Works 1938

 

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The first six photographs are of the airframe at various stages of assembly
An aircraft fitter working inside the main fuselage	Fitting the wings
Fitting the main instrument panel	Calibrating the Vertical Speed Indicator
Further view of the completed cockpit interior
	The finishing touches to the engine - adding the oil

I commenced my apprenticeship in August 1938 for a seven year period after which I had hoped to obtain a Ground Engineers License. My father had to pay Supermarine £60 up front for the right to undertake this apprenticeship, this money being used to pay me a salary of 5 shillings per week for the first year, 10 shillings per week for the second year, and finally for the third year the company would add their share and I would receive the princely sum each week of 17 shillings and sixpence! The equivalent these days of 25p, 50p, and 87.5p respectively.

The factory was located on the water front of the Itchen river, and after leaving home it was only a short walk to the Floating Bridge which dropped us off right next to the factory. The main gate was supervised by at least three uniformed Supermarine Policemen who were closely watching the hoards of workers pouring in, very seldom was anyone stopped on the way in, although it was different matter when leaving, the policemen would pick at random a few workers now and again, especially those with bags or packages.

After entering the factory the first thing you did was to punch the time clock, from there one would go to their area put on overalls and then a siren would signal 7.30 a.m. which was the time we commenced work. Apprentice's had to attend a school in the main office building now and again for technical lessons usually lasting 2 hours.

On entering the main floor of the factory it appeared to be one huge hall surrounded by galleries on three sides, to the right you would see the large area where the flying boats were being finished off, this was their exclusive domain with craftsmen riggers swarming around setting the fabric covered mainplanes for the correct incidence and warp, I never really got the job of rigging fully understood during my time in the flight shed but I enjoyed very much talking to the pilots that were to test the Stranraers and Walrus's, and scrounge a flight if I could.

Leaving the boat area one would see the Spitfire production lines. One part would have the wing construction Jigs, at first there were 10 wing Jigs of each for Port and Starboard aligned side by side, this was the first area in which I started my apprenticeship. A short distance away from the wings site you would see rows of Spitfire fuselage's in various stages of completion, often as many as 70 or so. The Tail units that were made separately by sub contractors, would be near the end of the line for final fitting to the fuselage. As a matter of interest the tail unit was bolted to the main portion by 52 bolts! and 4 studs round a double frame.
 

The next step would be to fit the engine bearers in place and from here on small parts and bits and pieces would be fixed in place and once all the different stages had been inspected along the way and passed by Supermarine inspectors, it would be the final inspection by the Air Ministry Inspection Dept (A.I.D) who were resident in the factory and had their own office.

Once everything had been cleared the wings and fuselage's would go to the paint shop for painting before being delivered to our Eastleigh Hangars for assembly and complete finishing and finally flight testing. Other area's in the factory were numerous, stores for so many items, bolts, rivets, washers and everything needed to complete the job, the chemical baths for annealing metals, de-greasing baths, plating etc, metal "bashers" forming the tops, sides and the underneath engine cowlings. There were many different areas concerned with making smaller detail parts.

Prior to the start of WW2 panic had already been started by the powers that be during late 1938 and again more so in 1939 because of the looming possibility of a confrontation with Germany. At that time it became very noticeable that the Woolston works started to work full out,
more than before, extra nightshifts were introduced, more female workers were taken on, they were very capable at the type of work they were trained to do, a great asset to our workforce.
 

When September 3rd 1939 came and we were declared officially at war, we had already increased our output of aircraft but the pressure was on for more more more! and in fact at times we did exceed the number requested, all due to a loyal work force. I was very proud to be a part of them.

Later I joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 as Aircrew, my only regret was that I did not fly a Spitfire. Oh well! I did in my imagination, often, sitting in a fully completed Spitfire cockpit at Eastleigh.

Peter A. Weston - July 1999

Sadly Peter passed away in January 2004

 

     

Memories

 

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The following is an extract from the Biography of Peter A. Weston who started his working life as an apprentice with Supermarine in 1938 and who has kindly agreed that it may be reproduced on this site.

Peter A Weston, Lancaster Radio Operator/Radar Navigator, Squadron 186, Stradishall / 45 Sqn, Tengah Malaya / 209 Sqn, FEAF Singapore - Iwakuni Japan, RAF

My memoirs were for my Family and for the relatives of my many good friends that were killed in action during WW2, the Campaign in Malaya and in Korea, I served in all 3 on operations. I served in the Lancaster Squadron 186 in the United Kingdom, Stradishall, during World War II, Squadron 209 in Japan during Korean War. I was radar, radio operator and navigator. Although I was not a pilot later on was fully certificated to act as second pilot on limited duties.

I started work at" Supermarine Aviation" works at Woolston in 1938, located facing the river Itchen, Woolston was an area within Southampton. I joined as an apprentice for a 7 year apprenticeship leading finally to becoming an aircraft ground engineer. For this opportunity my father had to pay the company cash to them so that they would pay me. We also had to attend the apprentice school located in the main office building where the Drawing office was, once or twice a week.

The designer of the Schneider Trophy Supermarine float planes and of the Spitfire was R. J. Mitchell, the most well known of the float planes was the S. 6B. it was the first plane to exceed 400 mph. in 1931 at 407. 5mph. The first flight of the Spitfire, K5054, took place at Eastleigh airport (on the outskirts of my hometown of Southampton. England) on March 5th. 1936 by our chief test pilot J. ' Mutt ' Summers. Sadly, R. J. Mitchell died in 1937 aged 42.

The picture shows the front of Supermarine Works facing the river and the Prototype Sea Otter coming down the slip for its first flight. The building on the left are the Main offices, R. J. 's office is in the second lot of windows down from the top.

The Flight shed, with the slipway leading down to the river, was the sole domain of the flying boats. All around this area and further into the factory was for Spitfire production. At that time in 1938 Mk. 1 and Mk 2 were on the production lines. I was first started on wing construction, then onto fuselages, the tailplane and fin units and other bits and pieces etc. always with a very experienced craftsman to teach us.

From here I was shifted to the flight shed to work on the flying boats, mainly Stanraers and Walrus. I enjoyed this period because they were finished aircraft and we would talk to the Test pilot who did, nearly always, flight test the boats and he was Flt. Lt. Pickering. Some of the boats were in for overhaul also, such as a couple of Scapa's.

When a Walrus was to be test flown, Flt. Lt. Pickering, when the tide was high, would start up and gently ease down the ramp into the river and take off over the ferries that crossed the river, sometimes scaring the pants off the crews who quite often shook their fist to him, this amused him and would make remarks about it.

At the finish of the test he would fly very low over the river, by low I mean about 300 feet or so, in front of the flight shed and loop the Walrus to signal that it had passed the test, if not, he would just land and return up the slip and it would be worked upon. If you haven't seen a Walrus looped, you haven't lived.

Another aircraft that I had worked on was the replacement for the Walrus, the Prototype "Sea Otter". Compared to the Walrus, It was what you could call a streamlined version of it, very neat and tidy with the Bristol Mercury engine mounted in the centre of the top wing and was what we used to call a " puller ", whereas the Walrus engine was a "pusher". The second Sea Otter was destroyed in an air raid later on.

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Peter Weston - taken in Canada in 2003 shortly before he passed away - and in front of his beloved Spitfire...another warrior placed to rest....RIP Peter	Photograph taken in 1944 of crew from 186 Squadron in 1944 Peter Weston is in the centre at the back...

The visits by the German civilian marine aircraft always created great interest. There were two types, one was a "Dornier Wal 26"flying boat and the other was a "Blom und Voss" H. A. 139 floatplane. They were beautifully painted and looked very well kept There was a large black Swastika against a white and red background on the fin and rudder. They were classified as "Mailplanes ", most of the workers said they were spy planes.

They were not allowed to land on the river Itchen, they had to land at Hythe near the B. O. A. C. flying boat base where a B. O. A. C. launch would lead them up the Solent, turning into the river to our works where our men were waiting to moor them to our landing stage next to the slipway. Customs people and other officials would go on board and finally the crew and any passengers were allowed off.

I had to visit the paint shop to collect some thing for my tutor, the shop was located across the road from the main entrance, it was where all the spray painting was carried out, i.e. Spitfire components, wings, fuselage, etc. On the floor above, it used to be the lofting room where wooden mock ups were made of prototypes and experimental types and high up in the rafters was what looked like a Spitfire fuselage with a rounded nose where the engine would normally be and an engine bulkhead each side of it on the wings, it was terribly dusty.

When I asked about it I was told that it was originally for a twin engine Spitfire but the idea was abandoned. Since that day I have never heard mention of it anywhere.

Going back a little, either just before the war or just after it started, we were told to expect aircraft from the Stranraer Squadron at RAF Calshot, which was just down the Solent from us. They were to be camouflaged Sea Green and Grey very quickly, there would be 12 altogether and would arrive 3 at a time. They arrived shortly afterwards and were right away hauled out first thing in the morning and pounced upon by the painters and working all night (there was always a night shift) they were ready to be picked up next morning, this pace was kept up until all 12 were done, believe me that was good going. This happened in September 1939.

In August 1940, I had reached the age of 16 and been working at the Woolston works for 2 years. At this time myself and 2 other apprentices were sent to the flight shed at Eastleigh airport, where the Spitfires were assembled and flight tested. We were each assigned to an experienced craftsman.

I enjoyed the environment there, It was completely different and exciting to see aircraft that you had been working on being prepared for air testing. Sometimes we would work outside and assist in preparing the aeroplanes for flight test. The chief test pilot was Jeffery Quill, he seemed to do most of the flying but also Alex Henshaw was there, (he was well known and famous for his record breaking flights pre war. ) along with one or two others.

The pilots would taxi out from the apron onto the grass and take off in almost any direction regardless of the wind factor. The duration of the tests were normally about 20 minutes.

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Meanwhile I would be standing about 50 feet or so from the apron, on the grass area with a pot of dope and paint brush in hand along with fabric patches. A Spitfire would land and taxi to me and the pilot point to the ailerons or to the elevators and more than often, to both.

During the tests the aircraft are to be dived to around 400 M. P. H. and this sometimes causes the fabric on the ailerons and elevators to be ripped, so I, while engine was running would have to dash around, put dope over the area of the rip, put a patch of fabric on and dope over it again, the dope dried almost immediately. I would give the thumbs up sign and off they would go at full throttle, tail up almost immediately, and airborne.

The works were often host to various groups of people, and military officers from foreign countries. Some that come to mind, groups from The Ministry of aircraft production, France, Belgium, and watch a flying display of Spitfires, also the walrus, flown by Flt. Lt. Pickering who would do his famous loop in it.

One day a group from France were there on a perfect sunny cloudless afternoon watching Jeffery Quill in a Spitfire, do his display, he finished by going very fast and low in front of them, and he vanished from view. They were still looking to the front. Jeffrey Quill had gone around to the back of the hangars behind them, going full out, he came back between the hangars below roof level and made everyone jump out of their wits, including we who were also watching, he finished with a victory roll and landed just a few feet from the visitors. To say they were impressed would be putting it mildly.

A few weeks earlier while still with Supermarine, Cunliffe Owen had been bombed and we had seen it all. The sirens had sounded and as usual everyone made for the shelters behind the factory across the Eastleigh/ Southampton road but my mentor said we would be going to the woods further away.

When we got there we found most of the others were there too, and soon we saw aircraft, there were 3 HE. 111K,s we could see the bombs fall and they struck one of the back hangars, some bombs fell harmlessly on the grass surface of the airfield causing a few craters. Cunliffe Owen had a large calibre machine gun mounted on a truck, it was reported that they had shot down one of the raiders. later it was confirmed that indeed they had.

On the way home, after work, we had to pass Cunliffe Owen's to catch a bus further down the road, and we saw a long row of bodies, all were covered, there appeared to be quite a lot and to a young boy of just only past his 16th. birthday it was a traumatic experience despite being subjected to many air raids on Southampton.

I asked if I could transfer to Cunliffe Owen because of overcrowding in our dept due to the overflow of our workers from the bombed out factory and all agreed OK.

 

 

The ML407 Dual Flight Spitfire

 

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The following account has been sent to me by Chris Durrant who very kindly looks after the updates to the surviving spitfire data.

Ambition realized

It’s rare that anyone gets to fly a Spitfire these days other than that happy band of owners and display pilots but the existence of a tiny number of 2 seaters means the chance is always there for a lucky few.

Back in 1990 I was spending non-flying Sundays hanging around at Historic Flying’s hanger generally getting in the way and sitting in Spitfire RW382 pretending to help. I had let it be known that I was looking for a dual trip in ML407 as Historic Flying were due to be doing the maintenance.

On September 1^st 1990 the aircraft arrived at Audley End from Goodwood and disgorged a happy passenger, it would be my turn next! I wandered around the aircraft with a mounting sense of excitement and trepidation as the schedule was that I would ride as passenger with Pete Kynsey through a short display routine as part of the celebrations for Historic’s official opening. At the end of the display I would take control and fly the a/c back to Goodwood with some time set aside for a general ‘chuck about’.

As the hour approached Pete gave me a full briefing then we climbed aboard and settled in. The rear cockpit is a little tighter than the front but still adequate and the controls impress with their size and solidity. Unlike a Cessna these aircraft are solidly built and designed to be operated by a pilot wearing heavy gloves.

After a check all round Pete pressed the buttons and the prop turned, rocking the fuselage gently against the torque. After 3 or 4 blades the engine started cleanly with just a puff of exhaust smoke whipped away behind us. Immediately I was impressed by the slipstream from that big prop and the heat of the exhaust gases clearly felt through my overalls while I sat posing with elbows out of the cockpit!

Within minutes we were ready and Pete nudged the throttle gently producing an exciting bellow of power and a surge forward before immediately closing the throttle and testing the brakes. The system uses air which exhausts into the cockpit so braking produces a hissing identical to a heavy goods vehicle. Taxiing was done gingerly as she is very nose heavy but the holding point was only a short distance away.

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The power checks are carried out at less than full power but the aircraft was still gently bouncing and shuddering while producing those wonderful aromas of hot exhaust smoke and oil. Lined up, Pete opened up slowly with full right stick and we accelerated at a steady pace, the engine roar well suppressed by my closed canopy and DC headset.

Airborne after a short run we climbed into the overhead with the approval of Stansted while I enjoyed the sight of those big elliptical wings with their cartwheel sized roundels. From 3000 ft Pete rolled past the vertical and dived in prior to pulling up for a vertical roll to open the show.

From inside, the engine sounds nothing like that characteristic sound of a Spitfire fly-by. The note is steady and unvarying with the higher frequencies muffled to produce a flat roar at a satisfying but not excessive volume. The note remains the same whether diving in at over 300 kts or pulling over the top with just 90 kts indicated. Finally, after 7 or 8 minutes of looping and rolling, Pete descended for the low and fast fly-by, a blur of green grass and upturned faces, then those magic words, "you have control".

I was tentative to start with as I had heard so much about the lightness of the elevator but, as I experimented with some turns I realized that ‘lightness’ is a relative term. The Spitfire has light and powerful controls for an aeroplane in its class but it is not the fingertip control of a Chipmunk or the over-light sensitivity of the Pitts Special. I think I would say powerful rather than light, either way it feels very nice indeed!

The trip down South was largely uneventful being straight and level except for minor heading changes around Gatwick. The ride is firm with turbulence producing some hard lumps and bumps. On reaching the coast Pete kindly invited me to play for 5 minutes and I experimented with steep turns and wing overs as sunlight danced around the cockpit and the ‘G’ ebbed and flowed.

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Spitfire Cockpit

Eventually we could justify spending no more of Carolyn’s fuel and I descended back towards Goodwood working hard on the rudder trim to keep everything straight. The aircraft has a big propeller at one end and a small fin & rudder at the other which means the rudder trim sees plenty of use. Finally Pete said "follow me through" and rolled into the final turn accompanied by those characteristic pops from the engine which sound every bit as loud as you might imagine when sat 10 feet behind the exhausts. A brief flare then she bounced gently on those stiff legs and rolled to a stop whereupon we taxied smartly to the hanger as the rad temp climbed rapidly to 100 deg – always a problem on the Spitfire.

At last the aircraft was in the hanger and Pete dashed off to Gatwick to do his day job. I hung around not able to bring myself to walk away from the aircraft and just sat on the wing listening to the tick tick of the engine cooling off. An after-the-event photo shows me grinning inanely looking hot., sweaty and happy…………… which I was. My logbook shows ‘1.9.90 – Spitfire 9 – G-LFIX – Kynsey – 55 mins…….I still turn to that page occasionally and remember.

 

 

The Seafire

 

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Seafire III making a carrier landing - arrester hook can be clearly seen

The Supermarine Seafire, or Sea Spitfire (the official name), was a naval development of the Spitfire, and was the first modern carrier based fighter fielded by the Royal Navy. Primarily developed for carrier use, the Seafire incorporated changes such as a tail hook, attachments for catapult use, and on later variants, folding wings. The Seafire was not the ideal carrier fighter and especially landings were difficult; but its performance outweighed the disadvantages. The Seafire had a short range, but its fast climb and agility made it a very good Fleet defence fighter. The last Seafire version Mk 47 was used in the Korean war, and retired in 1952.

As early as 1938, Supermarine had approached the Admiralty with a specifically designed Naval version of the Spitfire. However, due to circumstances beyond their control, the Admiralty ordered the Fairey Fulmar as the new aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm. In February and May 1940 the Admiralty asked the Air Ministry for Spitfires but on both occasions they were turned down. However, with the Admiralty's need for a capable carrier-based fighter to take up the task of combatting Japanese Zero's or Messerschmitts which the Seafire II could perform that task, this need eventually led to the Fleet Air Arm being provided with the modified Spitfire land-based fighter to take up the combat roll. In 1941 the Air Ministry offered some Mk I Spitfires to the Navy but the Admiralty demanded the latest version in production, the Mk V.

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Seafire III - first variant with folding wings

Finally, in September 1941 the Admiralty placed an order for 250 Spitfire Mk Va and Vb aircraft. They had, however, yet to decide on what modifications had to take place in order to make the aircraft suited to carrier operations. The land-based Spitfire V were then modified and renamed the Seafire II. The first Seafires were actually hooked Spitfires. The RAF loaned 110 Mk Va and Vb and three Mk II b's to the FAA for training purposes of which 59, including the II b's, had been fitted with arrester hooks. The modifications of the Spitfire did change the Seafire's characteristics somewhat. Approaches were difficult, visibility was limited at best, landing gear collapses were commonplace, and, the arrester hooks had a tendency to miss and bounce back into the fuselage frames which buckled the airframe. More were lost to breaking their landing gear in hard landings than to all enemy causes. As a low-level fleet defense interceptor, the Seafire was supreme, but it paid a price with its fragility.

Two of the ex-RAF Spitfire V aircraft were sent to the factory for full naval conversion. HMS Illustrious saw the first landing of Seafire on 10 February 1942. Eventually 163 ex-RAF aircraft were converted to the Seafire Mk Ib standard by the addition of arrester hooks, strengthened rear fuselages, slinging points, and Naval radios.

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Seafire Mark XVII

The next major version of the Seafire to enter service was the Mk F III in November 1943. This was the first version to be fitted with a folding wing which allowed below deck stowage for the first time. The initial batch of the Mk F III were quickly replaced by the Mk L III with the low rated Merlin 55 M engine. Over 1000 of these aircraft were produced. The FAA also had a requirement for recce and converted a number of Mk II and Mk III aircraft for this role by adding a pair of f.24 cameras. It was in this role that the Seafire was most successful.

The first Griffon powered Seafire, the XV, was introduced into service in May 1945. This was the first Seafire designed from the start with folding wings with production starting in Nov 1944. When the war ended eight FAA Squadrons were equipped with the Mk III and the other four were converting to the XV. Eventually the Fleet Air Arm used the F4U and F6F to fill the Fleet defender roll.

The Seafire XV was the first Griffon-powered Seafire. It combined the wing of the Seafire
III with the fuselage of the Spitfire V and the engine, cowling and prop of the Spitfire XII. The Griffon turned opposite the Merlin, but the "bend" of the airframe was not changed, which led  Griffon Spitfires to swing on takeoff. The Seafire XV arrived just too late for operational service in World War II. Despite all its problems, its low-level performance would have been good against the Kamikazes had an invasion of Japan been required.

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The final variant - Seafire 47 with contra-rotating propeller

The Seafire also served with other Commonwealth and overseas Fleet Air Arms. The Seafire IIc MB190 was tested in the USA for possible use in 1944 with Seafire IIc MB190 being sent to Naval Air Test Centre, USNAS Patuxent River in May 1944 where it remained until VE-Day 1945. The Seafire was also tested by the SAAF,  Seafire F.III  LR783 went on trials with 7 SAAF squadron from June till July 1944. The French Fleet Air Arm (Aeronavale) received Seafire IIc in April 1948 (eg NN136), Seafire LIII after 1947 (eg NN312, NN303) and Seafire III as 54S.24 (Arromanches).

A total of 35 Seafires served with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) from 14 March 1946 to 29 April 1954. During this period the Seafire was flown operationally by 803 Squadron (June 1945 - August 1947) and 883 Squadron (September 1945 - November 1947) from the aircraft carrier HMCS Warrior and the Royal Canadian Naval Air Section which was a lodger unit at Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Station Dartmouth (RCNAS Shearwater). The last Seafire was struck off strength from the RCN in April 1954.

The Seafire was withdrawn from Fleet Air Arm front-line service in 1951 and continued to serve with the RNVR until late 1954.

 

 

The Spitefire

 

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Spiteful Prototype NN664

Supermarine were engaged in developing a new laminar flow wing for the Spitfire where the thickest part of the wing would be much further from the leading edge than in the original. The design of this new fighter was undertaken against specification F.1/43.

The new aircraft name was originally proposed as the Victor although eventually this was rejected in favour of the Spiteful.

The first prototype was a converted Spitfire Mk XIV, serial NN660, which in common with the second prototype retained the original Spitfire tail unit. The first true prototype, serial NN664, first flew in June 1944.

This aircraft was built to production standard and featured the new wing, inward retracting undercarriage and a new fin, rudder and tailplane of increased area to improve directional stability.

The early aircraft did, however, display a number of problems none of which could not have been solved. It was recognised that this new aircraft was taking the ability of piston engined design to the absolute limits.

373 aircraft were originally ordered from a revised Spitfire F21 contract although production was cancelled with the end of the war and the introduction into service of the new jet powered Meteor and Vampire.

Specification and Performance

Mark XIV - the type 371 was fitted with a Griffon 69 engine rated at 2,375 hp driving a 5 blade propeller. The top speed was 475 mph. 19 were built. Of these aircraft 1 was converted to a Mark XV and 2 were converted to Mark XVI.

Mark XV - Fitted with a Griffon 89 or 90 engine rated at 2,350 hp and driving two contra rotating three blade propellers. The one converted aircraft, RB520, was subsequently used in the development of the Seafang. Top speed was 483 mph.

Mark XVI - The two conversions from the Mark XIV, RB516 and RB518 were fitted with the Griffon 101 engine producing 2,420 hp and a top speed of 494 mph.

 

 

The Seafang

 

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Seafang Mark F32 - VB895

The type 383 Seafang was designed to specification n.5/45 as a naval use Spiteful which was itself based on the Spitfire Mk XIV with a new laminar flow wing. A new arrester hook assembly was added to Spiteful RB520 and this new prototype first flew in 1946.

Production of this aircraft never commenced, however, the Seafire Mk47 was deemed to be adequate quite apart from the new jet aircraft Meteor and Vampire were now available.

The Mark F31 was fitted with a Griffon engine rated at 2,035 hp and driving a five blade propeller. Armament consisted of four 20mm cannon with provision for two 1,000lb bombs or rockets. Ten were produced, the first, VG471 being delivered on 15 January 1946.

The Mark F32 had folding wings, increased fuel capacity and a Griffon 89 engine rated at 2,350 hp driving two three bladed contra rotating propellers. Two of this type were completed, VB893 and VB895 (above) although there is some doubt as to whether these actually flew.

 

 

The Spitfire Floatplane

 

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Mark V conversion

Having been originally developed from the Supermarine S6B it is perhaps natural that the Spitfire should be developed for use on water.

The first Spitfire floatplane was a conversion of a Mark I, the so called "Narvik Nightmare" R6722 which was produced at the time of the German invasion of Norway where there emerged a requirement for a fighter capable of flying from the Fjords in view of the lack of suitable airfields in the country.

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Spitfire Floatplane MkIX - MJ892

In the interests of speed, floats from a Blackburn Roc were fitted but the trials were not successful and as the campaign for which the conversion was required was rapidly drawing to a close the project was suspended.

The idea was revived again with the beginning of the war in the Pacific against Japan when it was realised that a floatplane fighter with good performance would be an essential asset in the island campaigns which seemed likely.

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Spitfire Floatplane EP751 - photograph taken in the Middle East and kindly provided by Terry Cheeseman - his Father, E P Cheeseman is sitting on the far left.

Folland Aircraft undertook the conversion of a Spitfire Mk Vb, W3760, with Supermarine designed floats and this aircraft proved an immediate success with a top speed of 324 mph. In this aircraft the carburettor air intake was extended to avoid spray, a shorter four blade propeller was fitted, cantilever pylons attached the floats to the inboard wing sections, a ventral fin replaced the tailwheel and the fin was extended slightly forward to increase the vertical tail surface area.

Folland built several sets of floats and converted another two Mark V aircraft, EP751 and EP754. These together with W3760 were shipped to Egypt in 1943 and assembled with the intention of covertly operating them out of small Greek islands to intercept German transport aircraft.

A further Spitfire was converted in 1944, a Mark IX serial MJ892 powered by a Merlin 45. The performance of this aircraft was superb and with a top speed of 377 mph the fastest floatplane of the entire war.

 

Spitfire Variants	The Hawker Hurricane
Spitfire Engines	The Hurricane Or The Spitfire?

 

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