The still unpainted Spitfire protoype,
K5054, shortly before its first flight
The Supermarine Spitfire was a single-seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in World War II.
Produced by Supermarine, the Spitfire was designed by R.J. Mitchell, who continued to refine it until his death in 1937. The elliptical wing had a thin cross-section, allowing a faster top speed than the Hurricane and other contemporary designs; it also resulted in a distinctive appearance. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire saw service during the whole of World War II, in all theatres of war, and in many different variants.
More than 20,300 examples of all variants were built, including two-seat trainers, with some Spitfires remaining in service well into the 1950s. It was the only fighter aircraft to be in continual production before, during and after the war.
The aircraft was dubbed Spitfire by Sir Robert MacLean, director of Vickers (the parent company of Supermarine) at the time, and on hearing this, Mitchell is reported to have said, "...sort of bloody silly name they would give it." The word dates from Elizabethan times and refers to a particularly fiery, ferocious type of person, usually a woman. The name had previously been used unofficially for Mitchell's earlier F.7/30 Type 224 design.
Design
Supermarine's Chief Designer, R.J. Mitchell, had won three Schneider Trophy seaplane races with his designs, combining powerful Napier or Rolls Royce engines with minute attention to streamlining. These same qualities are equally useful for a fighter design, and in 1930 Mitchell produced such a plane in response to an Air Ministry specification (F7/30) for a new and modern monoplane fighter.
This first attempt at a fighter resulted in an open-cockpit monoplane with gull-wings and a large fixed spatted undercarriage. The Supermarine Type 224 did not live up to expectations; nor did any of the competing designs which were also deemed failures.
Mitchell immediately turned his attention to an improved design as a private venture, with the backing of Supermarine's owners Vickers. The new design added gear retraction, an enclosed cockpit, oxygen gear, and the much more powerful newly developed Rolls Royce PV-12 engine, later named the Merlin.
By 1935 the Air Ministry had seen enough advancement in the industry to try the monoplane design again. They eventually rejected the new Supermarine design on the grounds that it did not carry the required eight-gun load, and did not appear to have room to do so.
Once again Mitchell was able to solve the problem. It has been suggested that by looking at various Heinkel planes he settled on the use of an elliptical planform, which had much more chord to allow for the required eight guns, while still having the low drag of the earlier, simpler wing design. Mitchell's aerodynamicist, Beverley Shenstone, however, has pointed out that Mitchell's wing was not directly copied from the Heinkel He 70, as some have claimed; the Spitfire wing was much thinner and had a completely different section. In any event, the elliptical wing was enough to sell the Air Ministry on this new Type 300, which they funded by a new specification, F.10/35, drawn up around the Spitfire.
The elliptical wing was chosen for superior aerodynamic attributes but it was a complex wing to construct and the Messerchmidt 109's angular and easy to construct wing offered similar performance (model per model) to the Spitfire. It has been reported that the Messerchmidt 109 took one-third the manhours to construct as the Spitfire.
The prototype (K5054) first flew on March 5, 1936. Testing continued until 26th May 1936, when Mutt Summers (Chief Test Pilot for Vickers (Aviation) Ltd.) flew K5054 to Martlesham and handed the aircraft over to Squadron Leader Anderson of the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE).
The Air Ministry placed an order for 310 of the aircraft on 3rd June 1936, before any formal report had been issued by the A&AEE, interim reports being issued on a piecemeal basis.
A feature of the final Spitfire design that has often been singled out by pilots is its washout feature, which was unusual at the time. The incidence of the wing is +2° at its root and −½° at its tip. This twist means that the wing roots will stall before the tips, reducing the potentially dangerous rolling moment in the stall known as a spin. Many pilots have benefited from this feature in combat when doing tight turns close to the aircraft's limits because when the wing root stalled it made the control column shudder giving the pilot a warning that he was about to reach the limit of the aircraft`s performance.
Production
To build the Spitfires in the numbers needed a whole new factory was built at Castle Bromwich, near Birmingham as a "shadow" to Supermarine's Southampton factory. Although the project was ultimately led by Lord Nuffield who was an expert in mass construction, the Spitfire was a bit too complex and Supermarine and Vickers engineers were needed. The site was set up quickly from July 1938 - machinery was being installed 7 months after work started on site.
Variants
- Main article: Supermarine Spitfire variants
There were 24 marks of Spitfire and many sub-variants. These covered the Spitfire in development from the Merlin to Griffon engines, the high speed photo-reconnaissance variants and the different wing arrangments.
Naval version
An early Supermarine Spitfire I in flight
There also was a naval version of the Spitfire called the Seafire. It was specially adapted for operation from aircraft carriers: with an arrester hook, folding wings and other specialized equipment. However, like the Spitfire, the Seafire had a narrow undercarriage track, which meant that it was not well suited to deck operations. Due to the addition of heavy carrier equipment, it suffered from an aft centre-of-gravity position that made low-speed control difficult, and its gradual stall characteristics meant that it was difficult to land accurately on the carrier. These characteristics resulted in a very high accident rate for the Seafire.
Compared with other naval fighters, the Seafire II was able to outperform the A6M5 (Zero) at low altitudes when the two types were tested against each other in WW2. Contemporary western carrier aircraft like the F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair, however, were considerably more powerful. Late-war Seafire marks equipped with the Griffon engines enjoyed a considerable increase of performance compared to their Merlin-engined predecessors.
The name Seafire was arrived at by collapsing the longer name Sea Spitfire.
Service
The first Spitfires to shoot down another plane did so in early September 1939. That the downed aricraft were Hawker Hurricanes was unfortunate but the pilots were found not to be blamed.
Battle of Britain
The Spitfire is often credited with winning the Battle of Britain. The design was mass produced in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham where there now stands a large metal memorial on Chester Road at Spitfire Roundabout. The aircraft and Mitchell were lauded in the movie The First of the Few, although the film was a dramatization and not factually accurate.
The Spitfire was one of the finest fighters of the war; aviation historians and laymen alike often claim it to be the most aesthetic. It is, however, frequently compared to the Hawker Hurricane, which was used in greater numbers during the critical stage of 1940. The Hurricane's guns were better suited to attacking bombers, but a close pattern of fire and slower speed made the Hurricane vulnerable when attacking the German fighter escorts. It should be noted, however, that in total numbers the Hurricane actually shot down more Luftwaffe aircraft, both fighters and bombers, than the Spitfire, this is due to the higher proportion of Hurricanes in the air. Losses were high among the more numerous Hurricanes, whereas the Spitfire had a greater chance of survival.
Another contemporary, the German Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Bf 109, was similar in attributes and performance to the Spitfire. Some advantages helped the Spitfires win many dog fights, with manouverability the attribute most often quoted. Good cockpit visibility was probably a greater factor, as the early Bf 109s had narrow, paneled cockpit windows. Spitfires were assigned the task of taking on the Bf 109Es, while the Hurricanes intercepted bombers whenever possible. Nonetheless, seven of every ten German planes destroyed during the Battle of Britain were shot down by Hurricane pilots.
Speed and altitude records
The Spitfire Mk. XI flown by Sqn. Ldr. Martindale, seen here damaged after its flight on
27 April 1944 during which it achieved a true airspeed of 606 mph (975 km/h).
Due to the high altitudes necessary for these dives, a fully feathering Rotol propeller was fitted to prevent overspeeding.
During the spring of 1944, high-speed diving trials were being performed at Farnborough to investigate the handling of aircraft near the sound barrier. Because it had the highest limiting Mach number of any aircraft at that time, a Spitfire XI was chosen to take part in these trials. It was during these trials that EN409, flown by Squadron Leader Martindale, reached 606 mph (975 km/h) in a 45-degree dive. Unfortunately the engine/propeller could not cope with this speed and the propeller and reduction gear broke off. Martindale successfully glided the 20 miles (30 km) back to the airfield and landed safely.
"That any operational aircraft off the production line, cannons sprouting from its wings and warts and all, could readily be controlled at this speed when the early jet aircraft such as Meteors, Vampires, P-80s, etc could not, was certainly extraordinary" —Jeffrey Quill[1]
On 5 February 1952 a Spitfire Mk. 19 of No. 81 Squadron RAF based in Hong Kong achieved probably the highest altitude ever achieved by a Spitfire. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Ted Powles, was on a routine flight to survey outside air temperature and report on other meteorological conditions at various altitudes in preparation for a proposed new air service through the area. He climbed to 50,000 feet (15,240 m) indicated altitude, with a true altitude of 51,550 feet (15,712 m), which was the highest height ever recorded for a Spitfire. However, the cabin pressure fell below a safe level, and in trying to reduce altitude, he entered an uncontrollable dive which shook the aircraft violently. He eventually regained control somewhere below 3,000 feet (900 m). He landed safely and there was no discernible damage to his aircraft. Evaluation of the recorded flight data suggested that in the dive, he achieved a speed of 690 mph (1110 km/h) or Mach 0.94, which would have been the highest speed ever reached by a propeller-driven aircraft. Today it is generally believed that this speed figure is the result of inherent instrument errors and has to be considered unrealistic.
Other operators
Apart from the RAF, Spitfires served with most of the Allied air forces in World War II, especially the Polish Air Force, Czechoslovak Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, South African Air Force and Royal New Zealand Air Force. It was one of only a few foreign aircraft to see service with the United States Army Air Forces. Several European countries also operated Spitfires based in the UK, under the auspices of the RAF, including the Armée de l'Air as part of the Free French air force, the Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres (FAFL). (See Armée de l'Air (Part II).) In the Swedish Air Force the Spitfire was given the name S 31 and was in use up to 1955 when it was replaced by SAAB Tunnan. [1]
Following World War II, the Spitfire remained in use with many air forces around the world, including the South African Air Force, Swedish Air Force, Egyptian Air Force, Hellenic Air Force, Irish Air Corps, Israeli Air Force, Italian Air Force, Syrian Air Force, Danish Air Force, Royal Norwegian Air Force and Turkish Air Force. Plus the Royal Canadian Navy, Indian Air Force, Royal Netherlands Air Force, the French Aeronavale, Portuguese Air Force, Southern Rhodesian Air Force, the Yugoslav Air Force, Hong Kong Auxilary Air Force, and the Union of Burma Air Force.
Spitfires played a major role in the Greek Civil War, flown by the RAF and SAAF during 1944 and 1945, and by the Royal Hellenic Air Force from 1946 through the end of the war in 1948.
Spitfires last saw major action during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when — in a strange twist — Israeli Spitfires were engaged by both British and Egyptian Spitfires.
Some air forces retained Spitfires in service until well into the 1960s, while some pilots who flew Spitfires in World War II were able to remain in service for decades; for example, Flight Lieutenant "Joe" Kmiecki, a Polish pilot who flew Spitfires during the war, did not retire from the RAF until 1981.
There is evidence that during the war the Germans used captured Spitfires to strafe targets in England - an account of one such episode in the village of Grendon is given here.
Planes remaining in use
Spitfire at Temora Aviation Museum in Australia
About 50 Spitfires and a few Seafires remain airworthy and many aircraft museums treasure static examples of this graceful yet lethal fighter. The RAF maintains some for flying display and ceremonial purposes in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
The Temora Aviation Museum in regional New South Wales, Australia, has an airworthy Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII, which is flown regularly during the Museum's flying weekends.
A black-painted Spitfire, which belonged to Israeli pilot and former president Ezer Weizmann, is still in active flight condition. The Black Spitfire is on exhibit in the Israeli Air Force Museum in Hatzerim and used for ceremonial flying display.
Memorials and artwork
Spitfires have appeared in a number of war memorials and other artworks. For example, Canadian WWII pilot Jerry Billing (who flew actor Cliff Robertson's Spitfire[2] for many years after teaching Cliff how to fly it, making him the man with the most hours ever spent in the cockpit of a Spitfire) was enshrined on a building in his home town Essex, Ontario[3]. Unfortunately, that building has since been torn down.
Seventieth Anniversary
The Spitfire first flew at 16:30 GMT on March 5th, 1936. At exactly the same time on March 5th 2006, five restored spitfires took off from their spiritual home at Southampton Airport (then known as Eastleigh airport) to mark the seventieth anniversary since the first prototype took to the air. One of the aircraft was a two-seater Spitfire trainer and the passenger was 93 year old Alex Henshaw who was the chief test pilot for the Spitfire during World War II.
BBC News link to story
Specifications (Spitfire Mk Vb)[2]
General characteristics
- Crew: One
- Length: 29 ft 11 in (9.12 m)
- Wingspan: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
- Height: 12 ft 8 in (3.86 m)
- Wing area: 242.1 ft² (22.48 m²)
- Empty weight: 5,090 lb (2,309 kg)
- Loaded weight: 6,770 lb (3,071 kg)
- Maximum gross takeoff weight: ()
- Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Merlin 45 liquid-cooled supercharged V-12, 1,470 hp at 9,250 ft (1,096 kW at 2,820 m)
Performance
Armament
- 2x 20 mm Hispano HS.404 cannons, 60 (later 120) rounds/gun
- 4x .303 inch Browning machine guns, 350 rounds/gun
- 2x 250 lb (113 kg) or 1x 500 lb (230 kg) bombs
References
- ↑ Quill, J (1983-89). Spitfire - A Test Pilot’s Story, Arrow Books. ISBN 0099370204.
- ↑ Green, W; Swanborough, G (2001). The great book of fighters, MBI Publishing. ISBN 0760311943.
External links
Related content
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Comparable aircraft
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See also
