Supermarine Spitfire XVIE
Without a doubt the most iconic British aircraft of World War II, and one of the most famous of all aircraft, the Supermarine Spitfire was designed by the famed R.J. Mitchell in response to the British Air Ministry’s specification for a short-range interceptor. His original design was poor and lost to the Gloster Gladiator biplane, so Mitchell went back to the drawing board, designing a narrow-fuselaged, elliptical-winged, enclosed-cockpit monoplane fighter, the Supermarine Type 300. Mitchell drew on inspiration from Supermarine’s successful Thompson Trophy racing floatplanes, and the Type 300 was one of the first designs to use the Rolls-Royce Merlin, arguably the best inline piston engine ever developed. The Air Ministry was so impressed with Mitchell’s design that it wrote a new specification specifically so the Royal Air Force would be able to buy it.
The first Spitfire flew in March 1936. Other than a few minor problems, testing went smoothly and the Spitfire I entered production in June. It was nearly cancelled in 1938 due to Supermarine being unable to fill orders fast enough, but the problem was rectified by the Air Ministry building a factory at taxpayer expense solely for Spitfire production, for World War II was on the horizon. Even this was not enough: the Spitfire, though fairly easy to fly and very responsive, was difficult to build due to its thin fuselage and all-metal construction.
At war’s beginning, the Spitfire equipped about a third of RAF Fighter Command, with the older Hawker Hurricane in larger numbers. The Spitfire scored its first kills over German bombers not long after the beginning of the war, though it would not be until the Dunkirk evacuation that Spitfires would meet the Luftwaffe in large-scale combat. It would be during the Battle of Britain that the Spitfire would achieve eternal fame. Though the Hurricane actually scored more kills and was considered the more stable gun platform, the Spitfire was the first Allied fighter plane that could take on the Messerschmitt Bf 109 with even odds; indeed, the two rivals were almost perfectly matched, with the Spitfire better in a turning fight and the Bf 109 better in the vertical. Spitfire pilots began to rapidly become aces, with the highest scorers including Robert S. Tuck, Alan Deere, Adolph “Sailor” Malan, and Douglas Bader—the latter of which flew with artificial legs. Spitfire production took priority over everything else, with subassembly being done by British car companies and even garages; at one point, due to a demand by Winston Churchill for aircraft needed by the American volunteer Eagle Squadrons, Supermarine produced twelve Spitfires in a single night. The Germans gained a respect for the nimble “Spit”: during the Battle of Britain, German ace Adolf Galland once asked (albeit sarcastically) Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering for a squadron of them.
The Spitfire’s service only increased after the Battle of Britain, when it began to replace the Hurricane as Britain’s primary fighter. The limitations of the design began to show itself in 1941, however, as the RAF committed its Spitfire force to wasteful fighter sweeps over France: the Spitfire had been designed as a point-defense interceptor, and its lack of fuel meant that British pilots now faced the same problems the short-ranged Bf 109 had faced the year before over England. Another problem discovered during the Battle of Britain was that the Spitfire was incapable of entering a negative-G dive due to the design of its carburetor. Moreover, the Luftwaffe began to field the Focke-Wulf 190, which was superior to the Spitfire IIIs in service. Production switched to the improved Spitfire V with cannon armament—the rifle-caliber machine guns of the early Spitfires lacked hitting power—and later still the Spitfire IX, which mated the most powerful mark of the Merlin available to a flush-rivetted Spitfire airframe, giving pilots parity with the Fw 190A. These designs were to take the Spitfire to nearly the end of the war, and produce more aces, such as George Beurling, who savaged Italian fighters the equal of his Spitfire V over Malta, and James “Johnnie” Johnson, who would become the top scoring British ace of the war in a Spitfire IX.
The Spitfire would also see service in the Pacific, where it was initially inferior to the Japanese A6M Zero; introduction of the Spitfire IX also redressed the balance in this theater as well, and the late-model Spitfires were considered the equal of late war Japanese fighters. Spitfires also were modified into high-altitude interceptors, stripped-down photo-reconnaissance aircraft with larger wings and tails, and into the Seafire carrier-based fighter, though the latter was something of a failure. There were a bewildering amount of Spitfire variants, even within some “standard” variants: for instance, the Spitfire IX had three different wing types available with different armament, from all light .303 caliber machine guns, to mixed 20mm cannon and .303s, to two 20mm cannon and two American .50 caliber machine guns.
The Spitfire was the only British fighter that remained in production during every day of World War II, and it remained so after the war as well. As the Merlin had reached the limits of its design, the Spitfire was adapted to take the more powerful Griffon engine. These were used as frontline fighters until 1954, seeing action over Malaya, while Fleet Air Arm Griffon-powered Seafires were used briefly over Korea. Photo-reconnaissance Spitfires were the final Spitfires to remain in RAF service, with the last official sortie in April 1957. Spitfires had also seen combat with Israel during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, and the Suez War of 1956. Of 20,351 Spitfires produced in 24 separate marks, today about 75 remain, with two-thirds of that number flyable.
This Spitfire FR.XIVE is NH904, which entered service with the RAF in 1945; the XIVE used the Griffon engine, the later cut-down rear fuselage and bubble canopy, and more fuel for extended range. A camera was fitted behind the cockpit. NH904 served with the RAF from 1945 to 1951, when it was sold to the Belgian Air Force. Withdrawn from service in 1957, it was bought by a scrapyard, who removed both wings with an axe and displayed the fuselage above a building.
Luckily for NH904, it was found by a British warbird collector in 1966, who bought the aircraft back, repaired it with wings taken from another Spitfire, and restored it to static display; it would appear as a nonflying prop in "Battle of Britain." In 1970, the decision was made to restore NH904 to flying again, but it would not be until 1981 that it finally returned to the skies. From then until 1988, NH904 was painted in a sleek red racing scheme, with the appropriate registration G-FIRE, and was often seen on the UK airshow circuit.
In 1988, NH904 would see a change in scenery when it was bought by Bob Pond and Planes of Fame East in Minnesota; it was shipped to Eden Prairie and restored in RAF colors. In 1997, it followed the rest of Pond's collection to the Palm Springs Air Museum, and would appear in another movie--this time in "Pearl Harbor" for the Battle of Britain sequence (even if it was portraying a mark of Spitfire five years removed from the Spitfire IIs used in 1940). After filming wrapped, it returned to its old markings at Palm Springs.
Spitfires are always a pleasure to see, and NH904 is a long way from its days of being hacked apart by an axe. It is painteed as an aircraft of 80 Squadron, based at Wunstorf, West Germany immediately after World War II.
Supermarine Spitfire XVIE
Without a doubt the most iconic British aircraft of World War II, and one of the most famous of all aircraft, the Supermarine Spitfire was designed by the famed R.J. Mitchell in response to the British Air Ministry’s specification for a short-range interceptor. His original design was poor and lost to the Gloster Gladiator biplane, so Mitchell went back to the drawing board, designing a narrow-fuselaged, elliptical-winged, enclosed-cockpit monoplane fighter, the Supermarine Type 300. Mitchell drew on inspiration from Supermarine’s successful Thompson Trophy racing floatplanes, and the Type 300 was one of the first designs to use the Rolls-Royce Merlin, arguably the best inline piston engine ever developed. The Air Ministry was so impressed with Mitchell’s design that it wrote a new specification specifically so the Royal Air Force would be able to buy it.
The first Spitfire flew in March 1936. Other than a few minor problems, testing went smoothly and the Spitfire I entered production in June. It was nearly cancelled in 1938 due to Supermarine being unable to fill orders fast enough, but the problem was rectified by the Air Ministry building a factory at taxpayer expense solely for Spitfire production, for World War II was on the horizon. Even this was not enough: the Spitfire, though fairly easy to fly and very responsive, was difficult to build due to its thin fuselage and all-metal construction.
At war’s beginning, the Spitfire equipped about a third of RAF Fighter Command, with the older Hawker Hurricane in larger numbers. The Spitfire scored its first kills over German bombers not long after the beginning of the war, though it would not be until the Dunkirk evacuation that Spitfires would meet the Luftwaffe in large-scale combat. It would be during the Battle of Britain that the Spitfire would achieve eternal fame. Though the Hurricane actually scored more kills and was considered the more stable gun platform, the Spitfire was the first Allied fighter plane that could take on the Messerschmitt Bf 109 with even odds; indeed, the two rivals were almost perfectly matched, with the Spitfire better in a turning fight and the Bf 109 better in the vertical. Spitfire pilots began to rapidly become aces, with the highest scorers including Robert S. Tuck, Alan Deere, Adolph “Sailor” Malan, and Douglas Bader—the latter of which flew with artificial legs. Spitfire production took priority over everything else, with subassembly being done by British car companies and even garages; at one point, due to a demand by Winston Churchill for aircraft needed by the American volunteer Eagle Squadrons, Supermarine produced twelve Spitfires in a single night. The Germans gained a respect for the nimble “Spit”: during the Battle of Britain, German ace Adolf Galland once asked (albeit sarcastically) Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering for a squadron of them.
The Spitfire’s service only increased after the Battle of Britain, when it began to replace the Hurricane as Britain’s primary fighter. The limitations of the design began to show itself in 1941, however, as the RAF committed its Spitfire force to wasteful fighter sweeps over France: the Spitfire had been designed as a point-defense interceptor, and its lack of fuel meant that British pilots now faced the same problems the short-ranged Bf 109 had faced the year before over England. Another problem discovered during the Battle of Britain was that the Spitfire was incapable of entering a negative-G dive due to the design of its carburetor. Moreover, the Luftwaffe began to field the Focke-Wulf 190, which was superior to the Spitfire IIIs in service. Production switched to the improved Spitfire V with cannon armament—the rifle-caliber machine guns of the early Spitfires lacked hitting power—and later still the Spitfire IX, which mated the most powerful mark of the Merlin available to a flush-rivetted Spitfire airframe, giving pilots parity with the Fw 190A. These designs were to take the Spitfire to nearly the end of the war, and produce more aces, such as George Beurling, who savaged Italian fighters the equal of his Spitfire V over Malta, and James “Johnnie” Johnson, who would become the top scoring British ace of the war in a Spitfire IX.
The Spitfire would also see service in the Pacific, where it was initially inferior to the Japanese A6M Zero; introduction of the Spitfire IX also redressed the balance in this theater as well, and the late-model Spitfires were considered the equal of late war Japanese fighters. Spitfires also were modified into high-altitude interceptors, stripped-down photo-reconnaissance aircraft with larger wings and tails, and into the Seafire carrier-based fighter, though the latter was something of a failure. There were a bewildering amount of Spitfire variants, even within some “standard” variants: for instance, the Spitfire IX had three different wing types available with different armament, from all light .303 caliber machine guns, to mixed 20mm cannon and .303s, to two 20mm cannon and two American .50 caliber machine guns.
The Spitfire was the only British fighter that remained in production during every day of World War II, and it remained so after the war as well. As the Merlin had reached the limits of its design, the Spitfire was adapted to take the more powerful Griffon engine. These were used as frontline fighters until 1954, seeing action over Malaya, while Fleet Air Arm Griffon-powered Seafires were used briefly over Korea. Photo-reconnaissance Spitfires were the final Spitfires to remain in RAF service, with the last official sortie in April 1957. Spitfires had also seen combat with Israel during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, and the Suez War of 1956. Of 20,351 Spitfires produced in 24 separate marks, today about 75 remain, with two-thirds of that number flyable.
This Spitfire FR.XIVE is NH904, which entered service with the RAF in 1945; the XIVE used the Griffon engine, the later cut-down rear fuselage and bubble canopy, and more fuel for extended range. A camera was fitted behind the cockpit. NH904 served with the RAF from 1945 to 1951, when it was sold to the Belgian Air Force. Withdrawn from service in 1957, it was bought by a scrapyard, who removed both wings with an axe and displayed the fuselage above a building.
Luckily for NH904, it was found by a British warbird collector in 1966, who bought the aircraft back, repaired it with wings taken from another Spitfire, and restored it to static display; it would appear as a nonflying prop in "Battle of Britain." In 1970, the decision was made to restore NH904 to flying again, but it would not be until 1981 that it finally returned to the skies. From then until 1988, NH904 was painted in a sleek red racing scheme, with the appropriate registration G-FIRE, and was often seen on the UK airshow circuit.
In 1988, NH904 would see a change in scenery when it was bought by Bob Pond and Planes of Fame East in Minnesota; it was shipped to Eden Prairie and restored in RAF colors. In 1997, it followed the rest of Pond's collection to the Palm Springs Air Museum, and would appear in another movie--this time in "Pearl Harbor" for the Battle of Britain sequence (even if it was portraying a mark of Spitfire five years removed from the Spitfire IIs used in 1940). After filming wrapped, it returned to its old markings at Palm Springs.
Spitfires are always a pleasure to see, and NH904 is a long way from its days of being hacked apart by an axe. It is painteed as an aircraft of 80 Squadron, based at Wunstorf, West Germany immediately after World War II.