Supermarine Spitfire

Supermarine Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire was an iconic British single-seat fighter used primarily by the RAF and many Allied countries through the Second World War and into the 1950s.
Produced by the Supermarine subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrongs, the Spitfire was designed by the company's Chief Designer R. J. Mitchell, who continued to refine the design until his death from cancer in 1937, the position of chief designer then filled by his colleague, Joseph Smith. Its elliptical wing had a thin cross-section, allowing a higher top speed than the Hawker Hurricane and other contemporary designs; it also resulted in a distinctive appearance, enhancing its overall streamlined features. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire saw service during the whole of the Second World War and subsequent years, in all theatres of war, and in many different variants.

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

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

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

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

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

Another contemporary, the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Bf 109, was similar in physical dimensions, attributes and performance to the Spitfire. Some inherent advantages helped the Spitfires win many dogfights, most notably manoeuverability: the Spitfire had higher rates of turn than the Messerschmitt. Good cockpit visibility was probably a factor as well, as the early Bf 109s had a narrow enclosure with heavily-framed, panelled cockpit windows. At this time, the Merlin engine's lack of direct fuel injection meant that both Spitfires and Hurricanes, unlike the Bf 109E, were unable simply to nose down into a deep dive. This meant the Luftwaffe fighters could simply "bunt" into a high-power dive to escape attack, leaving the Spitfire spluttering behind as its fuel was forced by negative "g" out of the carburettor. RAF fighter pilots soon learned to "half-roll" their aircraft before diving to pursue their opponents. The use of uninjected carburettors was calculated to give a higher specific power output, due to the lower temperature, and hence the greater density, of the fuel/air mixture fed into the motor, compared to injected systems. In March 1941, a metal diaphragm with a hole in it was fitted across the float chambers. It partly cured the problem of fuel starvation in a dive, and became known as "Miss Shilling's orifice" as it was invented by a female engineer, Beatrice "Tilly" Shilling. Further improvements were introduced throughout the Merlin series, with injection introduced in 1943. Production of the Griffon-engined Spitfire Mk XII had begun the year before.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

from Wikipedia