The Spitfire – one of the most celebrated fighters and most beautiful aeroplanes ever produced. Thanks to Reginald J. Mitchell’s design, the aircraft's sleek blending lines are quite unlike any other fighter of its time and the sight of a Spitfire over the rolling English countryside, with its signature elliptical wings and the rumble of the Rolls Royce Merlin presents an image and indeed, a distinctive sound that is utterly timeless.
The design has its roots set in R.J. Mitchell’s Schneider Trophy floatplanes; the S.4, S.5 and S.6. These machines proved very successful, winning the Schneider Trophy on many occasions as well as setting new speed records for floatplanes. What these aircraft achieved put Mitchell and his team in a healthy position when it came to meeting the key requirements for the Air Ministry's Specification for a brand new RAF fighter.
Air Ministry Specification F.7/30 called for an all metal construction aircraft armed with four .303 machine guns, that was manoeuvrable and had a fast rate of climb, with a landing speed of below 60mph (97kmh) as well as having a British engine. To produce a suitable design, Supermarine teamed up with Rolls-Royce and produced the Supermarine Type 224. The aircraft was let down by being very cumbersome and lost out to Gloster’s SS37, which later became the Gladiator.
On the morning of March 5th 1936 at Eastleigh airport, the Supermarine Type 300 prototype took to the skies on its maiden flight, K5054 lifting effortlessly from the grass runway. Shortly after the first flight K5054 gained its classic pale blue-grey paint scheme.
Numerous changes were made to the prototype including the tailskid being replaced by a tail wheel and the folding wheel covers were removed due to the problem of mud clogging them up on grass airstrips. The Merlin F engine was also replaced by a Merlin II with stub exhaust manifolds. Like the Hawker Hurricane the Spitfire was to be fitted with eight .303 Browning machine guns housed in the wings and a reflector gun sight was added in the cockpit.
Unfortunately Mitchell never saw the Spitfire enter service with the RAF as he died of cancer on June 11th 1937, at the age of 47. The first squadron to be equipped with Spitfires was No 19 Sqn based at Duxford, Cambridgeshire in 1938, with the first aircraft arriving on May 16th. Initially there were many accidents with pilots not being used to the retractable undercarriage and the increase in speed of over 100mph from their older bi-planes. The early Spitfire squadrons implemented a variety of modifications to the Mk.Is to help improve the performance, and a whole range of airscrews were fitted to the aircraft.
Of course, currently the only airworthy Mk.I is Sheringham Aviation’s Mk.Ia, AR213, which re-flew in 2007 after a six-year ground-up rebuild during which the machine was brought back to factory fresh condition, as she would have been after rolling off the production line at Yeovil in 1941. This Spitfire now has a de Havilland three-blade variable-pitch propeller and the Siamese exhaust stacks that produce a sound more similar to that of a Hurricane. A new flat slab sided hood reduces the amount of headroom considerably and the curved front windscreens can distort the outside view. The original ten inch wheel hubs with unventilated brakes make ground handling more of a planned affair and the addition of the original radio and eight .303 Browning machine guns add authenticity as well as extra weight. For me it is my favourite Spitfire on the display circuit, being a Mk.Ia it is the one machine that adheres exactly to the classic Airfix 1:72 scale Spitfire Mk1a that I and many other aviation enthusiasts built as children (or even adults!), which helped spark an interest in aviation.
The early configuration of AR213 makes it different to the many later marks of Spitfire currently flying. Speaking to GAR, Jonathon ‘Flapjack’ Whaley talks us through flying Mk.Ia AR213:
“So what is she like to fly? Simply put, in the world of piston aircraft it is all your aviation dreams, desires and fantasies rolled into one with enough little ‘gotchas’ to add piquance to the actual unadulterated and shameless fun of flying her. If I could only fly one Spitfire, it would be this Mk.Ia.
“The pilot’s seating position is rather like sitting on a kitchen chair rather than a modern fighter’s semi reclined seat and there is a gesture towards increasing G tolerance by having a ‘top’ step on the rudder pedals. The best way to safely pre-experience the taxiing and landing views is to fly a Harvard from the back seat. Apart from the lack of visibility, taxiing is easy, weaving as required to see in front.
“For take-off you can release the brakes and pile on full +8 boost with a smooth determination and ear to ear grin, Nirvana here I come! With the hood open, the Merlin roars in the ears no matter what head gear you wear. The acrid exhaust pours momentarily into the cockpit and the tail comes up quickly with the stick moving forward, somewhere between leading and following. Your first brief view ahead arrives just as the stick can be teased back to shake the ground clear. On a bumpy grass runway such as Booker’s 17/35, from tail off the ground, it’s only a couple of bounds and you’re airborne, almost as if the aircraft is kicking the ground clear. There’s now time for a quick adjustment of trim, to re-check that the pressures are as expected and to duck my head to close the canopy."
The Spitfire's natural grace and the impeccable manoeuvrability afforded by the early Merlin variant make AR213 a tremendous display mount with plenty of scope for smooth, flowing aerobatics, as Jonathon explains:
“For aerobatics and displays setting 2400rpm and using up to +4 boost gives you all the power needed. For the Mk.Ia the maximum I need is 360mph for a pull up to vertical quarter or three-quarter roll (the latter always left) and pull through. The start of this manoeuvre also sees the maximum 4g, otherwise 3g suffices. A Derry turn can also be done.
“One of the most pleasing manoeuvres to fly is a half Cuban, making the half roll on the way down smooth and prolonged, the Merlin does not like anything other than positive G and slowing the roll removes the obviousness of the barrel. Provided power is not being applied at the time and not from speeds under 170mph, rolling right has no more considerations than rolling left. If, on the other hand, you’re only 25° nose up, powering up and you’ve only got 140mph, you’d better make sure your Derry turn is to the left. A steep and past-the-vertical ballistic wing over with a tweak of rudder can also be very graceful, giving the crowd a perfect plan view of the distinctive elliptical wings. A Victory Roll is also mandatory for type!
“During a display the coolant temperature will steadily rise such that on a hot day 90+°c will be seen. If this is the case and you intend to land straight off the display, you’ve a problem ahead. It is wise to plan the end of a display with a relatively high speed low level pass with just positive boost, allowing you to break downwind, throttling back, all while gently cooling down. I aim to fly a constant turn on finals, rolling wings level just before flaring. Ideally the flare will see the speed falling back through 70mph just as you touch. On a bumpy grass runway, with 70mph, you’ll bounce and AR213 loves to stay airborne. Just be patient and she’ll gently but reluctantly give up flying.
“Weaving back to the dispersal, it is perhaps time to reflect again that you’re in a very expensive, sole surviving, flying Mk.Ia and have once more taken a large chunk out of your allotted share of life’s good fortune.”
In 1939 work began on the aircraft factory at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham in which Spitfires would be built. The first to be made at this location were Mk.IIs which were similar to Mk.Is but had a constant speed propeller, extra armour and a Rolls-Royce Merlin XII.
As the war progressed past the Battle of Britain the latest German Messerschmitt - The Bf-109F - was now a more potent opponent than the Bf-109E models encountered during the Battle of Britain both in terms of performance and firepower. The RAF needed a fighter that could match it and this came in the form of the Mk.V. The Mk.V was basically a converted Spitfire Mk.I airframe and it would become the main production model of the Spitfire with 6479 being built in total. With the Merlin 45 and two Hispano 20mm and four .303 Brownings the Mk.V was the culmination of all that had been learnt and trialled on the Spitfires previous marks. The Mk.V could now compete with the firepower of new Bf-109F models and clipped wing versions also helped to improve manoeuvrability at low altitude, but, despite all this, it was deemed inferior to the Bf-109F in many respects and thus somewhat of a failure.
Squadrons of Spitfire Mk.Vs used in the North African campaign were fitted with tropical Vokes air filters under the nose which helped to stop desert dust and sand entering the carburettor when on the ground. These filters did however have a detrimental effect on the Spitfire’s performance in the air due to its shape and size. The Mk.V was also the first mark to be used as a floatplane with five aircraft being fitted with 25ft 7in floats. The Spitfire floatplane idea had first been thought of with the Mk.I, but these early variants never actually flew with floats. Later on the Mk.IX floatplane, of which only one was built, would prove to be the fastest floatplane fighter of World War Two.
Further developments were implemented into the Mk.VIII airframe; though the obvious physical differences between the Mk.V and VIII suggested substantial improvement in the aircraft's capabilities, the Mk.VIII design still longed for more substantial refinement to bring it onto a level playing field with the superior Focke-Wulf Fw-190. Given that such alterations would require the utilisation of precious time and resources at the peak of World War Two, a solution came about with the mating of a Merlin 61 to a Mk.V airframe, creating the Spitfire Mk.IX. As far as second plans go it was a pretty good one; the Mk.IX was a far more capable and worthy adversary for the Focke-Wulf Fw-190.
With the ever increasing need for power the Mk.XII proved to be a turning point in the Spitfire's breed. After trialling the Rolls-Royce Griffon on the Mk.IV, the first Spitfire to be produced with the engine installed - with about 100 examples being converted - the Mk.XIV was the first large scale production Griffon powered version. The Griffon had a larger frontal area than the Merlin and therefore the Spitfire's fuselage was lengthened and two bulges were introduced above the exhaust stacks.
The PR.XIX photo reconnaissance variant came about as a replacement of the Merlin powered PR.XI which was beginning to lag against German defences. These 'PR' Spitfires were unarmed and it was thus essential that they bore the capability to both fly at high altitude (to avoid anti-aircraft fire and fighter patrols) and high speeds, so as to outrun Luftwaffe interceptors.
And so it was with the F.21 that the Spitfire airframe received a major redesign. These final marks bore little resemblance to the early Spitfire marks, so much so that the name Victor was mooted for the F.21 for a time. The Spitfire had lost some of the elliptical magic in the wings which were strengthened and had the provision for four cannons as well as having a broad chord vertical ‘Spiteful’ type tail unit, the exact same type used on the Supermarine Spiteful.
The legendary sound of the Merlin - be it the smooth, muted sigh of the earlier engines or the more purposeful crackling of the Merlin 61 - was replaced by the purposeful growl of the Griffon, an altogether more meaty and aggressive roar whose contrast with the Mk.I Merlins demonstrated the dramatic advances that the Spitfire had undergone in only a matter of years.
Despite the change in looks these final marks were undoubtedly the peak of the Spitfire's design performance-wise, and it is with the F.24 where the Spitfire breed comes to an end. With the hugely powerful 2,035 horse power Rolls Royce Griffon 61 housed up front, the F.24 had a maximum speed of 454mph (731km/h) and could reach an altitude of 30,000ft (9100m) in just eight minutes. On the armament front the gun systems were changed from pneumatic to electric and there was the ability to carry three bombs and fit eight rockets on rails under the wings, allowing them to become successful fighter-bombers.
As the Spitfire had its beginnings in a marine setting, it was in the naval role that the Spitfire would eventually live on in, rather than as a conventional land based fighter/interceptor. Spitfires equipped with tail hooks, strengthened undercarriages and folding wings, known as Seafires, flew from the decks of the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers, the name coming from the putting together of Sea Spitfire. The narrow track of the Seafire’s undercarriage meant that it could be quite a handful to operate from an aircraft carrier. Supermarine went on to produce many more carrierborne types such as the Seafang, Sprite, Attacker and even the Scimitar, all descendants of the Seafire and Spitfire.
The Spitfire was of course a huge export success and, while the aircraft will always be best known for its Royal Air Force service, the Spitfire operated on all continents. It’s operational history with the likes of the Czech, Polish, Canadian, Dutch and Belgian air forces are fairly well known, perhaps less so that in Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Portugal, Syria and Turkey – just some of the 30+ nations with which the Spitfire served.
These days, despite a total production run of more than 20,000 Spitfires, less than 50 exist in an airworthy state. These are supplemented by a handful of Seafires, numerous replicas and a significant number of museum pieces. We should really count ourselves extremely lucky anytime we are fortunate enough to see a Spitfire in the flesh, for despite the regularity with which they appear on the airshow circuit in the UK and beyond, the produced to survivor ratio is alarming. Not as alarming as the Lancaster with just two airworthy survivors or of course those classic aircraft of which there are no remaining airworthy examples, but still a number that should never be taken for granted.
The good news is that more Spitfires are being restored to flight all the time and in the UK alone we are fortunate enough to know of at least three Mk.I projects underway which will boost the number of airframes considerably.
2011-03-10 - paul
I think the Spitfire is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made in the world
and I am glad it is part of the BBMF. The Lancaster is also one of the nicest but I think my favourite is the wonderful Sea Hawk of the Royal Navy Historic Flight based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset.
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