|Spitfire R6923 QJ-S over southern England, May 1941|
The Supermarine Spitfire is one of the legends of World War II. It was the backbone of the Royal Air Force during some of the darkest days of World War II. It also was admired by its Luftwaffe enemies, who could be heard by both sides on their radios yelling 'Achtung Spitfeurer! Spitfeurer!' during actions over the Channel. Among all of the fighters of the conflict, the Spitfire was the one that has endured the longest in public memory, along with the North American P-51 Mustang.
|The Spitfire is one of the top choices for model kit builders everywhere due to its peerless style and grace.|
For some, the word 'Spitfire' is virtually synonymous with the word 'fighter.' It easily is the most beautiful plane of a romantic period in aviation. Was it the best fighter of the war? Perhaps, though I personally prefer the Mustang. I would agree that it is probably the most famous fighter of the conflict, and deservedly so.
The Spitfire was designed primarily by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works (a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong from 1928). Supermarine was a successor to a pre-Great War company that designed seaplanes. The genesis of the Spitfire came about in 1931, perhaps the earliest of any of the elite World War II fighters. The final version bore little resemblance to its open-cockpit earlier iterations. However, from the start it had the essential elements of a streamlined fuselage and the genesis of the famed eliptical wings, which were dreamed up by designer B.Shenstone.
The story of the birth of the Spitfire is a remarkable tale. In the early days of aviation, there was a competition called The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, commonly called the Schneider Trophy. It involved time trials for seaplanes. The hope was that the competition would spur airplane development. Trophy races began in 1913, and the competition was to be held every two years until one aero club managed to win it three times in a row. It was vaguely similar to the America's Cup, except for that last part. Supermarine won the competition in 1927 and 1929. With 1931 coming up, it appeared quite possible that it would win again and own the cup for England.
However, times were tough during the Great Depression, and the company (which sponsored its own aero club to qualify for the competition) needed financial support to compete. The government refused, saying that it was a matter for private individuals. Naturally, there were few of these to be found at the time. It all looked hopeless. However, someone stepped up late in the game to save the glory and honour of England, and a most unlikely someone at that: Lucy Lady "Poppy" Houston.
|After winning the Schneider Trophy outright, the men and lady behind it posed for this victory photograph in 1931. Lady Houston (front centre) and R.J.Mitchell (back right) L.S. Snaith (front far right).|
The tale of Lady Houston and how she became the mother of the Spitfire is deserving of more attention than it receives. Having outlived previous wealthy husbands, she had cash to burn, was good friends from the old days with Winston Churchill and had a great well of patriotism. Her good works had, among other things, enabled her to become a Dame of the British Empire at a time when that really meant something. In any event, Lady Houston heard of the possibility of England winning the trophy outright and of the financial issues that might prevent this from happening. She stepped up when nobody else would and wrote a cheque for £100,000.
|The Schneider Trophy, England's since 1931. The Schneider Trophy races were revived in the 1980s and continues annually to this day, but the original trophy has been retired and now a replica is awarded.|
Thus properly financed, the Supermarine team designed and built the Supermarine S.6B, which not only won the trophy on 13 September 1931, but also subsequently set a new speed record of 655.8 km/h (407.5 mph).
|The winning S.6B.|
The Schneider trophy now sits in the Science Museum, South Kensington, London. One could argue that Lady Houston's contribution not only secured the trophy, but led to the classic, aerodynamically pure streamlined forms embodied in several of the Allies' top fighters of World War II. It was one of the most far-reaching philanthropic gestures in aviation history.
Mitchell remained in charge of development until his death from cancer in 1937, whereupon Joseph Smith took over as chief designer. Smith took a promising design and turned it into a war-winning weapon as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft. Development lasted through many generations that outlasted the war itself.
One of the little known wars-within-a-war was the constant competition between the German and British aircraft designers. The British Spitfire, German Bf 109 and Focke Wulf 190 (once it came along in 1941) constantly evolved through successive versions, some being quite major transitions involving different engines, armament and even structural changes.
|World War Two British infographic. The Supermarine Spitfire. Hurry up and memorize it, you don't go up for training tomorrow unless you have it down pat - and we only ask once, son.|
Each side gained slight, tenuous superiority as new models entered squadron service, soon to be lost as the other side made its own adjustments.
Mitchell envisioned the Spitfire's distinctive elliptical wing to have the thinnest possible cross-section, which was the key to the design. The extremely thin wings gave the Spitfire a very high speed. Other than the general shape of the wings, though, practically everything else about the design changed repeatedly during the planes long life that was full of constant modification.
|An aerodrome with Spitfire Vs.|
The Spitfire's first test flight was by legendary Supermarine Chief Test Pilot Joseph 'Mutt' Summers (who also worked on the 1943 Dambusters project). While the Spitfire made its public debut on 27 June 1936 at a Herndon air show, and an order was placed earlier that month, the plane faced numerous teething difficulties. Perhaps the biggest was that the company itself, located in Woolston, Southampton, was too small to ramp up production sufficiently to equip the entire RAF. Even though the plane's production was contracted out, it still took two years for the first production model to fly. The plane also came in seriously over budget at a time when the RAF was counting its pennies. Of course, a few years later, no price was too high to pay for the valiant service of these aircraft.
The RAF understood the plane's obvious quality. In order to ramp up production, the Air Ministry enacted a 'shadow factory' plan under which factories were built ostensibly to supplement the British auto industry, but with the understanding that the factories could be swiftly converted to aircraft production. The first and most important one was at Castle Bromwich Aerodrome in Birmingham, which finally began cranking out Spitfires in mid-1940 after problems with the factory's management.
Thus, at the time of the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire was still in relatively short supply. The load during that battle instead was carried by the Hawker Hurricane. However, the Germans knew the value of the Spitfire, as its performance clearly was superior to the slower Hurricane despite being in short supply.
|Supermarine Spitfire engine - Rolls Royce Merlin|
The Luftwaffe mounted several raids specifically against the Spitfire factories and destroyed some of them on 26 September 1940. Production, however, had been dispersed; despite tragic loss of life by aircraft workers, production continued. The effort was aided by Lord Beaverbrook's famous 'Spitfire Fund' which encouraged private donations.
Given their superior performance, Spitfires were sent against the Luftwaffe fighters while Hurricanes took on the slower bombers. German pilots soon recognized the distinctive Spitfires, and cries of 'Spitfeuer! Achtung Spitfeuer!' filled the airwaves during dogfights. Another important but little-known achievement of the fighters was as high-speed reconnaissance aircraft. They photographed several of the German secret weapons such as the V-1 very early in their development.
The Germans in KG-200 - their 'secret ops' unit - were known to have several Spitfires that they had captured or repaired after crashing (along with literally dozens of Allied bombers). The Germans used them for flight testing and clandestine missions behind enemy lines. The Germans also captured some American bombers and fighters and used them until the last days of the war. Among the later variants of the supremely adaptable Spitfire airframe were Griffon-engined Mark XIIs (the Griffon replaced the legendary Rolls Royce Merlin engines in the initial variants) which maximized the airframe's potential. This mark could fly at 400 mph (640 km/h) in level flight and climb to 33,000 ft (10,000 m) in under nine minutes. They were fast enough to catch the 'buzz bombs' and knock them off course.
The Spitfire was so useful that it also was put to work at sea. The Seafire was a version modified for use on aircraft carriers. Another experimental version during the war even had pontoons and was used as an outright seaplane, hearkening back to the plane's roots. These were creative versions, but not the best in their class by a long shot.
The Spitfire was revised straight through the end of the war and beyond. The final version, the Mark 24, came out in 1946. Spitfires served with the RAF until June 1957, but remained useful for testing purposes long afterwards. Several dozen other countries used the aircraft and used them for decades afterward. There are over 50 Spitfires that remain in flying condition to this day, with numerous others on static display in museums around the world.
I believe that the Spitfire is one of a handful of planes that can be said to best represent aviation during the 20th Century (include the North American P-51 Mustang and the Junkers Ju-52 in that list from World War II). It stayed in service for decades and is emblematic of a time when planes were daring and flying them took incredible bravery. When historians in distant times draw up their short lists of greatest, most memorable planes of aviation, the name Spitfire should be included.