Supermarine Spitfire  

Supermarine Spitfire  

R.J. Mitchell began the design of the Spitfire in the mid 1930's. The Spitfire was a small one-seater plane of an entirely metallic structure and a splendid aerodynamic shape with elliptic wings. The first prototype flew on March 5, 1936 and reached a speed of 526 km/h and was ordered into production in June 1936 as the Spitfire Mk I. Deliveries of the aircraft began in July 1938. These were heavily engaged in the Battle of Britain, providing a better attack against the BF 109 than the less maneuverable Hurricane. In 1941 a more powerful version of the Spitfire left factories and was the first version to be used as fighter-bomber with a maximal load of 226 kg bombs. The English developed the next mass-production unit (5 665 units) in order to be more competitive with the new German fighter Fw-190 that had proven to be superior to the Spitfire Mk.V. The first Mk IX planes appeared in July 1942 with Merlin engines. The operational career of the Spitfire receivd a new boost in 1943 when the first units of the Mk XII series appeared, provided with the new Rolls Royce engine called the Griffin. The Mk. XIV, as an interceptor, used a five-blades helix and was one of the fastest versions at 721 km/h. This speed gave it the possibility to fight the latest models of jet-propelled Germans fighters but also to fight the first generation of flying bombs (the V-1 rocket). There were more than 20 000 copies of the Spitfire distributed in forty versions.

 Specifications

Full Name

Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVIII

Type

Fighter

Origin

UK

Manufacturer

Supermarine

Wingspan

11.23 m

Length

 10.14 m

Height

3.86 m

Weight

 Empty: N/A

Maximum Speed

721 km/h

Range

 1368 km

Engine

1 x 2050 hp Rolls-Royce Griffin 65

Armament

2 x 20mm canon, 2 x .5in machine guns, external bomb load and rocket load of 227kg.

Crew

1

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