Supermarine Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire (in English fire-eater , quicksilver , shrew or soup with milk ) was one of the single-seat hunters the most used by RAF and the Allies during the Second world war.

The elliptic wings of Spitfire gave him a very distinctive appearance; their mean cross section gave him an impressive speed; the brilliant design of the originator as a chief Reginald Mitchell and of his successors (because he died in 1937), made of Spitfire a plane appreciated by the pilots. It was useful throughout all the Second world war, and with all its alternatives, was of all the engagements.

More 20 300 apparatuses were built, and Spitfire remained in service until in the years 1950.

Design

The chief of the research department of Supermarine (Reginald Mitchell) gained three races of Hydravion in the trophy Schneider with his model S 6, on which it had installed powerful engines (Napier or Rolls-Royce) and for which it had worked the Profilage much. These same qualities are also useful for the design of a hunter and, in 1930, Mitchell produced the plane which required the Ministère of the Air, plane which was to be modern and Monoplan (only one pair of wing S).

This first hunter was a monoplane whose aerofoil was in M, the cockpit opened with the vertical, and it was equipped with broad a Gear landing. Supermarine 224 did not answer the hopes and was similar to any other competitor plane.

Mitchell immediately paid its attention on a design improved of the plane, with the support of the owners of Supermarine Vickers. The new plane had, in addition to the specification standards, a returning train, a closed cockpit, a respirator with oxygen, and an engine Rolls Royce PV-12 much more powerful.

Since 1935, the ministry for the air had seen to achieve great progress in the aircraft industry and wanted to still improve the design of the monoplane. One, initially, rejected the Supermarine project because it did not support the armament required of eight machine-guns. Again, Mitchell could solve the problem. It suggested, by looking at the planes of Heinkel, to adopt elliptic wings, so that the cord is lengthened. What made it possible to install the eight machine-guns, while preserving a weak trail, thanks to the design first of wing. The aerodynamicist of Mitchell, Beverley Shenstone however specified that the wing of Mitchell was not directly inspired by the Heinkel He 70 because the wing of Spitfire was much thinner and had a completely different section. Whatever its origin, the elliptic wing was enough promising to be able to sell with the Ministry air this new type 300 that the research department had named F.10/35.

The prototype stole for the first time the March 5th 1936. Its performances were such as the Ministry for the air immediately ordered 310 apparatuses. Whereas it was still with the hands of the test pilots of Vickers, the plane was already tested by the pilots of the Royal Air Force. Reginald Mitchell died of a cancer on June 11th, 1937, after having given to its country the most beautiful hunter of its time.

Engagements

Naval version

There was a naval version of Spitfire called Seafire . To adapt it to the missions on the Porte-avions one equipped it with a Crosse of landing, collapsible wings and of a whole specialized equipment. However, like Spitfire, Seafire had a very narrow landing gear which was appropriate badly for these operations of landing, and there was a very high rate of accidents. Despite everything, Seafire took part in many battles. One found it in particular at the time of the Débarquement of Provence within the Task force 88.

Battle of England

It is in Spitfire that we, contemporary, associate the victory of the Bataille of England during the Second world war.

However, the victory of the Battle of England is not simply due to Spitfire, although it profited speeds level and upward higher than those of the Hurricane. It is the joint use of these two hunters, both armed with eight Vickers machine-guns of 7,7 mm, which made it possible RAF to take the advantage on Luftwaffe. Spitfire, rapids and nimble, were indicated to attack the hunters of escort while Hurricanes, slower but with the robust structure, took care of the bombers.

During the autumn 1940, the complaints of the pilots concerning the weakness of the ammunition of 7,7 mm multiplying, two versions of Spit equipped with guns of 20 mm Hispano HS 404 and four Vickers, were put on line. Because of too frequent stoppings, these Spits Mk1b and Mk2b left the place to MkV armed with a new more reliable version of Hispano and equipped with an evolution of Rolls-Royce Merlin.

Spitfire had, in addition to its narrow and thus dangerous train, an awkward defect: its weak operating range. This factor did not play during the Battle of England but became crippling when the RAF passed to the offensive: in 1944 still, its Spitfire did not exceed the Rhine, whereas P-51 American, on the basis of the same bases English and equipped with the same Merlin engine, went until Berlin.

For the other countries

After the Second world war, in the Sixties Spitfire remained well in service in many air forces around the world, for example, in the air forces of Egypt, Ireland, Israel, Romania, Syria, the Denmark and also of the Turkey.

France according to 1945 used of Spitfire, which it engaged for one short period in Indo-China before replacing them by of more robust P-63 and American F6F. The French Naval Aviation also had Seafire until the arrival of F6F and definitely higher American F4U.

Planes still in service

Much Spitfire and some Seafire remains in a perfect state of navigability and much of museums of plane try to have flying specimens of this gracious but, today, dangerous hunter for the pilots. RAF maintains of them some in state for the great ceremonies as the birthdays of the Bataille of England to RAF Coningsby in the area of the Lincolnshire.

There exists Spitfire PR XIX (serial PS 890) in perfect in-flight status, based in Dijon (France), aerodrome of Darois pertaining to Christophe Jacquard. It was restored with an engine of Avro Shackleton, a version of Rolls-Royce Griffon 58 which is used with a doublet of propellers contrarotating. This engine replaces the RR Griffon 66 of origin.

Alternatives

To include/understand the table

the apparatus was equipped with 6 wings différentes :

Type a: 4 Browning machine-guns gauges .303 (0,303 pouce=7,7 mm) with 300 cartridges per weapon in each wing.
Standard b: 1 gun Hispano of 20 mm and 2 machine-guns Browning in each wing.
Standard C: wing known as “universal” introduced starting from Spitfire Mk V, flexible armament following the conditions: for each wing, site for 2 machine-guns Browning .303 and 2 Hispano guns of 20 mm; in general the configuration 2 machine-guns and 1 gun in each wing was used but sometimes there be the 2 guns assembled without the machine-guns. Moreover, one could assemble a bomb of 500 lbs (approximately 250 kg) under each wing.
Standard D: perhaps the wing without armament which equipped the versions photo recognition.
Standard E: by wing: 1 Hispano gun of 20 mm and 1 Browning machine-gun gauges .50 (0,50 pouce=12,7 mm). This type of wing was introduced starting from Mk IX.
Spitfire of last generation as Mk 22 and 24 had a wing with 2 Hispano guns of 20 mm (either 4 guns on the whole) and the 24 could also carry 4 rockets under each wing.

There were also three formats of wing available for Spitfire according to the use: Standard Wing tip for standard wing, Clipped Wing tip for the wings with dismounted salmons. Extended Wing tip for the wings equipped with lengthened and more pointed salmons.

Letters F HF or LF correspond to a type of engine optimized for the altitudes described by the initial ones: ( F Fighter); ( L ow altitude F ighter = hunter low altitude); ( H igh altitude F ighter=chassor high-altitude).

Table of the versions

Quotations and anecdotes

a German pilot, Adolf Galland, answered the following sentence Hermann Göring, whereas this one required of him what it could do to help his pilots to gain their engagements against the British: " Mister the Marshal, give us of Spitfire".

Gallery

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