The Supermarine Spitfire was the iconic British single-seat fighter that fought alongside the Hawker Hurricane against impossible odds during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940.
Designed by Supermarine’s Chief Designer R.J. Mitchell, the Spitfire’s pedigree follows on from Mitchell’s earlier successes in building racing seaplanes that won an unprecedented three Schneider Trophies in a row. In 1931, the Air Ministry issued a requirement for a new modern monoplane fighter, and Mitchell went to work. The result was an open-cockpit monoplane, with gull-wings and a fixed undercarriage. Called the Supermarine Type 224, it was soon discovered during early flight testing that the design didn’t live up to expectations, and it was soon dropped by the Air Ministry.
Despite suffering from failing health, Mitchell returned to his drawing board and began to refine his original design, adding a retractable undercarriage, an enclosed cockpit and fitting the new Rolls Royce engine, which was later named the Merlin. But again the design was rejected by the Air Ministry, because it was unable to accommodate the required eight-gun armament in the wings. Once again, Mitchell was able to solve the problem. He turned to a radical new wing design, the elliptical wing, which has become synonymous with the Spitfire design. This new wing design still retained the low-drag advantages of the earlier wing, but it also allowed the eight guns to be carried.
The prototype Spitfire flew for the first time on the 5th March 1936, from Eastleigh Aerodrome near Southampton, in the hands of renowned Vickers Chief Test Pilot, ‘Mutt’ Summers. Three months later, despite the flight test programme still not completed, the Air Ministry placed an initial order for 310 Spitfires. Reginald Mitchell died on the 11th June 1937, at the early age of just 42. Mitchell left behind a record of almost continuous achievement which had not been equalled by any other designer in the short history of aviation.
Under both Joe Smith and Jeffrey Quill the Supermarine design and flight test teams continued to refine the Spitfire design. Some 22,749 Spitfires and Seafires were eventually built during the 20 years of development. There were 24 different variants built, from the less than two tons, and top speed of 346 mph of the 1938 Spitfire Mk.1 to the ultimate 452 mph five-ton Seafire 47 of 1946. The Spitfire remained in Royal Air Force service for 21 years, from the MK.1 joining No.19 Squadron at RAF Duxford, in August 1938, until its final assignment in Malaya in 1959.
