Visit The War Years for more WW2 military history: [ Ссылка ]
The Greatest British Fighter of World War Two: the Supermarine Spitfire
The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft by R. J. Mitchell, Chief Designer at Supermarine Aviation Works. Mitchell supported the development of the Spitfire's distinctive elliptical wing (designed by B. Shenstone) to have the thinnest possible cross-section; this enabled the Spitfire to have a higher top speed than several contemporary fighters, including the Hawker Hurricane. Mitchell continued to refine the design until his death in 1937, whereupon his colleague Joseph Smith took over as Chief Designer.
During the Battle of Britain, from July to October 1940, the Spitfire was perceived by the public to be the RAF fighter, although the Hawker Hurricane shouldered a greater proportion of the burden against the Luftwaffe. Spitfire squadrons, however, had a lower attrition rate and a higher victory-to-loss ratio than those flying Hurricanes because of its higher performance. Spitfires in general were tasked with engaging the Luftwaffe fighters (mainly Messerschmitt Bf 109E aircraft which were a close match for the Spitfire) during the Battle.
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Flying Legends Airshow
Flying Legends at the Imperial War Museum, RAF Duxford, is an annual airshow mainly dedicated to World War Two aircraft. In this display we see five Spitfires and one Seafire take to the skies. In total 11 Spitfires took part in the show:
Supermarine Spitfire LFVb EP120 G-LFVB
Supermarine Spitfire FR XIV G-SPIT
Supermarine Spitfire IX G-LFIX
Supermarine Seafire LF III G-BUAR
Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXb G-ASJV
Supermarine Spitfire Vb BM597 G-MKVB
Supermarine Spitfire MkIa G-CFGJ
Supermarine Spitfire MkIa G-AIST
Supermarine Spitfire MkI G-CGUK
Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVIII G-BUOS
Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb EP122 G-CISV
Visit the Flying Legends website for more information: [ Ссылка ]
