From Wikipedia"
The British Supermarine Spitfire was the only fighter aircraft of the Second World War
to fight in front line service, from the beginnings of the conflict,
in September 1939, through to the end in August 1945. Post-war the
Spitfire's service career continued into the 1950s.
The basic airframe proved to be extremely adaptable, capable of taking
far more powerful engines and far greater loads than its original role
as a short-range interceptor had allowed for. This would lead to 19
marks of Spitfire and 52 sub-variants being produced throughout the
Second World War and beyond. The many changes were made in order to fulfil Royal Air Force requirements and to successfully combat ever-improving enemy aircraft. With the death of Reginald J. Mitchell in June 1937, all variants of the Spitfire were designed by his replacement, Joseph Smith, and a team of engineers and draftsmen.
These
articles present a brief history of the Spitfire through all of its
variants, including many of the defining characteristics of each
sub-type. This article deals with Spitfires powered by early Rolls-Royce Merlin engines which mostly utilised single-speed, single-stage superchargers.
The second article describes Spitfire variants powered by later
Merlins, with two-stage, two-speed superchargers, while the final
article describes the Spitfires powered by Rolls-Royce Griffon engines.
2 comments:
One simply cannot have too much of the Spitfire. What a beauty!
I couldn't agree more.
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