Supermarine Spitfire - The Ultimate WW2 Fighter?

Video from the channel Dark Skies about Supermarine Spitfire, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 11:36. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

This documentary covers the history of the Supermarine Spitfire: its origins, its role in the Battle of Britain and the evolution of its variants through to the end of production.

In 1931, the British Air Ministry issued specification F7/30 for a fighter armed with four machine guns. R. J. Mitchell's team at Supermarine first responded with the Type 224, which flew in 1934 with poor results. They then presented the Type 300, with thin wings, an enclosed cockpit and a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which won a contract in late 1934. The prototype K5054 flew on 10 March 1936 with Joseph "Mutt" Summers at the controls. Mitchell died on 11 June 1937 and Joe Smith continued the development. During the Battle of Britain, which began on 10 July 1940, Spitfires fought German Bf 109s, and bombing raids on Southampton damaged the Woolston factory.

Its thin elliptical wing gave it an advantage in close combat. 24 variants and more than 20,400 aircraft were built; the last deliveries were in June 1949. The final versions carried Rolls-Royce Griffon engines of over 2,400 horsepower, and the Seafire was the naval version. The last operational Spitfire was retired from the Irish Air Corps in 1961.