A Spitfire tears over an English village, skimming the treetops.
Listed below, an old lady drops her basket in shock.
Flight Lieutenant Geoff Wellum yells, Sorry if I frightened you, my love!, smiling commonly.
Nineteen years old.
Barely 6 hours of solo time.
And here he is, gripping the controls of a Supermarine Spitfire Mk I.
With a top speed of 370 miles per hour, it feels like flying a wild animal.
Geoff smiles widely.Then the radio crackles.
German aircraft in the vicinity.
Intercept instantly.
He slams the throttle.
His 1,000 horsepower Merlin Engine screams.
Geoff has no concept how green he is.
A Messerschmitt Bf 109 gets the drop on him and plunges from the clouds behind him, cannon blazing.Shells rip past his canopy.
Geoff pulls the stick all the method to the right.
The Spitfire shudders into a savage turn.
Over six Gs of force crush him.
The engine overheats.
Oil pressure is dropping.
Vision tunneling.
Its a difficult turn, however if any airplane can handle it, it is the Spitfire.Incredibly, the 109 stay with him like a shadow.
The ground is hurrying up at them as they spiral downward, each attempting to outturn the other.
One to provide in, black out, or break the turn will not see another day.TheSupermarine Spitfireis a British single-seatfighter aircraftthat was utilized by theRoyal Air Forceand otherAlliedcountries previously, during, and afterWorld War II.
It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war.
The Spitfire remains popular amongst enthusiasts.
Around70 stay airworthy, and much more are fixed exhibitions in air travel museums throughout the world.The Spitfire was a short-range, high-performanceinterceptor aircraftdesigned byR.
J.
Mitchell, primary designer atSupermarineAviation Works, which operated as a subsidiary ofVickers-Armstrongfrom 1928.
Mitchell modified the Spitfires distinctiveelliptical wing(designed byBeverley Shenstone) with innovative sunken rivets to have the thinnest possible cross-section, accomplishing a potential top speed greater than that of several contemporary fighter airplane, consisting of theHawker Hurricane.
Mitchell continued to refine the style until his death in 1937, whereupon his colleagueJoseph Smithtook over as chief designer.Smith oversaw the Spitfires advancement throughmany versions, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined Mk 24, utilizing several wing setups and guns.
The originalairframewas designed to be powered by aRolls-Royce Merlinengine producing 1,030 hp(768kW).
It was strong enough and versatile enough to use increasingly effective Merlins, and in later marks,Rolls-Royce Griffonengines producing up to 2,340 hp (1,745 kW).
As a result, the Spitfires performance and capabilities improved over the course of its service life.Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIA (Royal Air Force code P7350) at Kemble Air Day, Kemble Airport, Gloucestershire, England.
Owned by the UK Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.During theBattle of Britain(JulyOctober 1940), the more various Hurricane flew more sorties resisting theLuftwaffe, but the Spitfire captured the general publics creativity, in part due to the fact that the Spitfire was normally a much better fighter aircraft than the Hurricane.
Spitfire units had a lower attrition rate and a greater victory-to-loss ratio than Hurricanes, most likely due to the Spitfires greater efficiency.
During the battle, Spitfires usually engaged Luftwaffe fightersmainlyMesserschmitt Bf 109Eseries aircraft, which were a close match for them.After the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire superseded the Hurricane as the principal airplane ofRAF Fighter Command, and it was utilized in theEuropean, Mediterranean, Pacific, andSouth-East Asiantheatres.Much liked by its pilots, the Spitfire operated in a number of functions, consisting of interceptor, photo-reconnaissance, fighter-bomber, and trainer, and it continued to do so up until the 1950s.
TheSeafirewas an aircraft carrierbased adjustment of the Spitfire, used in theFleet Air Armfrom 1942 up until the mid-1950s.
Leading Photo: Spitfire MH434 at the Shuttleworth Collection Season Premiere Airshow 2018Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube