Spitfire, a detailed analysis of a 1936 fighter that is still active in the RAF

World War II was a conflict during which aviation made a considerable technological leap, with some exceptional aircraft.

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One of those aircraft is the famous British Supermarine Spitfire fighter, a single-engine model that made its first flight on March 6, 1936, and of which more than 20,000 units were built during World War II. This aircraft was one of the main protagonists of the Battle of Britain (1940), in which British airmen, with the support of volunteers from other countries, heroically defended the United Kingdom against attacks by the German Luftwaffe.

One of the most unique features that its designer, Reginald Joseph Mitchell, brought to this aircraft was its elliptical wings, which gave it a top speed greater than that of the Hawker Hurricane, its predecessor in the British Royal Air Force (RAF). This was joined by a powerful piston engine that appeared in 1933: the Rolls-Royce Merlin, with 1030 HP, which later also equipped other famous aircraft such as the Avro Lancaster bomber, the de Havilland Mosquito multirole aircraft, and even the Spanish versions of two German aircraft: href="https://www.outono.net/elentir/2023/02/09/the-ha-1112-buchon-fighter-on-display-at-a-michigan-museum-with-its-spanish-roundels/">the Hispano Aviación HA-1112 fighter jet (derived from the Messerschmitt Bf-109) and the CASA 2111 Pedro bomber (derived from the Heinkel He-111).

The initial versions of the Spitfire were armed with eight 7.7 mm Browning M1919 machine guns, a powerful arsenal mounted in the wings, so that the trajectory of the shots avoided the propeller's turning radius. Later versions combined four M1919s with two 20 mm Hispano Mk II cannons. Although initially conceived as an interceptor, from the Mk VIII variant onward the Spitfire was also used as a fighter-bomber, capable of carrying bombs under the fuselage and under the wings, and later, from the Mk XIV variant onward, rockets as well.

This aircraft had dozens of operators before and after World War II, including the Third Reich, which managed to capture and reuse some examples. Today there are still 78 Spitfires airworthy, in addition to 64 preserved in museums or monuments and 66 undergoing restoration. As a curiosity, the Spitfire is, along with the Hawker Hurricane, the only World War II fighter still in service, specifically in an RAF memorial unit, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF), based at RAF Coningsby, in Lincolnshire, England.

If you want to learn more about this excellent aircraft, yesterday Blue Paw Print (a YouTube channel I recommend you subscribe to) published a detailed video analyzing the engineering and operation of the Spitfire. The video has an audio track and English subtitles, which you can activate in the bottom bar of the player.

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Main image: Blue Paw Print.