These were basically Colt. They were placed four to a wing, a novel concept at the time, and designed to fire outside the circle of the propeller, doing away with the need for the interrupter gear of earlier aircraft. The early Mark Is had a service ceiling of 31,ft, and at 30,ft could reach a speed of mph. Its maximum speed was mph at 18,ft. Its maximum cruising speed, though, was mph at 20,ft, and at economical speed its range was miles. Its combat range was miles, allowing for take-off and 15 minutes of fighting.
By the time the Spitfire had brought down its first German plane,a Heinkel He bomber over the Firth of Forth on 16 October , several improvements had been made to the Mark I.
Windscreen plastic had been replaced by armoured glass, armour plate was fitted at the rear of the engine bulkhead, a power-operated pump was installed to operate the undercarriage, and the tail-skid had been replaced by a wheel. The Merlin Mark II engines were giving way to the Mark III with its improved airscrew shaft, and the two-blade wooden propeller had been replaced by the De Havilland three-blade metal, two-pitch propeller, significantly enhancing performance, particularly in the climb.
Most of the Spitfires with which the RAF fought the Battle of Britain were Mark Is, but work had begun on a Mark II as soon as the first model had gone into production, and some were already in service as early as the summer of There was little difference between the two marks, the main one being that the Mark II Spitfires were fitted with the Merlin XII engine, rated at hp.
The Spitfire Mark II had slower maximum and cruising speeds, but a faster climb rate, being able to reach 20,ft in 7 minutes, and had an improved ceiling of 32,ft. Another early development which led to increased Spitfire variety was the production of different wing types to accommodate a range of different armament set-ups. The A wing was the original one designed to hold four. The B wing was designed to accommodate the newly accepted Hispano-Suiza 20mm cannon, so each wing had one cannon and two.
This mark of Spitfire would destroy more V-1s than any other Spitfire and German fighters avoided combat with it due to its performance. Marks 21, 22 and 24, In order for the Spitfire to handle the increased power of the two stage supercharged Griffon engine, the wings were entirely re-designed and could handle speeds approaching the speed of sound. The first prototype first flew in July and the production example in March Initially it suffered from handling problems but these were smoothed out and entered squadron service in January , fitted with four Hispano cannons.
Mark 22 aircraft had the tear drop canopy and cut down rear fuselage. Mark 24, largely identical to the Spitfire 22 it had increased fuel capacity and had the ability to carry rocket projectiles and bomb armaments.
It was twice as heavy and had twice the performance of the original Spitfire and represented the ultimate mark of this pedigree. Imperial War Museum. This led to the submission of the Vickers Supermarine Type although this too was rejected by the Ministry.
The Supermarine Design Team immediately instigated a number of significant changes, such a enclosing the cockpit and smaller, thinner elliptical wings. With this flight a legend was born. The first true flight of the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire came just 4 months after the maiden flight of what is considered to be its partner aircraft, the Hawker Hurricane.
Supermarine Spitfire Prototype K first flight 5th March Development flying of the new aircraft continued at a pace and 10 th March , saw the first undercarriage retraction, alongside trials of different propellers in order to increase maximum speeds.
Such was the satisfaction with the aircraft that Summers handed all test flying to his assistants, Jeffery Quill and George Pickering.
A week later, the Air Ministry declared their enthusiasm with the design to such a degree that they placed an immediate order for Vickers Supermarine Spitfires. Meanwhile sadly, R. Although he was unable to attend the maiden flight when the cancer returned 2 years later, Mitchell was often seen watching the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire fly from his garden in nearby Russell Place, Portswood, Southampton.
Sadly R. With Mitchell's death, the design and development responsibility for his iconic aircraft passed to Joseph Joe Smith. As a result, the Air Ministry threatened to stop production totally by forcing Supermarine into the sub-contract production of Bristol Beaufighters. This had the desired effect and the management of Vickers-Armstrongs gave the Ministry an assurance that the delays would be overcome and a further order for Vickers Supermarine Spitfires was placed in March Production at Woolston was disrupted once again when it was severely damaged by daytime bombing raids on the Portsmouth and Southampton Dockyards on 24th and 26th September Whilst the main target during the 'Southampton Blitz' was generally the shipping, the Supermarine Aviation Works was specifically targeted.
Thankfully, by this time most of the component jigs had been dispersed to sub-contractors around Southampton and the Home Counties. More importantly however, much of the production buildings and people were lost, emphasising the importance of spreading aircraft manufacturing throughout the UK.
In the Midlands, and despite the plans for an aircraft factory being laid down in , production of Vickers Supermarine Spitfire was troublesome at the Castle Bromwich Works in Birmingham. The responsibility for the creation and management of this growing shadow factory was initially given to Morris Motors.
Supermarine Spitfire LF. XVIe Science and Technology. Explore our collections. Back Share. Date Range miles 1, km. The cockpit of the Spitfire at the National Museum of Flight. Our Spitfire Our Spitfire in flight in
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