• Welcome aboard HomebuiltAirplanes.com, your destination for connecting with a thriving community of more than 10,000 active members, all passionate about home-built aviation. Dive into our comprehensive repository of knowledge, exchange technical insights, arrange get-togethers, and trade aircrafts/parts with like-minded enthusiasts. Unearth a wide-ranging collection of general and kit plane aviation subjects, enriched with engaging imagery, in-depth technical manuals, and rare archives.

    For a nominal fee of $99.99/year or $12.99/month, you can immerse yourself in this dynamic community and unparalleled treasure-trove of aviation knowledge.

    Embark on your journey now!

    Click Here to Become a Premium Member and Experience Homebuilt Airplanes to the Fullest!

Spitfire goes 80

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Battler Britton

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
Messages
594
Location
Montpellier,LFNG (Candillargues)
Les 80 ans du Spitfire

The 80th anniversary of the Spitfire
80 years of the Spitfire

Published March 5, 2016 by François Besse 0 Comments

Spit1
80 candles for the British fighter elliptical wing.

The English are "airminded". Several events will take place this March 5 in Britain to commemorate the first flight of the Spitfire prototype K5054 registered. The plane came out a few weeks ago of the assembly line in the factory Supermarine Aviation in Woolston, near Southampton. The engine tests took place during February.

Disassembled and transported by road, the device enters the field Eastleigh to be reassembled. In the afternoon of March 5, 1936, with Captain J. "Mutt" Summers, chief pilot of flight testing for Vickers at the controls, the prototype took off in his blue livery and with a two-bladed propeller not final. On his return to the ground after a flight of just 8 minutes, his first comment is: "Do not touch anything."

Spit3
The Spitfire is the result of a team of engineers animated by Reginald Mitchell, a designer who has already noted for its series of racing seaplanes (S5 and S6) won the Schneider Cup. Success also comes from the engine, the famous Merlin will be taken over by the sutie by the North American P51 Mustang but as the Avro Lancaster ... Developed in private, the Spitfire will be mass produced in factories in Castle Bromwich, in the Executive Vickers-Armstrong.

Spit2
This is where most of the Spitfire emerge delivered to the Royal Air Force at a rate of more than 300 copies per month, while the elliptical wing fighter entered service in 1938. At the end of the war, with power increased more than 2 (from 990-2200 hp), production will exceed 20,000 copies.

Reginald Mitchell, who died in June 1937 from cancer, will not see his fighter's career. It remains symbolic of the strength of Britain in 1940, during the Battle of Britain, although the Hawker Hurricane was the most represented in the fleet of the RAF ... The Spit will however be the only fighter to be operational ally from the beginning to the end of World War II, with 19 models and 52 variants, different wings and arms. ♦♦♦

Photos © F. Besse / aeroVFR
 
Back
Top