March 5, 1936 – The first flight of the Supermarine Spitfire. World War II produced some of the greatest piston-powered aircraft the world has known, and some have since become iconic symbols of that conflict. Perhaps no aircraft symbolized the British fight agains the Luftwaffe more than the Supermarine Spitfire. With war looming in Europe, the RAF needed to develop a new fighter that could intercept and defeat more advanced German aircraft. R. J. Mitchell of the Supermarine company, who had garnered much experience building fast planes while competing in the Schneider Trophy seaplane races, proposed the Type 300, a single engine, low wing monoplane with retractable landing gear. After significant modifications, including the addition of an enclosed cockpit, it was the Type 300 that would be developed into the Spitfire. And the Spitfire was an immediate winner. Upon landing after the first flight of the prototype, Vickers chief test pilot Capt. Joseph“ Mutt” Summers
reportedly said,“ Don’ t touch anything.” The Spitfire was originally powered by a Rolls Royce Merlin 12-cylinder engine providing 1,030 hp. Later models of the Spitfire would be powered by ever more powerful Merlins, and eventually the Spitfire received the Rolls- Royce Griffon engine which produced up to 2,340 hp. But the early Merlin engines had an achilles heel. Unlike the fuel injected engines in use by the Luftwaffe, the Merlin had a carburetor. This made the Spitfire susceptible to flooding in a nose over dive or inverted flight. At first, pilots learned to combat this problem by first half-rolling the aircraft before a dive. But until a permanent solution could be found with the addition of a pressurized carburetor, it was Beatrice“ Tilly” Shilling who saved the day. Shilling devised a restrictor, nicknamed Miss Shilling’ s Orifice, that restricted the flow of fuel to no more than the engine could use at full power. While only a stopgap measure, the restrictor kept the Spitfire flying until the new carburetors could be developed. The later Griffon engines employed a pressure-injection carburetor. During the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire, along with the Hawker Hurricane, faced the onslaught of the Luftwaffe. Though the Hurricane fought in greater numbers, the Spitfire
became the better known fighter of the Battle, as the dashing RAF fighter pilots dueled with German fighters high in the sky while the“ Hurrys” slugged it out with the bombers, as the Hurricane was no match for the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Head to head with the 109, the Spitfire pilot appreciated the firepower provided by its eight Browning. 303 machine guns. While not as powerful as the canon used by the Germans, Spitfire pilots could concentrate more firepower on the enemy. The Spitfire was continuously improved and produced throughout the war. Numerous variants were developed, including a carrier-based version which was nicknamed the Seafire. Exported Spitfires were flown by 35 countries around the world. In all, more than 20,000 Spitfires were produced from 1938-1948, making it the third-highest produced military aircraft behind the Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik and the Bf 109.