Spitfire, the legend, the facts and its opponent (1 of 5)

[gusswilliams]

So, sixty years on the truth should be told about the spitfire.

It was a good fighter....not a great fighter.

The spitfire had many faults but the one that must rank first is the placement of the fuel tank right in front of the pilot. this resulted in many horrible deaths as one german round in this unsealed tank resulted in the incineration of the poor pilot.

[GrigoriZhukov]

I'll take the ugly sister the Hurricane...she's a goer and will do whatever you suggest. The others are jumped up ho's that require too much up keep for little performance. i.e. get in the dirt

[addtoface]

the best looking fighter was the Mosquito then spitfire, close on was the late type P51, The German aircraft were far more machine like, The F190 was about the best and created a need to up grade the spitfire......

[ad356]

stop comparing the spit to the mustang, they are both handsome fighting aircraft and both played a huge role in world war II. they are both great aircraft

[phuquerz]

My Uncle Jeffrey flew the plane that won the Schnieder Trophy - there is footage in this of him taxiing to take off in the supermarine and getting a piggyback back to shore afterwards as well as his brief commentary.

[73north]

I have yet to see a better Documentary on the Spitfire , I recorded this on Tape - and this programme is * highly recommended * to anyone interested in this aircraft

[freakyflow]

Mitchell had gone to germany and seen the 109 he then hurried back to finsh was he started ..many think he knew he was dieing

[MASTERRACE19]

these last few years has seen model plane sales of the german ww2 aircraft surpass the allied planes - german fighters have mystique - well you cant keep good men down for ever - sooner or later people will realise who were the real warriors.

[zeekwolfe]

Are the captions Dutch or Danish?

[Bocky1234]

@zeekwolfe It isn't Dutch, I guess Danish or Finnish

[grummeper]

Many thanks!

[eus478]

to be honest: the Spitfire-cell, especially the wings were inspired by the Heinkel 70 from 1932

[bmused55]

No it wasn't.

[theshow2k8]

@eus478

Actually no they weren't

[eus478]

@theshow2k8 Any details to proof your personal opinion ?

[flexyco]

The Americans entered the war to stop the soviets winning it completely and expanding their sphere of influence into western europe. Ninety percent of the Nazi's lost their lives at the eastern front and has had far fiercer battles and more misery than the western and mediterranean theaters combined. The russian war machine at that time was unstoppable. They also had the best planes for low and medium altitudes.

[Xiolablu3]

@dunvegan44 Well said,mate. It was a team effort.  The US were supplying Britain with 100grade fuel and Browning machine guns even in 1940 in the Battle of Briain.

[racedemon89]

i think we all owe thanks to miss houston

[NotoriousMannk]

if it makes people talk like you then yeah!

[FireXtheRipper]

in my eyes the hawker hurricane is the most beutifull plan ever desingend. than the spitfire. an than the f 14 tomcat

[EasyCompanyAirborne]

The Spitfires were nice as a quaint historical curio. The only true fighting planes in WW2 were all American planes, and they were flown by American pilots, recognized as being the very best.

Note that the United States invented the airplane. The Germans did quite well before 1942, as they only had to face a few American pilots, including the great Billy Fiske, the most famous pilot in WW2. When they faced thousands of Billy Fiskes, they had no chance.

[NotoriousMannk]

yeah the germans did great in the battle of britain when billy shot down er , no enemy planes before crashing in a field and killing himself! And recognised as being you best by who, you is all I think! The following countries all ahd higher or equal scoring aces then the americans: croatia (1), Finland (6), Germany (lost count), Japanese (7), Romania (2), Russia (13), UK (1),

[EasyCompanyAirborne]

There are countless documentaries which show that the American pilot was easily the most skilled in WW2. You cannot go by kill tallies. They were highly exaggerated by some nations. Sometimes the plane was downed, and the pilot baled out and got into another plane. The American kills had to be confirmed by more than one source. Any doubt, no kill. As for Fiske, he came over to mentor English pilots who he found didn't take things seriously. Churchill begged American pilots to come over.

[NotoriousMannk]

you're sweeping statements all over youtube are so outlandish that i cant get into this with you cos im convinced your actually just taking the piss to get a rise out of people. otherwise I feel sorry for you, youre probably 12 and read too many comic books! billy Fiske is said by his fellow pilots to have been a rather unremarkable character who contributed little to the squadron before being killed with no kills, that must eat you up:0

[fancyflier]

Thats utter nonsense.

Churchill begged American pilots to come over because ours had been fighting a war for 4 years!

On US aircraft, yes, some were outstanding, but in terms of pure dogfighting ability, the P51D was inferior to both the later marks of Spitfire, and the Fw190D-9, so your statement about the only true fighting planes being American is ridiculous and absurd.

[EasyCompanyAirborne]

Churchill begged American flyers to come over, as he knew they were the best in the world. Everyone knew the legendaryu skills of the American pilot. Amelia Erheart, Charles Lindbergh and Billy Fiske were all household names. England had no famous pilots like this. When Billy Fiske came to England to mentor the raw trainees in the RAF, Churchill was overjoyed. The Germans were not looking forward to skies full of American aices either. They were soon to meet these "knoghts of the air". .

[NotoriousMannk]

do you take alot of drugs over a consistent period or do you just binge occassionally?

[EasyCompanyAirborne]

Notorious. Why do you ask? Do you have an issue with drugs yourself?

[Zaathras]

Heh, don't worry mate, he probably doesn't even know who are responsible for the success of the US "Top-Gun" scheme either (hint, non US naval aviators).

But let's not forget the contribution of the commonwealth and other allied nations' pilots during the battle of britain!

[SuperAncientmariner]

@Zaathras I'm ex RN, and I know . (snigger snigger)

[navnig]

R.J. Mitchell, britain was robbed of one of it's greatest ever engineering minds back then.

[mmmsikim]

Rolls Royce Merlin/Griffon baby!!!

[leiker06]

Spit is a good bird but i prefer the 109! love shooting down spits and hurricanes in a 109 :D

[jmdm1957]

For me the Spit, Mustang, and the 109.

[EasyCompanyAirborne]

The American planes were the best, like the Grumman. The best British planes were the Mosquito and the Typhoon.

[historian246]

Grumman is okay, but I favour Vought and Republic over Grumman. F4U Corsairs and P-47s are also good planes. But the fighter I like best is the FW-190. I think it's a lot better than Spitfires.

[Guitfiddlejase]

Wonderful Video! Highly informative and just plain fun to watch. That is if you're a geek about this kinda shit like I'am!

[Bullettube]

I bet I'm not the only to agree with you!

[MidnightRambler444]

The P 51 Mustang owes its heritage to the Spitfire

[holtbp]

I know what your saying but the only reason the two are linked was the breif by the air ministry to North American company: That was range of a thousand miles plus and manoeverability of a spitfire.

Thats a very simplified nutshell but over the past 8 years have done extensive studying into the 2 aircraft.

Both are excellent machines.

[lesterclaypool1]

@MidnightRambler444 actually untrue , the mustang was designed and built in 28 days , and it was based on a caputred 109 ,,, no jokes ,,, look it up , the 109 was captured and flown to scotland , then shipped to the U . S.

[MidnightRambler444]

@lesterclaypool1 - I don't think so, they may have incorporated some design features from the ME109 into subsequent versions of the Mustang but it is commonly accepted that the original Mustang design was in essence a re-designed Spitfire obviously with increased power and range to provide long range bomber support, something that the ME109 was not designed to do obviously

[Zajuts149]

@MidnightRambler444 The Mustang design had nothing to do with the Spitfire. The Mustang was designed so that NAA didn't have to licence-produce the P-40 for the RAF. Most RAF Mustangs would go to the Army Cooperation Command. It was only later, when they put the RR Merlin in the Mustang, they discovered it's range, which was due to it's aerodynamical efficiency at altitude.

[Zajuts149]

@lesterclaypool1 Wrong, but the designer of the Mustang, Edgar Scmued was German. The Mustang was designed and built in 117 days.

[lesterclaypool1]

@Zajuts149 well there seems to be two trains of thought on this ,,, some say curtis ,/ some say edgar ,,, same with the stolen 109 ,, but i do agree that [ after looking again ] that you are correct 117 days from start to finish ,, i will try to find the documentry that states that a 109 was stolen and influneced the mustang ,,, it gave credit to the lamener wings that both planes share ,, thanks

[sakoshooter48]

@MidnightRambler444 Hardly



[herrgurgel]

nice vid mate

[tenacioustaut]

Bath-based Sir Sam, who subsequently earned his knighthod for services to the diplomatic service, was on board the HMS Encounter when his ship came under attack.

He was in the sea for a day and night and his hopes of surviving began to fade.

But then a Japanese ship appeared on the horizon and the captain took the decision to save the Englishmen.

[trent8002003]

Spitfire was the handsomest fighter of WWII. BF109 a close second, 3rd and 4th places to P40 Kittyhawk and P-38 Lightning. FW190, Hawker Typhoons, P-47 Thunderbolt, Zero, P-51 Mustang were all butt ugly.

[Olfux]

I agree about the Spitfire, but certainly not the following.

As no. 2 comes the smooth P-51C with the Malcom-hood, no.3 is the formidable FW190D, and which one comes next? I think it's too hard to tell.

[lesterclaypool1]

@Olfux personally i think they are all wonderful but when your in trouble i would like to have seen mustangs and thunderbolt comming to my aid ,,, they had the real abilitie to take and give punishment ,,, the stat records speak for them selves

[Seesfar1]

@Olfux What about the F4U corsairs? especially the supercorsair. I thinks it's the F2G.

[higfny]

@Olfux I agree, spitfire in first place, and P-51 in second. However i prefer the bubble-canopy "D" model

[Foxx1981]

@Olfux the difficult part is that in 5 years they developed planes at such a frantic pace no plane can really be judged as the best of the entire war.

[sakoshooter48]

@trent8002003 Ya, and all your taste is in your ass!

[trent8002003]

@sakoshooter48 What? You wanna to taste my ass? Come on over with your personal cheque bk and we'll talk.

[sakoshooter48]

@trent8002003 Wow!  An intellectual leap! Impressive!

[trent8002003]

@sakoshooter48 Compliments accepted with thanks *wink*!

[sakoshooter48]

@trent8002003 Somewhere on this planet a village is missing its idiot......................tre­nt!!!!!!!! LOL!

[trent8002003]

@sakoshooter48 And the head of the search party is .............ass eating Sakoshooter!!!!!!

[P47ThunderboltJug]

@trent8002003 HOW DARE YOU DAWG THE THUNDERBOLT! IMA FIND YOU! AND BEAT YOU DOWN WITH MY TAMIYA 1/32 SCALE THUNDERBOLT I SPENT A YEAR ON!

[clearlogicify]

@trent8002003 Handsomeness (masculine) ranking matters in every way possible. We can all give random ranks for near useless characteristics and subjective attributes... but then... why would anyone give a shit about such a listing?

The Spitfire came in a distinctive blue for aerial photography... therefore it was the best plane of WW2. P-51 wasn't pained blue at any time, so it was crap, obviously.

[fluffchops]

Excellent Documentary, Thankyou so much for posting.

[dannycarter85]

yeah got a love german planes too

[StukaPilotPH]

fantastic.. how i wish there was a series on luftwaffe airraft, too.

[jmdm1957]

Should be they had fantastic aircraft.