Spitfire, the legend, the facts and its opponent (2 of 5)&fmt=18

Squadronleader Illife Cozens was in July 1938 the first to receive Spitfires. As war was declared in September 1939, nineteen and a half squadrons were equipped with Spitfires.
The first Spitfires had a fixed two-bladed propeller, the next had a three-bladed fixed propeller and from 1940 the following a variable pitch three- bladed propeller. This needed a special unit, that was bought from the US , as it by chance matched the Merlin perfectly.
Paul Day, who flies modern jetfighters, examines a Spitfire Mark 1,and immidiately points out the undesireable position of the throttle to the left and the flaps control to the right, which meant, that the pilot had to shift hand immidiately after take off.
Otherwise he was reasonably satisfied with the controls and instrumentation, while he was very unhappy with the pilots restricted vision from the cockpit compared to the vision from modern fighterplanes. He found the plane light and agile and compared to other WW2 fighters well up in its class with its clear benefit of the excellent variable pitch propeller. His overall verdict was, that Mitchell had done it absolutely right.

(It was easy to spot a novice taking off, as his plane was swaying and rocking, when he shifted hand.
In the first Spitfires the control grip for lowering the undercarriage had a tendency to get stuck, and often one could see a Spitfire coming in to land make an extra round while doing some courious maneouvres: Flying repetedly nose up and suddenly nose down or even flying buttom up.
The reason for this was, that the best way to solve the problen was to eliminate the weight of the undercarriage and at the same time give the control grip a hard knock with the fist!
The Spitfires characteristic wing was one of the absolutly best during WW2. It was good for a speed over Mach 0.9 and during the war Spitfires were sent into a dive at Mach 0.92 - much faster than any of the german jets.
The Spitfire came in numerous versions during all years of war - plus
subversions - plus special versions. Four diifferent wings were developed - each whith its weapons ranging from four Btowning 0.303 machinguns (Mark 1 & 2) to two Hispano 20 mm cannons and 2 - 4 Browning 0.50 machineguns (Mark 14).
All Spitfires until Mark 12 had a Merlin engine, and from Mark 12 (1700 HP Griffon IIB) all versions except Mark 9 (1710 HP Merlin 63 or 63a) had a larger, but not nessesarily more powerfull Griffon engine, because the development of the Merlin never stopped during the war-years. At the end of 1944 a Merlin 130 produced 2.640 HP at a 15 minutes test!
The pilot, who was the first to down a me262, sat in a Spitfire Mark 9 and not in a Mark 14, as it often is stated.
The last version which in greater numbers took part in WW2 was Mark 14 (2035 HP Griffon 65).
All Spitfires greatest virtues were their turning and climb capabilities. Only a Hawker Huricane could outturn a Spitfire.
Mark 14 could climb faster than any other propellerdriven fighter of WW2 (and possibly jets too).

For readers, who want much more information, I suggest: "Spitfire - the history" (650 pages in A4 format - two and a half inches thick!) and "Airplane in profile" (Thirteen volumes from 1966-71) - if you can get hold of the relevant volumes - or you can visit ny homesite www.actis.dk (danish language - I'm sorry).

(You are here, because you have chosen a series of quality videos. Another series of high quality videos is here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FF93A9257EAD7950 )

Carl Vendler

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Supermarine
• Spitfire
• Merlin
• Griffon
• Illife
• Cozens
• variable
• pitch
• propeller
• Tony
• Bianchi
• Paul
• Day

[darthisaiah]

3:13 he put a condom on the cannon. :)

[Olfux]

Yes, one must use ones imagination to get things done properly !

[DarkSk13s]

I loved the little cough in the background when the maintenance guy was rolling the condom-like cover over the cannon barrel.

[Anacinc]

Brilliant footage I must say. This is where Mr Paul Day is giving an excellent review of one of the most famous, and for some infamous, fighters ever built. I've got the smae, full, footage on VHS which I taped about 12 years back from Discovery and this information is still partially responsible for what my knowledge about these fighters is today!

[wirikuta14]

I thought the red tape was places to check for jammed guns, not protection.

[Xiolablu3]

@TheNovaAxon No, the Hurricane was only more numerous during the first year. For the rest 1941-45 the Spitfire was much more numerous and far far superior. The BOB was only one summer in 1940, not the whole 6 years of war.

[argentinoemanuel1]

more than 600 argentine pilots went to UK and piloted the hurricans.

[Camerameister1]

@stig781 Yeah, a bit of good ol' Yankee bluster...

[Camerameister1]

@yankeeclipper2 The Packard manufactured engines were good and they introduced things to RR like a bolt up crankcase, which solved a lot of problems. They also used water injection which the British didn't bother with. But ask any Spitfire pilot which they preferred and they'll tell you it wasn't the Packard. The Packards (there were 55,000 of them) were used in the Lancaster bomber too but they were best known for their use in the P-51D Mustang.

[Camerameister1]

@yankeeclipper2 This was known a long time before Packard got involved. RR tried to get Ford UK on board but Ford said they couldn't do it. When Stanley Hooker asked if the tolerances were to high he replied that they were too loose. All RR engines were, to a greater or lesser degree, bespoke units. They were trimmed and tuned using shims and the like. Ford engines were made on a production line and every component had to fit every engine. Of course the tolerances were tighter. Shocked? Not...

[TheNovaAxon]

@edmundscycles The Hurricane is responsible for 70% of the kills during the Battle of Brittain. That says it all. It was the true workhorse of the RAF. The Spit was the showhorse and was absolutely keeping moral up!

They did it together i think. Blue Skies!

[nibornodrog]

Thankyou for this series much appreciated

[kristenburnout1]

@Simona050 Its wrong to say that one aircraft is the hero of the battle of britain. It was the combination of BOTH aircraft that gave victory. And, of course the pilots is the most imbortant piece of equipement in an aeroplane.

[stig781]

@yankeeclipper2 Higher standards? Not at all.