The Supermarine Spitfire was a single seat fighter used by the airforces of the RAF and some allied countries in World War II.
Built by Supermarine, and the brain-child of R.J. Mitchell, the first plane to bear the name Spitfire (probably in 1930) was not very successful. It was an open-cockpit monoplane with gull-wings and a large fixed spatted undercarriage, but had innovations that came from years of competing in, and often winning, the Schneider Trophy. As a private venture a new prototype was designed, such was the company's faith in the design. Strong encouragement also came from the Air Ministry who now had decision makers who saw the urgent need for fast fighters; their specification F10/35 was written around the evolving Spitfire design.
The first new prototype flew on March 5, 1936. It had a low wing cantilever monoplane style with a tailwheel. Its elliptical wings gave it a very distinctive look; their thin cross-section gave it speed; the brilliant design of Mitchell and his successors (he died in 1937) meant the Spitfire was loved by its pilots. It saw service during the whole of World War II, in all theatres of war, and in many different variants. Only after the war, when the Rolls Royce Griffon engine replaced the famous Merlin, speeds went up, was it discovered how advanced these wings were with a safe Mach number of 0.83 and a maximum Mach number of 0.86. *need to check these numbers*
More than 8,300 planes of all variants were built, and Spitfires remained in service well into the 1950's.
The Spitfire is often credited with winning the Battle of Britain. The aircraft, and Mitchell, were lauded in the (somewhat inaccurate) movie "The First Of The Few". It certainly must be considered one of the finest aircraft of the war... and possibly the most beautiful. But how did it compare with the Hawker Hurricane (that the RAF used in greater numbers at that critical stage in 1940), or with its counterpart in the German Luftwaffe, the Messerschmitt 109? The Hurricane's guns were better suited to attacking bombers, but the close pattern of fire and slow speed made the Hurricane a bad choice for attacking the German fighter protection. The Spitfire, on the other hand, was in most respects the close equal of the Me109 but had some attributes that helped "Spits" to win many "dog fights"... most often quoted is manoeuvrability but good cockpit visibility was probably a greater factor. Nonetheless, seven in every ten German planes shot down during the Battle of Britain were victims of Hurricane pilots.
There also was a naval version called the Seafire. It was especially adapted for operation from aircraft carriers: with an arrester hook, folding wings and other specialised equipment. Like the Spitfire, the Seafire had a narrow undercarriage track, which meant that it was not well suited to deck operations. Many Spitfires and a few Seafires remain airworthy and many aircraft museums treasure static examples of this graceful yet lethal fighter. The RAF maintains some for flying display and ceremonial purposes in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at Coningsby in Lincolnshire.