SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE MKIIA P7540
The Supermarine Spitfire was designed by RJ Mitchell and his team in the 1930s as an all-metal monocoque fighter for the Royal Air Force. Their biplane fighter aircraft were becoming rapidly obsolete and with German advances in fighter design, it was clear that a new breed of fighter would be required in the approaching war.
Along with the Hawker Hurricane, the Spitfire was to become the mainstay of Fighter Command. The Hurricane was a more stable gun platform and was often used to attack bombers, whilst the more agile Spitfires were better suited to attack their fighter escorts.
The Spitfire was powered by the legendary Rolls Royce Merlin engine (later the Rolls Royce Griffon), and became one of the most famous aircraft ever built. Developed continuously during the war, the final Spitfires were twice as powerful and almost twice as fast as the first aircraft and they went from being armed with eight Browning machine guns to carrying machine guns, cannon, rockets and even small bombs.
Our Spitfire is a MkIIa, and was built at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham just in time for what was to become the Battle of Britain. It was lost in a training accident in Loch Doon, East Ayrshire, on the 25th October 1941.
