One flaw in the thin-wing design of the Spitfire manifested itself when the plane was brought up to very high speeds. It has been reported that the Bf 109 took one-third the man hours to construct compared to the Spitfire. The elliptical wing was chosen for superior aerodynamic attributes but it was a complex wing to construct and the Messerschmitt Bf 109's angular and easy-to-construct wing offered similar performance (model per model) to the Spitfire. In any event, the elliptical wing was enough to sell the Air Ministry on this new Type 300, which they funded by a new specification, F.10/35, drawn up around the Spitfire. Mitchell's aerodynamicist, Beverley Shenstone, however, has pointed out that Mitchell's wing was not directly copied from the Heinkel He 70, as some have claimed the Spitfire wing was much thinner and had a completely different section. It has been suggested that by looking at various Heinkel planes, he settled on the use of an elliptical planform, which had much more chord to allow for the required eight guns, while still having the low drag of the earlier, simpler wing design. Once again, Mitchell was able to solve the problem. They eventually rejected the new Supermarine design on the grounds that it did not carry the required eight-gun armament, and did not appear to have room to do so. The new design added gear retraction, an enclosed cockpit, oxygen gear and the much more powerful newly developed Rolls-Royce PV-12 engine, later named the Merlin.īy 1935, the Air Ministry had seen enough advances in the industry to try the monoplane design again. Mitchell immediately turned his attention to an improved design as a private venture, with the backing of Supermarine's owner, Vickers. The Supermarine Type 224 did not live up to expectations nor did any of the competing designs, which were also deemed failures. This first attempt at a fighter resulted in an open-cockpit monoplane with gull-wings and a large fixed, spatted undercarriage. These same qualities are equally useful for a fighter design, and, in 1931, Mitchell produced such a plane in response to an Air Ministry specification (F7/30) for a new and modern monoplane fighter. Mitchell, had won four Schneider Trophy seaplane races with his designs: (Sea Lion II in 1922, S 5 in 1927, S 6 in 1929 and S 6b in 1931), combining powerful Napier Lion and Rolls-Royce "R" engines with minute attention to streamlining. The still unpainted Spitfire protoype, K5054, shortly before its first flight. The name had previously been used unofficially for Mitchell's earlier F.7/30 Type 224 design.ĭesign and development File:Supermarine Spitfire Protoype K5054 Unpainted.jpg The word dates from Elizabethan times and refers to a particularly fiery, ferocious type of person, usually a woman. Vickers (the parent company of Supermarine) first came up with the name Shrew for the new aircraft and, on hearing this, Mitchell is reported to have said, ".sort of bloody silly name they would give it." The name Spitfire was suggested by Sir Robert MacLean, director of Vickers at the time, who called his daughter Ann "A little spitfire". Although its great wartime foe, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, in its many variants, rivalled the Spitfire's production statistics, the Spitfire was one of the few fighter aircraft to be in continual production before, during and after the Second World War. More than 20,300 examples of all variants were built, including two-seat trainers, with some Spitfires remaining in service well into the 1950s. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire saw service during the whole of the Second World War, in all theatres of war, and in many different variants. Its elliptical wing had a thin cross-section, allowing a higher top speed than the Hawker Hurricane and other contemporary designs it also resulted in a distinctive appearance, enhancing its overall streamlined features. Mitchell, who continued to refine the design until his death from cancer in 1937. Produced by Supermarine, the Spitfire was designed by R.J. The Supermarine Spitfire was an iconic British single-seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in the Second World War.