SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE
100” BY NICK ZIROLI
WING SPAN: 100”
WING AREA: 1570 sq. in.
FUSELAGE LENGTH 81.5 in.
POWER: .60 to .90 cc
WEIGHT: 30 to 34 lbs.
Designed to meet Air Ministry order in 1935, Schneider Cup legendary designer, R.J. Mitchell began designing the Spitfire. The Supermarine Co. was a division of Vickers-Armstrong that R.J.Mitchell worked for. Mitchell pushed for the recognizable elliptical because of the very low drag and high speed advantages.
Many different variants with many different wing designs were used as the Spitfire was constantly upgraded. R.J. Mitchell died suddenly in 1937 and his right hand man, Joe Smith continued to refine the excellent design, with 24 design variants from 1937 until production ended in 1948.
The Supermarine Spitfire was flown in 34 different countries Air Forces, the last to retire the Spitfire in 1961 was Ireland. There were 20,351 Supermarine Spitfire and Seafire build.
Made famous during the Battle of Britain, although the Hawker Hurricane was the main aircraft, the Spitfire had a higher kill to loss ratio, was faster and flew higher. During tests, a Spitfire in a dive achieved an astounding speed of 690 mph, the fastest ever recorded for a propeller driven plane.
Today, there are only about 70 airworthy examples, although many more are on display in museums arount the world.
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