Supermarine “Spitfire” Mk IX – N8R
The EAA Museum’s Spitfire
Built by Vickers, Ltd. In 1943, this Spitfire Mk IX was used in combat over England and occupied Europe. First flown by Free French pilots, it was later assigned to a British Royal Air Force Squadron and flew missions in support of the D-Day landings—the Allied Invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944. After the war, it appeared in the 1968 motion picture The Battle of Britain.
After WW II, this Spitfire was converted to a trainer, by adding a second cockpit and bubble canopy behind and slightly above the original cockpit. As a trainer, it served with the Irish Air Force until January 1960. It was converted back to a single-seater in 1980.
The Supermarine “Spitfire” is one of the most famous fighter airplanes of all time. It was the first all-metal, stressed-skin fighter produced by Great Britain. The best of the British pre-WW II designs, the “Spit” was the only British fighter that was in production throughout the second world war. It was one of the key factors in Britain’s success in the Battle of Britain, in the summer and fall of 1940, when Germany tried and failed to achieve air superiority in the skies over England.
Spitfire History
The Spitfire was designed to use the new Rolls-Royce 1,000-horsepower PV-12 engine, which would evolve into the legendary “Merlin” series of 12-cylinder piston engines. The prototype first flew in March 1938, and early Mk (Mark) I Spitfires reached the Royal Air Force 19th Squadron in June 1938. Pilots reported excellent handling and combat maneuverability, though reports noted that the slower Hawker Hurricane fighter and various biplane fighters could turn more tightly than the Spitfire.
Refinement of the aircraft continued steadily. Mk numbers would eventually reach 24.The Mk V, introduced in 1941, was produced in the greatest numbers (6,464) of any Spitfire variant. It could mount eight .303 caliber machine guns or four .303s and two 20mm cannon, and had a centerline rack for a drop tank or a 500-lb bomb. Some Mk Vs were equipped with tropical air filters for service in North Africa and the Mediterranean. Supermarine, Ltd. (part of Vickers Aircraft, Ltd.) began building “navalized” Mk Vs with folding wings, for the British Fleet Air Arm. The carrier-based Spitfires were dubbed “Seafires.”
The Spitfire Mark IX
The German Focke-Wulf Fw190 single-seat fighter appeared suddenly and in large numbers in the skies over Northern France during the summer of 1941. Britain scrambled to create an airplane equal to this powerful, agile, high-altitude adversary. The Mk VIII, a much-refined version of the Mk V, was only in the early stages of production, and it was put on hold. Instead, as a temporary stopgap measure beginning in 1942, Vickers fitted Spitfire Mk Vs with a larger Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, a two-stage supercharger and intercooler, and a four-bladed propeller. This stopgap Spitfire, the Mk IX, actually stayed in production through 1944, and was produced in much larger numbers (5,665) than the Mk VIII (1,658). There were three versions of the Mk IX: the LF (low-altitude) had a clipped wing; the F was the standard fighter version; and the HF (high-altitude) had extended wings and a pressurized cockpit.
Spitfires in Action
The Spitfire’s roles included fighter, interceptor, ground attack, high altitude and long-range reconnaissance. “Spits” served in virtually every theater of WW II.
One of the Spitfire’s more unusual missions was to chase flying bombs. The German V-1 unmanned “Buzz Bomb” was a predecessor of the cruise missile. The pulse-rocket powered V-1s were launched from sites in Europe and guided by autopilot to cities in Britain. Since V-1s tended to explode when hit by gunfire from a trailing fighter, RAF pilots developed an unusual technique for attacking the Buzz Bombs. Intercepting a flying bomb over the English Channel or over unpopulated areas, the pilot would put his Spitfire’s wingtip under the V-1’s wingtip. “Jigging” the Spitfire’s wing upward would flip the Buzz Bomb into a snap roll, tumble its guidance gyroscope, and cause it to crash. A successful chase required high speed, good flying skills, and a bit of nerve. Spitfire pilots destroyed more than 300 V-1s in aerial pursuits.
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