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Spitfire Royal Air Force fighter aircraft, maximum speed for mark I Supermarine Spitfire, 362mph up to The Seafire 47 with a top speed of 452mph. maximum ceiling for Mk I 34,000feet up to 44,500 for the mark XIV. Maximum range for MK I 575 miles . up to 1475 miles for the Seafire 47. Armament for the various Marks of Spitfire. for MK I, and II . eight fixed .303 browning Machine guns, for MKs V-IX and XVI two 20mm Hispano cannons and four .303 browning machine guns. and on later Marks, six to eight Rockets under the wings or a maximum bomb load of 1,000 lbs. Designed by R J Mitchell, The proto type Spitfire first flew on the 5th March 1936. and entered service with the Royal Air Force in August 1938, with 19 squadron based and RAF Duxford. by the outbreak of World war two, there were twelve squadrons with a total of 187 spitfires, with another 83 in store. Between 1939 and 1945, a large variety of modifications and developments produced a variety of MK,s from I to XVI. The mark II came into service in late 1940, and in March 1941, the Mk,V came into service. To counter the Improvements in fighters of the Luftwaffe especially the FW190, the MK,XII was introduced with its Griffin engine. The Fleet Air Arm used the Mk,I and II and were named Seafires. By the end of production in 1948 a total of 20,351 spitfires had been made and 2408 Seafires. The most produced variant was the Spitfire Mark V, with a total of 6479 spitfires produced. The Royal Air Force kept Spitfires in front line use until April 1954. |
| Stan Stokes Spitfire Aviation Art Prints Aviation Art |
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| Text for the above items : |
Canadian Heroes by Stan Stokes. James Edgar (Johnnie) Johnson was the Royal Air Forces top fighter ace in Europe with 38 confirmed victories during the War. Johnson was called up in 1939 following his training with the RAF Volunteer Reserve. Having been hospitalized for much of the Battle of Britain, Johnsons first serious action was in mid-1941 when he often flew with Douglas Baders section. Johnson was promoted quickly and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross following his fifth victory in 1941. In early 1943 Johnson was put in command of a wing of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Flying the high-performance Supermarine Spitfire Mark IX, Johnson achieved 18 victories in seven months of flying. Many of Johnsons victories were achieved against the Messersmitt Bf-109. Promoted to Group Captain in early 1945, Johnson was put in command of the 125 Wing for the duration of the War. The Supermarine Spitfire is the only Allied fighter to have been continuously produced from before 1939 to after 1945. In total more than 22,000 of these splendid aircraft were built. The chief designer of the Spitfire was R.J. Mitchell, a brilliant engineer who joined the Supermarine company in 1916, and by 1920 was its chief engineer. Mitchell fashioned a number of high performance maritime aircraft, culminating with the sleek S series of float planes. This is the float plane which ultimately won permanent possession of the coveted Schneider Trophy for Britain, and established a new world speed record in excess of 400 MPH in 1931. In that same year the Air Ministry issued a specification for a new high-performance day/night fighter. Mitchells design, the Type 224, lost out in the competition to the Gloster Gladiator biplane. In 1936 the new Rolls Royce Merlin engine was fitted to a prototype 224, and the Spitfire was born. Achieving a speed of 396 MPH, the RAF was impressed, and initial orders for the first Spitfires were placed. Sadly, R.J. Mitchell succumbed to cancer in 1937 at the age of only 42. With the onset of the War, Spitfire production soared, and the aircraft was steadily improved. The Mark IX, as depicted in Stan Stokes painting entitled Canadian Heroes, first entered service in July 1942. The Mark IX was identifiable because of its four-bladed prop and its twin radiators. Introduced partially in response to Germanys introduction of the Focke Wolfe FW 190, the Mark IX was produced in greater numbers (5,665) than any other particular Spitfire model. As depicted in Stokes painting Johnnie Johnson has just attained another victory over a Bf-109 while flying with the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1944. The painting is dedicated to the many Canadians which served with the RAF during the War. |
Battle of Britain by Stan Stokes. The Battle of Britain in 1940 was the biggest air battle ever fought in the history of armed conflict. After the fall of France Hitler hoped to sign a peace treaty with Britain allowing the Germans to dominate Europe, and ultimately attack Russia in the East. Being rebuffed by the British, Hitler and his senior military advisors formulated Operation Sea Lion. This was to involve an invasion of Britain after the Luftwaffe had attained total domination over the RAF. As plans evolved for knocking out the RAF, the Germans began assembling a large number of airfields in Holland, France, and Belgium to be used for the attack. In their arsenal the Germans had more than 800 medium range bombers including the Heinkel He-111, the Junker Ju-88, and the Dornier Do-17. They also had more than 200 Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers, and more than 900 Bf-109 and Bf-110 fighters to escort their attacking forces. The British had far less than 1000 defensive aircraft at their disposal with Hawker Hurricanes outnumbering Supermarine Spitfires about 2-to-1. Despite the Germans numerical superiority the British had at least five advantages in this epic Battle. First, radar allowed the Brits to determine where to target its fighter defenses. Second, when British aircraft were downed many of the pilots were recovered and returned to flight duty. When German aircraft were downed the pilots became British POWs. Third, the BF-109, Germanys best fighter, had limited range, and generally could spend only about twenty minutes over British soil before having to return to Europe. Fourth, the British dispersed their defensive forces widely into many small groups, eliminating the ability of the Luftwaffe to deliver a knockout punch on the ground. Fifth, the RAF pilots were surprisingly well trained, and while few in number were supplemented with volunteers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, and the United States. Also important was the tenacity of the RAF support staff that kept an amazing amount of the aircraft in the air. The man most responsible for the British victory was Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, head of Fighter Command. In the first phase of the Battle the Luftwaffe focused its efforts on knocking out RAF airfields. The RAF lost 50 fighters in the first 10-days. This resulted in modified tactics permitting looser formation flying similar to that employed by the Germans. The Germans suffered too with the Bf-110 and Ju-87 proving particularly vulnerable. In August Hitler authorized a massive attack called Eagle Day that was designed to obliterate the RAF by attacking coastal radar stations. Again the German effort fell far short and later in August the Germans had one of their worst days losing 75 aircraft on Black Thursday. In late August the German tactics changed again with the focus now on destroying RAF fighters in the air. In a two-week period ending on September 6, the RAF lost 466 fighter aircraft, taking the Germans to their closest point of victory during the Battle. The turning point in the Battle is generally acknowledged to be September 7 when the Germans shifted focus to general attacks on London. This gave the RAF a breather, and on September 15 they took down 60 Luftwaffe aircraft. The losses on the 15th convinced the Germans that their strategy had failed and they slowly retrenched their attacks. September 15 is celebrated in Britain as Battle of Britain Day. |
| Spitfire Pilot and aircrew signature details |
| Spitfire Squadron details |
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