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Also, in June 1938, the Heinkel He 100 V2 set a new record of 394.6 mph (635.0 km/h), which was very close to the maximum speed the as yet unflown Speed Spitfire was likely to achieve; the first flight of the modified Spitfire took place on 11 November 1938 and, in late February 1939, the maximum speed reached was 408 mph (657 km/h) at 3,000 ft ...
On 24 February 1943, the first of the Rolls-Royce Griffon engined Spitfire variants, the F Mk XII was accepted into RAF service, with the first examples being delivered to 41 Squadron. The first operational flight was made on 3 April, with the Mk XII's first victory, a Junkers Ju 88 occurring two weeks later. [ 77 ]
The First of the Few (also known as Spitfire in the US and Canada) (1942) is a British film produced and directed by Leslie Howard, with Howard in the starring role of R. J. Mitchell, and David Niven playing a composite character based on the Schneider Trophy pilots of 1927, 1929 and 1931, and the Supermarine test pilot Jeffrey Quill.
The Supermarine Spitfire was developed in the mid-1930s as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft by chief designer R. J. Mitchell. Only one prototype was made, receiving the military serial K5054. Following its first flight on 5 March 1936, pilot "Mutt" Summers made his famous but oft-misunderstood remark, "I don't want anything ...
He is best known for designing racing seaplanes such as the Supermarine S.6B, and for leading the team that designed the Supermarine Spitfire. Born in Butt Lane , Staffordshire, Mitchell attended Hanley High School and afterwards worked as an apprentice at a locomotive engineering works, whilst also studying engineering and mathematics at night.
In 1946, a Mk VIII (MT818) was the first Vickers-built trainer built as a demonstrator, but in 1948, 10 Spitfire T Mk IXs, were exported to India. In 1951, a further six TR 9 trainers were converted from the standard Mk IX to train pilots for the Irish Air Corps (IAC) Seafire fleet.
As with the prototype, following its first flight (see below) all the joints were filled and smoothed, and a gloss paint finish applied. However the Speed Spitfire was given a royal blue livery with silver side flashes. It also retained its manufacturer's test code of N.17, where N was the code for Supermarine.
IFF Mark I was the first IFF system to see experimental use, with a small number of units installed in 1939. Mark I was a simple system that listened for signals on the 5 meter band used by Chain Home radars and responded by sending out a short pulse on the same frequency. At the Chain Home station, this signal would be received slightly after ...