Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Audio recording of Spitfire fly-past at the 2011 family day at RAF Halton, Buckinghamshire Supermarine Spitfire G-AWGB landing at Biggin Hill Airport, June 2024. The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II.
The Spitfire was also adopted for service on aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy; in this role they were renamed Supermarine Seafire. Although the first version of the Seafire, the Seafire Ib, was a straight adaptation of the Spitfire Vb, successive variants incorporated much needed strengthening of the basic structure of the airframe and ...
The Speed Spitfire was a Supermarine Spitfire Mk I, re-engined and modified for an attempt on the world air speed record. It was already outdated when it first flew in 1938 and, despite repeated modification, never attained a competitive performance.
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 ...
For example, the Spitfire was a pioneer in the role of the unarmed, photo reconnaissance (P.R.) aircraft that relied on high speed and high altitude to avoid detection and attack. [ 5 ] Post-war the Spitfire was to continue to serve as a front line fighter and in secondary roles for several air forces well into the 1950s. [ 6 ]
Discover the latest breaking news in the U.S. and around the world — politics, weather, entertainment, lifestyle, finance, sports and much more.
The Supermarine Spitfire uses a modified elliptical wing. An elliptical wing is a wing planform whose leading and trailing edges each approximate two segments of an ellipse . It is not to be confused with annular wings , which may be elliptically shaped.
Also not formally accepted by the FAI, which was not present due to wartime conditions, are speeds recorded in a dive during high-speed tests with the Supermarine Spitfire, including Squadron Leader J.R. Tobin's 606 mph (975 km/h) in a 45° dive in a Mark XI Spitfire (date unknown) and Squadron Leader Anthony F. Martindale's breaking 620 mph ...