Spitfire, also called Supermarine Spitfire, the most widely produced and strategically important British single-seat fighter of World War II.
The Spitfire was designed by Reginald Mitchell of Supermarine Ltd., in response to a 1934 Air Ministry specification calling for a high-performance fighter with an armament of eight wing-mounted 0.303-inch (7.7-mm) machine guns.
The Spitfire played its part in many of the crucial battles of World War Two, giving the RAF a critical edge over the German Luftwaffe.
The ground breaking original design meant the plane could be upgraded with new engines and armaments. As the war progressed so did the Spitfire. After the original designer RJ Mitchell died in 1937, his successor Joe Smith developed the fighter to make it faster and more powerful.
In 1940 Hitler sent 2,600 Luftwaffe fighters and bombers to destroy the Royal Air Force.
Britain stepped up the production of fighter planes, building them faster than Germany. The Hurricanes, with their sturdy frames, took on the bombers. The Mark I Spitfires, with their superior speed and agility, were sent up to shoot down German fighters. By the end of the battle the better organised RAF had defeated the Luftwaffe and downed 1,887 German planes. The RAF lost 1,023 planes. The tide of the war started to turn. Britain was now a launch pad for future attacks on Germany.
In June 1944 Spitfires played an important part in the biggest seaborne invasion in history.
The latest Spitfire Mark IX had a 1,720 horsepower engine and was equipped with both 20mm cannons and .50 calibre machine-guns. The fighters provided crucial air support for the D-Day landings and many were adapted to be fighter-bombers to carry out attacks on German ground forces.
