Supermarine Spitfire

what is it?

The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war. The Spitfire was a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works, which operated as a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong from 1928. Mitchell modified the Spitfire's distinctive elliptical wing (designed by Beverley Shenstone) with innovative sunken rivets to have the thinnest possible cross-section, achieving a potential top speed greater than that of several contemporary fighter aircraft, including the Hawker Hurricane.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 11.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 595 km/htop speed
• size 3,039 kgmax take-off weight
• built 20,351made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 90 years ago, in 1936.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 11.2 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.3× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1936-03-05

introduced

1938

retired

1961

status

retired

number built

20,351

role

fighter / interceptor aircraft

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Supermarine

engines

1× Rolls-Royce Merlin 45

crew

1

length

9.1 m

wingspan

11.2 m

height

3.5 m

max take-off weight

3,039 kg

top speed

595 km/h

range

—

ceiling

11,125 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family