Supermarine Spitfire

Elliptical Elegance

Showing off the flowing curves of a jaguar ready to pounce, a Spitfire snugs in close, its pilot a picture of concentration as he carefully places the airplane exactly where he wants. It’s a timeless image of a timeless design.

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Spitfire Mk IIa powers through the English summer sky being flown by Flt Lt ‘Parky’ Parkinson. Serial number P7350 is the only Spitfire still flying to have seen combat in the legendary Battle of Britain fought during 1940..(Photo by John Dibbs/facebook.com/theplanepicture)

Reginald Mitchell laid down the original lines of the Spitfire at a time when the very word “fighter” meant a stack of fabric wings with flying wires coupled to big, exposed wheels and outfitted with a few machine guns. While so many aircraft are inspired by others of similar function, the Spitfire was the first of a new breed. Although the move to monoplanes was already well under way worldwide, it was Mitchell who brought the soul of an artist to the engineers’ drafting table.

Whereas Willy Messerschmitt had a fixation with easily constructed straight lines, Mitchell’s sole goal was to cheat the wind through the merciless use of compound curves, tight seams and smoothly shaved rivets. It is said that the wind could flow from the huge spinner past the carefully formed compound cowl clear to the tail without a single discontinuity to disturb it.

The influence of Mitchell’s Schneider Trophy Cup racers is obvious in the Spitfire’s form and its function. Fast, lithe and forever beautiful, it is a lively sculpture that will never be equaled.

The control stick features the signature “spade” grip of all UK fighters and includes the thumb-operated gun button. Note the horizontally gimbaled and very nautical-looking compass in front of the stick. (Photo by Dan Patterson)

Note the thick, laminated, bullet-deflecting panel (mounted on the windscreen and the rearview mirror). The door was necessary for entry to the small cockpit, and the crowbar mounted in the door doubled as a canopy breaker (in case it was jammed) and as an emergency landing-gear lowering system used to break hydraulic lines under the pilot’s legs. (Photo by Dan Patterson)

Spit pilots joked that you could tell that the landing gear was down when the coolant temperatures started to rise because the gear legs interrupted the flow to the radiators. (Photo by Dan Patterson)

The knob nearest the cockpit’s side controls the mixture, while the white-handled knob holds the reins on 1,500hp. The forward black knob is the propeller control; it sets and holds the rpm. (Photo by Dan Patterson)

Merlin engines are renowned for their efficiency, and the specifications spelled out here are those of an engine meant to produce serious horsepower. (Photo by Heath Moffatt)