HISTORY

Never in the field of human conflicts was so much owed by

so many to so few.

Winston Churchill

SPITFIRE MK.I

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT

Maiden flight of the Supermarine Type 300 prototype serial K5054

took place on March 5th, 1936 at the Supermarine factory airfield in

Eastleight near Southampton. On May 26th, after a series of modifications and improvements it was handed over to The Aircraft & Armament

Experimental Establishment in Martlesham Heath for military trials. On

June 6th and 8th, during the oficial tests, 561 km/h speed was recorded

at the altitude of 5100 meters. On June 10th the Air Ministry confirmed

the official name given to the aircraft, Spitfire. As early as June 3rd, the

Ministry signed the contract B.527113/36 with Supermarine company for

the delivery of 310 production Spitfires Mk.I which were assigned serial

numbers K9787 through K9999 and L1000 through L1096. According to

the contract the deliveries should commence in October 1937 and end in

March 1939. Neither date was complied with due to the insufficient manufacturing capacity of the Supermarine company and generally difficult

introduction of the new manufacturing technologies. Despite the initial Su-

K5054 Prototype

36

eduard

permarine resistance the capacity problem was resolved by creating the

large network of the sub-contractors who ultimately contributed with the

whole 4 fifth to the Spitfire Mk.I production. On June 11th, 1937, while

launching the large scale production, the Spitfire chief designer, Reginald

Mitchell passed away at the age of 42 and Joseph Smith took over his

position. The wing design and manufacturing were rather complicated

which led to the chronic delay in finalizing and delivery of the airframes.

Quite often the completed fuselages were waiting for the wings deliveries. Supermarine built 2 hangars in Eastleigh dedicated to the completion

of the airframes. On May 14th, 1938 the first production Spitfire Mk.I

K9787 took to the skies here.

First RAF unit re-equipped with Spitfire Mk.I was No. 19 Squadron led

by S/Ldr. Henry Cozens operating out of Duxford airfield, up until then

No 65 Squadron Spitfire Mk.Is. The aircraft are equipped with two blade propelers, bulged canopies

without the armored windshield, early type of the Pitot tube and the early antena mast.

INFO Eduard - August 2020