HISTORY

duction decrease was noticeable, also due to the fact that during the

production reorganization large part of it was redirected to Morris company in Castle Bromwich manufacturing Spitfires Mk.II. On the other hand

this meant filling the orders of superior Spitfires Mk.II at desirable levels.

From the British point of view the Battle of Britain ended on October 31st,

1940. From the point of view of deploying the fighter squadrons it is rather historical date, the battles continued at the same intensity. In November Luftwaffe conducted heavy raids on Birmingham, Liverpool and Coventry. Coventry was heavily hit by carpet bombing on November 14th.

This raid became a symbol of the cynical air war against civilian targets

and partially served as an ideological justification of the RAF bomber

offensive against German cities in the upcoming period of the war. The

last large scale Luftwaffe raid, before deploying the main forces to the

east, was heavy raid on London which took place on May 10th, 1940.

Towards the end of 1940 Spitfire Mk.I share in fighter squadrons inventory started to gradually decrease in favor of the more modern and better

performing Spitfires Mk.II. Spitfires Mk.I were being slowly transferred to

the training and second line units serving in the less exposed areas.

Squadrons rotating from No. 11 Group to No. 12 or No. 13 were typically re-equipped with them leaving their better performing Mk.II behind for

the incoming squadron. Regardless, Spitfires Mk.I still flew combat up until

the beginning of the RAF offensive against German targets in western

Europe in January 1941. They were however continuously pushed out of

the front lines by Spitfires Mk.II and later Mk.V. Nevertheless, in July 1941

5 combat and 6 non-combat Spitfire Mk.I equipped squadrons remained

still on duty. Since the spring of 1941 Mk.I airframes were used as a base

to rebuild them to Spitfire Mk.V standard.

COMPETITORS AND ADVERSARIES

In order to evaluate Spitfire Mk.I qualities and historical importance it is

important to compare it to another two airplanes. The first is a home-grown

Hurricane Mk.I as a competitor, and partner, in the RAF Fighter Command

squadrons‘ inventory and the second is Bf 109E, as a principal opponent

to Spitfires and Hurricanes in the Battle of France and Britain. Hurricane

Mk.I was the first modern fighter monoplane being introduced to the RAF

inventory. Conceptually, both Hurricane and Spitfire aircraft were similar, both were low-wing monoplanes with retractable undercarriage, both

were powered by the same engine, Merlin II/III, the basic armament of

eight Browning 7.7 mm machine guns was the same as well. The difference

was in applied manufacturing technology and performance. Hurricane

was built as classic Warren truss box-girder partially covered with fabric

featuring relatively thick wing profile a lower wing load. This resulted,

Hurricane Mk.I with popular performance of the group of pilots running for scramble. It was usually

a show for a photographer only.

in comparison with Spitfire, in the lower maximum speed and maneuverability, on the other hand, thick wing profile enabled the comfortable installation of the weapons in two compact batteries of four machine guns in

each wing half and the installation of a sturdy undercarriage with a wide

wheels track. The classic airframe design did not cause any fundamental

technological challenges during the production implementation at an experienced biplane fighters manufacturer (Hawker was a successor to the

famous Sopwith company known by its WWI period fighters). Introduction

of this type into large scale production and service was without major problems and Hurricane preceded more modern Spitfire by several months

in arrival to the service. At the outbreak of the war, on September 3rd,

INFO Eduard - August 2020

1939, RAF mustered 11 operational squadrons equipped with Spitfires

and 16 operational squadrons equipped with Hurricanes. This ratio was

more-less maintained until the end of 1940. From the beginning of July

till the end of October a little over 600 Spitfires (608) and almost 1000

Hurricanes (991) were manufactured. The difference was largely influenced by the complicated Spitfire design. To make one Spitfire 2.5 times

more man hours were needed than to produce a Hurricane. Speaking

about performace however Spitfire was decidedly superior to Hurricane

and Spitfire losses to victories ratio is significantly better as well. In 1941

the ratio of these two types in the inventory started to rapidly change

in favour of Spitfire, with which RAF Fighter Command squadrons were

gradually re-equipped. Hurricanes were being transferred to the fighter-bomber role and remained serving as fighters in the night fighting

squadrons since they were better suited for this role than Spitfire thanks

to their features. Spitfire and Bf 109E comparison is a favourite discipline

since the first deployment of both types in the combat over the Channel.

Thousands of pages were written however, the results are rather biased

based on the evaluator‘s personality and his preferences. What I have

on mind is which airplane was his favourite, frankly speaking. The mutual

comparison is also burdened by the conditions of these tested aircraft,

captured ones in particular. Of course both sides tested the captured airplanes of the enemy and it is interesting to learn that both sides arrived at

the conclusion that their own airplanes demonstrated performance superior to the opponet’s ones. It’s quite understandable that they came to these

results during testing and comparison. It was not only that they somehow

routed for their own team. „Skeleton in the cupboard“ was the actual

condition of the tested aircraft. While their own airplanes were almost

always in perfect condition, impeccably serviced and properly filled with

all prescribed operational fluids the same can not be said about the captured planes. It was a matter of improvisation in order to maintain these

aircraft airworthy and the maintenance standards were not followed precisely. Neither service manuals nor pilot’s notes were available and even

though no one can doubt the abilities and qualities of the test pilots on

both sides the question remains if they could have pushed the performance limits of the tested aircraft in the same way they would have done with

their own planes. The logical conclusion will be that probably not. There is

a plethora of papers and studies about advantages and disadvantages

of the both aircraft. About carburetor problems in Spitfire, about fuel

injection advantages in Messerschmitt, about British ability to introduce

100 grade fuel as a standard or on the contrary about better German

constant speed VDM propellers. Similar situation exists in regards to the

armament, standard combined Bf 109E armament of two 20 mm MG

FF cannons and two 7.62 mm MG 17 machine guns gave by all means

stronger punch a was more effective than eight 7.7 mm Spitfire machine

guns but even this statement is doubted by some authors. And this goes

on with almost every parameter. In fact, both aircraft, Spitfire Mk.I and

Bf 109E, were equal in the majority of the evaluated parameters. In some

cases they even faced the similar, almost identical issues. The example is

fabric-covered ailerons on both types which despite knowing the problem

of them becoming stiff at high speed, they have never been replaced

in production with full metal ailerons, neither on Bf 109E nor on Spitfire

Mk.I. If you wish to learn more details about the issue of comparing the

Spitfire Mk.I and Bf 109E performaces there is a lot of available sources.

The interesting and non-negotiable difference is in the design philosophy

of both opponents. While on Bf 109 design racionality and production

technology were primary focus Spitfire was built more ruggedly and from

some aspects in a slightly complicated „British style“. Whoever of you

had, at any time, anything to do with British and German car design concept will understand what I am talking about. Even our models show, that

there are about one third more rivets on Spitfire than on Bf 109E. And

that is correct, the ratio of the number of applied rivets on these two real

aircraft is similar.

MMM-MOST MEMORABLE MISCONCEPTIONS

Like in many other cases, when it comes to Spitfire in general and specifically Spitfire Mk.I, modellers‘ community harbors some deeply rooted

popular misunderstandings. Some of them are historic, for example the

imagination, that the Battle of Britain was several months-long continuous

stream of combat encounters and that the both sides had clear strategy

and tactics. In reality, even during the Battle of Britain, there were periods of the intense battles as well as relative lull in the operations either

due to inclement weather or re-organization of the forces, primarily on

the German side who during the Battle of Britain enjoyed strategic initiative. Situation was similar as far as tactics is concerned, both sides were

continuously changing it and did not avoid fatal mistakes. Then we have

technical mistakes, for example typical modelers‘ imagination that Spiteduard

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