Spitfire

From 1936 to well after WW II, the Spitfires spewed out of a wide-range series of factories, and the variations bred by the improvements are bewildering. Historian Warren Bodie lays out the development of the Spitfire, from Reginald Mitchell’s first, pre-Spitfire attempts to the hyper-sleek post war models.

Hitler’s intelligence services said “Today is the day to strike and end it all.” They led Hitler to believe the RAF Fighter Command had suffered such great losses that two massive, well coordinated strikes would end what had come to be known as the Battle of Britiain. Hitler hadn’t counted on the production rate of 94 new Spitfires a week nor the influx of trained fighter pilots from other occupied countries. Dr. Alfred Prices takes us through that day and those that followed that ultimately led to victory for the embattled Britons.

An improbably combination of Yanks flying British airplanes against Germans and Italians in Africa is only part of the USAAF 31st Fighter Groups unique history. Author Thompson relates the tales of those who were part of that pioneer group who went to war in borrowed airplanes but in doing so, wrote yet another chapter of Spitfire history.

In the words of those who actually lived history, Bliss and Blyth tell what it was like to trust the Spitfire’s ability to fly high and fast to keep them out of harm’s way. With their guns traded for cameras, they brought back the invaluable information on which war-winning strategies were based.

Just as there is a highest scoring ace, there is obviously a highest scoring airplane. However, in the case of the Spitfire, that’s a difficult thing to confirm because records weren’t kept of individual airplane’s success. However, author Alfred Price makes an excellent case that records show EN398, the personal airplane of Wing Commander “Johnny” Johnson, to be the top of the Spitfire heap.

If you believe the movies, all Texans were born to be gun fighters and that may have been the case with Spitfire ace Jerry Collingsworth. His tales of roaring around the desert at cactus level with FW 190s in his Spitfire’s gunsight read like Texas gunfight fiction.

As one of the most respected test pilots of WW II, Corwin “”Corky”” Meyer has given the opportunity to fly nearly every major fighter of both the Axis and the Allies and proclaims the Spitfire as his favorite. Using language we all can understand, he explains what made the Spitfire the legend that it is.

Malta was a tiny island off the tip of Italy/Sicily and in danger of being over run by the Axis. Replacing its dwindling supply of Spitfires was absolutely critical, but with Axis airfields in Sicily barely 60 miles away, the Germans and Italians could hammer the island at will. The story of supplying the hard-pressed outpost is one of ingenuity and determination.