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Category: Supermarine Spitfire  -- See latest WWII news here.

Online auction of vintage British Spitfire generates global interest
The listing of vintage British World War II Spitfire on the Trade Me online auction site has created global interest. The Spitfire was listed for an unspecified price, but Spitfires in good condition can be valued up to $5 million. The Vickers Supermarine single-seat Spitfire, viewed as one of the most famous fighter planes in military history, is one of fewer than 50 left. Mike Subritzky said having the Spitfire was a privilege, with its history making it the best aircraft the family had owned. "It's a time capsule. It's been around since 1944 and it's special because it's not a replica."     [ stuff :: 2008-03-24 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

Full-sized replica of Spitfire finds a home with RAF squadron
A full-sized replica Spitfire constructed by members of the Ripon branch of the Royal British Legion has found a new home at RAF Leeming, where it has been given storage outside its summer touring season. Building a replica of the World War II fighter was the brainchild of Howard Whiting when he took over as chairman. The first idea was to build a Spitfire scale model which was 1/3 the size of the original, but the project soon grew bigger. Using original blueprints, the group spent 11 months on the project. The Spitfire is made out of the same materials as the original model and even weighs the same.     [ northallertontimes :: 2008-02-24 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

£115,000 for collection of memorabilia of Spitfire fighter ace Douglas Bader
An admirer of the legless fighter ace Douglas Bader had to reach for the sky to get a keepsake of his hero. The anonymous buyer paid £115,000 for an artificial leg and 40 other memorabilia and militaria artefacts belonging to the legendary WW2 Spitfire pilot. As well as the leg, he also got Bader's tunics, coats and flasks, plus parts of aircraft which he flew. The heroic pilot lost both his legs in a flying mishap in 1931 and was discharged from the RAF. He rejoined after the outbreak of war in August 1941. After shooting down 22 Luftwaffe aircrafts, he came down in flames and was taken prisoner and sent to the Colditz castle.     [ express :: 2008-02-21 :: World War II Memorabilia ]

Bosnian villager reveals location of Spitfire shot down in World War II
An aged Bosnian villager has rediscovered a WW2 Spitfire that he saw shot down by pro-Nazi Croat forces 65 years ago. "I saw when Ustashe soldiers shot it down in 1943. The pilot parachuted ... and was rescued by partisans," said Cazim Dautbegovic. The aircraft went down into a wetland area and had since been forgotten. Dautbegovic said that he lately told the story to a friend, who located it and sell off parts of it as scrap metal. Journalist Osman Mesan said: "At the location, we found a part of the airplane radio... I have issued a public call to protect the wreckage, because I am sure that it is of historic value."     [ timesonline :: 2008-02-16 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

Spitfire's unsung flying heroines - The Air Transport Auxiliary
The living members of a group of women who flew Spitfires in non-combat WW2 tasks are expected to be rewarded with a badge. The women of the Air Transport Auxiliary may not have taken part in the Battle of Britain but, without their skills in delivering the aircraft to the RAF bases for their male counterparts to clear the skies of Luftwaffe bombers, the battle would never have got off the ground. There are about 15 female pilots left. They also flew Hurricanes, Lancasters, Mosquitoes and other wartime aircraft. Margaret Frost - formally too small at 5ft 3in to become a Spitfire pilot - spent 3 years flying the aircraft, and welcomed the suggestion of a badge.     [ timesonline :: 2008-02-01 :: Female Pilots of WWII ]

Collector is building a Spitfire fighter with parts from around the globe
Martin Phillips has spent 7 years and £1m collecting thousands of parts at his workshop at Langford. He was motivated to start the WWII project after being given a small aircraft rivet. It began seriously when he found the fuselage of a 1944 Spitfire RR232. The aircraft is predicted to take another few years to complete. Phillips said he now has every part he needs to rebuild the fighter in a shed outside his country home. The final assembly and first flight of the reconstructed aircraft, to be called City of Exeter, will take place at Exeter Airport, itself a World War II fighter base. "We are making steady progress, but there are lots of engineering problems to overcome."     [ bbc :: 2008-01-02 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

Spitfire: Portrait of a Legend by Leo McKinstry
It was 1 August 1940. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring gave the Luftwaffe its orders: smash the RAF, achieve air dominance within a fortnight. Across the Channel waited a shy, aloof man known as Stuffy, wondering if the defence system he had created would hold; an assorted band of pilots gathered from the corners of the free world; and a plane with a deathless name. The story of the Spitfire is embedded deep in the national consciousness. It has been told many times: by those who flew her, those who built her, by sober war historians and cranks and axe-grinders and revisionists. But I doubt if anyone has told it more thoroughly than Leo McKinstry.     [ telegraph :: 2007-11-16 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

Aviation enthusiasts race against time to buy Spitfire
Aviation enthusiasts in Pembrokeshire are racing against the clock to raise funds to buy a World War Two Spitfire. They are £65,000 short of the £150,000 needed, and have until Sunday morning to find the rest. When fully restored, they hope the plane will take pride of place in a museum they are planning at Withybush Aerodrome. Pembrokeshire Aviation Foundation already has a Bulldog and is taking delivery of a Tiger Moth shortly. "The Spitfire would be a magnet as far as attracting people to west Wales." The iconic planes had a significant role in WWII, but only about 200 still exist.     [ bbc :: 2007-09-29 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

You can now own your own 'Spitfire' for as little as 130,000 pounds
More than 60 years ago the Spitfire soared over skies of Britain, helping turn the tide against the Luftwaffe. Now, anyone with 130,000 pounds can own his own version of the iconic WWII fighter aircraft. The almost life-size Australian built aluminium kits cost 100,000 pounds, and a further 30,000 pounds and 1200 working hours for assembling the parts. With 700 hours of construction work already completed, the kit is shipped to customers with all major components formed. They must then spend 2 years fitting together parts together before it can be flown. Kieran Padden, who imports the model Spitfire to Britain, said demand is on the rise.     [ dailyindia :: 2007-07-14 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

Fundraising to get Spitfire airborne - WWII Spitfire pilots and souvenirs
The Comox Air Force Museum is holding the 7th annual Open House for the Y2-K Spitfire project at the restoration hangar. 10 Spitfire WWII pilots will share wartime stories or sign autographs on Spitfire souvenirs. The Spitfire will be returned to an airworthy status to honour the memory of the 18,000 Canadians that died in RCAF/RAF service. Now in its 7th year, the Comox Y2-K Spitfire is progressing and has become a tourist attraction on Vancouver Island. $500,000 has been raised and invested into the project to date. The museum intends to raise an additional $1M to complete the project. As well, the museum will display its collection of heritage military vehicles.     [ lookoutnewspaper :: 2007-05-15 :: Warbirds: Vintage aircrafts ]

Alex Henshaw, the Spitfire ace who never got to fly a mission
He flew more Spitfires than any other man - and was hailed as the greatest test pilot of World War II. He risked his life to iron out problems with the RAF's aircraft. And he was the only pilot ever to 'roll' the massive Lancaster bomber upside-down in mid air. The death of Alex Henshaw concludes a story of courage and skill. He survived crashes, and clashed with officials about his antics: like bringing Birmingham to a standstill by flying his Spitfire upside-down only feet above the rooftops. He test-flew some 3,000 Spitfires, more than 10% of all those ever built. In 2006 he took the controls of a Spitfire in a flight to mark the aircraft's 70th anniversary.     [ dailymail :: 2007-03-01 :: Aircrafts of WWII ]

Spitfire: The Biography - As the RAF took on the Luftwaffe
If the Spitfire had reached the RAF in 1937 instead of 1938, the Luftwaffe might have observed it, poached its design, maybe even acquired a couple. In 1938 Britain was selling Hawker Hurricanes to Yugoslavia. RJ Mitchell's fighter began to enter squadron service at the best time: not 1940, the year of the Battle of Britain, but 1939, thus giving the RAF a year to get the bugs out. The twin-blade wooden propeller was changed to a 3-blade, constant-speed prop. A new canopy improved the pilot's view. Armour plating protected his back. The focus of his 8 machine-guns was tightened from 400 yards to 250 yards.     [ guardian :: 2006-11-19 :: Aircrafts of WWII ]

Spitfire -- Still the world's most famous military aircraft
Immortalised in film and speeches for its role in winning the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire is still the world's most famous military aircraft. More than 20,000 were manufactured to take on the Messerschmitts of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe and the Zeros of Japan, but today only a few dozen can still be flown. Remarkably, the town of Temora boasts two of them. The Temora Aviation Museum acquired its second vintage Spitfire: The Mark XVI, which saw service with the RAAF in the closing weeks of World War II. Nobody is revealing the price, but airworthy Spitfires don't come for less than $2 million.     [ smh :: 2006-09-19 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

War veterans mark Spitfire anniversary
Hundreds of World War 2 airmen recalled the fight to protect Britain from invasion. The Imperial War Museum at Duxford hosted one of the largest gatherings of Royal Air Force veterans as it celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Spitfire, an aircraft synonymous with the Battle of Britain. The Spitfire Air Show featured 17 Spitfires of different marques, as well as the largest gathering of Spitfire vets in the UK. It was at Duxford in August 1938 that the Spitfire first entered RAF service with 19 Squadron.     [ cambridge :: 2006-09-06 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

WWII Spitfire hero who shot a V1 flying bomb honoured
An "astonishing act of heroism" is being remembered with a plaque and display in a Kent town in honour of a World War II Spitfire pilot Bill Marshall. Royal Air Force pilot shot and destroyed a V1 flying bomb which was about to fall on Lydd. He was lucky to survive when he fired on the bomb from close range and stopped it from hitting Lydd in July 1944. The town suffered only a few broken windows.     [ bbc :: 2006-08-05 :: Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2 ]

Four Spitfires participating at the Yorkshire Air Show
Second World War Spitfire pilots are being invited to relive the days when Britain's fate was decided in the skies at a flypast at the Yorkshire Air Show. Organisers are paying tribute to the Supermarine Spitfire and are inviting wartime Spitfire veterans to join them. Event director said that for the first time at the show there would be four Spitfires participating. "To many people the Supermarine Spitfire is the symbol of victory against overwhelming odds. It is the most famous British fighter aircraft of World War Two, and the bravery of the pilots must never be forgotten."     [ -yorkshiretoday :: 2006-07-18 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

My Father Mr Spitfire
On an early spring afternoon a group of men watch a unique plane howl across the English countryside. In its maiden flight test pilot Mutt Summers will slam the experimental all-metal craft up to 370mph. For the first time ever the legendary Spitfire, scourge of Luftwaffe, has taken to the air. As it lands, creator RJ Mitchell rushes over to ask the flier his impression. "Don't change a thing," says Summers breathlessly. Satisfied, Mitchell turns towards his colleagues. It is 1936. A little over 12 months later the designer will be dead, killed by cancer. He will never see his creation fire a shot in anger. As the 70th anniversary of the Spitfire's first flight approaches, his son Gordon reveals his father's story.     [ mirror :: 2006-02-19 :: Supermarine Spitfire ]

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