Spitfire, the legend, the facts and its opponent (1 of 5)
INTRODUCTION Sir Henry Royce was the driving force behind the fabulous "R" racingmotor and Reginald Mitchell - Supermarines chiefdesigner - designed the racingplanes with which England in 1931 won the international speed contest for seaplanes - The Schneider Trophy. Three years later Mitchell presented the first design of a new fighter to RAF. The first three designs had too weak an engine and were rejected, but in 1935 the fourth with elliptical wings had a 27 litres lightweight twelve cylinder scaled down "R" engine which was called "Merlin" - and the Spitfire was born. The word Spitfire is known to every boy from eight to eighty all over the world for its magic, that will live for generations to come of boys and men and indeed of some girls and women too, whos mother or grandmother flew this legendary fighter to the bases during the second world war, when the Spitfire was present on every front in the airwar against nazi-Germany, the fascist Italy and the fascist Japanese Empire, although it originally was conceived as a short-range fighter to the defense of The British Isles. Mitchell did not like the name Spitfire which he found rediculus, but once it had come up, it became widely popular (in contradiction to the officially proposed Shrew) and it fortunately became impossible to change. How sad it was, that he did not live to see the Spitfire in service. (You are here, because you have chosen a series of quality videos. Another series of high quality videos is here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FF93A9257EAD7950 ) Carl Vendler
Videos
