In the Spitfire Mk I Cockpit

Spitfire N3200 is the only airworthy aircraft in the museum’s collection. The first operational examples of the Spitfire arrived at Duxford in 1938. N3200 is a Mk 1, an early example of the RAF’s monoplane 8-gun singer-seat single-engined fighter. In this video, our expert Liam Shaw takes us into the cockpit and shows us around. We see how a pilot would take off, including using the rare hand-pumped undercarriage, and learn what it would be like to fly in the Spitfire, as well as hearing from some pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain.

Follow IWM on social media:

Footage on N3200 on the ground at an air show courtesy of Planes TV.

Music:
Evolution by Ben Sound
Decisions by Kevin McLeod

#history #aircraft #spitfire

[FoulOwl]

The Spitfire and the DC3 are two of the best examples of form=function. Both are just timeless beauty.

[HarborLockRoad]

The most aesthetically pleasing mark of the entire series. Im always reminded of the first test pilots words, " Don't change a thing, it's perfect as it is!"

[krausriggentropp]

That canopy is a piece of art by itself....gorgeous aircraft, timeless, and a liberator & hero! will never ever be surpassed or forgotten!

[jerrymail]

The Hurricane and the Spitfire are two legends of the Battle of Britain but also of the Second World War. When I see one of these magnificent piston-engine planes flying, I have the feeling of something much more impressive, elegant and moving than a jet.
I went to Duxford once, when I was a teenager. I witnessed the takeoff of a B-17! it was superb! What an experience!

[M_Max]

Can never learn too much about these aircraft! Can only imagine how groundbreaking they were at the time, and how uplifting it was for people to see the RAF flying something so incredible

[johnjephcote]

If that is the one that was rescued from being dragged out of the sand, in bits, then the re-manufacturing of the airscrew and pitch mechanism, let alone sourcing the early Merlin was an incredible feat in itself.

[nicwilson]

I remember seeing 16 Spitfires, a Lancaster, and a bf109 fly in formation and mock dogfight and stuff at Duxford a number of years ago. Most amazing thing I've ever seen, and heard! Hearing the rumble getting louder and louder and then seeing 16 Spitfires and a Lancaster flying in formation over the airfield gave me goosebumps

[petehall]

A superb aircraft. The first thing I noticed in the earlier part of the video was that the firing button was not on 'Safe', glad that the firing procedure was explained later. I also noticed that the Irvin jacket had a horizontal seam half way down the sleeve. I believe this is the later version? My father's Irvin, issued to him in 1939 and worn throughout the war, has no seam. I still have it, together with many items of his kit, including his flying helmet with Gosport Tubes from his R.A.F. training days on Hawker Hart, Hind and Audax biplanes. His flying gauntlets are still as soft as they were when issued in 1939!

[liquidslow]

I think the Mk.I is the most beautiful iteration of all the Spitfires, very elegant and well-proportioned. Brilliant video, thanks for sharing it, I dream of visiting the museum someday.

[oliverbourne]

I've done the IWM Spitfire Cockpit experience at Duxford with Liam three times now. Absolutely priceless 1-on-1 experience and Liam is the font of all knowledge and then more !!

[allgood]

Awesome! .. we had a Spitfire fly over yesterday... 80 years since the beginning of the RNZAF.. thanks mate! 👍🇳🇿

[whiteonggoy]

My uncle was a navigator in 617 squadron.i wish I had listened to him more but now I gain from your videos.thank you sir.

[ianthomson]

I've sat in the cockpit of N3200 and can thoroughly recommend the 'Spitfire Cockpit Experience. You get a 20 minute talk about the Spitfire in general and this particular aircraft, and then about ten minutes in the cockpit. It's well worth it!

[mikelyons]

When I was young, I read a book called "Fly for your Life" about WC Robert Stanford Tuck. He was one of the first pilots to fly the Spitfire Mk1. He was taught by RJ Renolds' #2 Jeffery Quill. Wonderful stories of the spitfire, though he flew a Hurricane in the Battle of Brittan, with 257 squadron. This book made me love British aircraft and admire what the British pilots went through.

[maxcorey]

My favorite fighter the Spitfire. The most beautiful, one of the very best overall fighters.

[JiriUL]

Greetings from the Czech Republic and a huge kudos to the authors of this brilliant video ! In 11 minutes it gives so much of interesting information - and I alwasy like to learn some in depth details about this amazing airplane.. I definitely need to visit Britain and see some of the great WWII museums..

[duartesimoes]

One of the most happy days in my life, believe it or not, was when my Parents offered me at last a Spitfire Mk I from Dinky Toys, in the mid seventies. It was metallic, probably between 1/72 and 48 scale, dark earth and dark green, you could manually retract her landing gear and the most marvelous was that you could install a little, hard to find battery in her tail that would power a small electric engine and spin the propeller! That was outstanding. God, how I loved that aircraft! That collection had at least the Spit, the Stuka and the Zero. The Stuka could drop a bomb when you pressed a button on her tail. When I think back, those were simple and happy times indeed. Along the years I must have accumulated nearly 400 scale model aircraft and still have many of them.
I have three strong memories of my childhood concerning aircraft: That Spitfire from Dinky Toys, the superb books "Fires in the Sky" and "The Great Circus" from the remarkable French RAF fighter pilot Pierre Clostermann, and the truly outstanding TV series The world at War, certainly the very best ever made about WW II.
I knew well a charming Portuguese Air Force Major who had flown the Spitfire in his youth. (we operated the Spitfire Mk I and Mk VB and the Hurricane IIC from the mid forties to the mid fifties, before receiving the heavy, dreaded F-47 and the F-84 and F-86) He loved the aircraft, of course, and remembers that on his first solo, when he ended cleaning and trimming the aircraft after take off and looked outside he was stunned to notice that he was already about 10 miles beyond where he should be! Surely, the Spitfire was no Tiger Moth nor Harvard anymore...

[rogerpritchard]

Super detailed video. One of the best I've seen. Happy landings! My father who was in 601 squadron would have enjoyed it!

[harryblox]

It's almost unbelievable compared to the modern day that the engineers and designers were evolving this beautiful beast at a fairly rapid rate in order to adapt to changes in warfare. From Mk1 to the Mk9, significant changes were made to improve its abilities, all while in the middle of a war. The thought of what they had then to now just shows the difference in how people thought to overcome problems. Never will we have anything anywhere near those involved in designing, building, and, of course, flying these machines. Lots of people probably have no idea how bloody damn good this plane was and what it could do. Such a stunning piece of engineering.

[nickname]

This is an amazing video. With all this to think about, getting it in the air and combat too - pilots had to navigate back to base in all weathers and times of day. I find that thought fascinating.