The greatest Spitfire of them all?

[jonathanryan]

I had the pleasure of meeting Johnny Johnson one evening. Just a few minutes to talk together. We discussed our favourite real ales. As he left, he stopped for a moment, and said "thank you' for not talking about the war, I've done other things".

[mgbroadsterJ]

My Grandad kept these planes in the air . Air fleet working for the Navy .

[lordeden]

That's what Johnny told me too!
He married my mothers friend

[bluepeter]

I notice that the footage shown when talking of Johnny Johnson was showing a Spitfire flown by a Polish airman.

[rachidluildha]

That was my Dad's plane on D-Day.
Rest in Peace, Dad. I miss you so much.

[wojciechkazana]

white-red chess board badge of polish air force :)

[rauss_]

Personally my favourite version of them all

[jamesharrison]

That Malcolm hood, in my thinking gave the Spit a more predatory look

[DaveSCameron]

Such a short amount of time from this to us losing ourselves as British 🙏🇬🇧

[andrewmetcalfe]

The ’definitive’ Merlin engined Mk VII (cabin pressured) and Mk VIIIs were the best of the Merlin series Marks: according to Supermarine Chief Test Pilot Jeffrey Quill. Unfortunately these marks were largely overlooked because the ‘interim’ Mk IX was so successful - and so close in performance to the Mk VIII - that the decision was made to keep producing the Mk IXs (and their Packard engined variant - the Mk XVI) right up until the war’s end. As a consequence the Mk VIII’s production was delayed and the Mk was consigned to service in theatres outside Europe. Fully retractable tail wheels, strengthened airframe, internal fuel tanks in the leading edge of the wings and better all round production values gave the Mk VIII the (very narrow) edge over the Mk IX.

[tomriley]

The amazing thing about the spitfire was how much developmet potential it had, from the MK1 in 1940 right through to the MK XIV in 1945 it was right up there with the best fighters of the war at the time, contrast that with the Zero for example, which was a perfectly balanced excellent design but with very little room for improvement.

[H-M-]

My Father flew F-ZD.. I was a MK-5 when he was in 222 Squadron.

[davidmarsden]

MK. VIII the best. XI was just an upgraded V. The VIII was a refined version of the XI. VIII had strengthened airframe and retractable tail wheel. Looked the best too.

[valentinmarinescu]

The Mk VIII was also very good, but only served overseas.

[WalletWorrier]

My favourite Spitfire, and single-engined fighter

[Assassn-eyuq]

THROUGH THE RIGGING?! That would be so surreal to witness in person.

[Sctt_e]

Absolutely my second favourite spit. Gotta say I prefer the nose of the griffon engined spits, they look so aggressive and mean. My favourite of all time has to be the XIVc, awesome looking thing

[dannynye]

I think that Rotol came up with the prop

[johntechwriter]

The later ones were fitted with 20mm cannons to replace the pea-shooter .308 machine guns. But sadly, they still lacked the range to escort the Lancasters on their raids over Germany.

[RogbodgeVideo]

I can believe the spit through a ship rigging story!

Following D-Day, Johnson apparently used a Mk9 Spit to deliver two kegs of beer to France, carried on modified bomb ravks.