LATE MARQUE SPITFIRE ACES 1942 to 1945

98 PAGES 15MB PDF FORMAT


CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 6
CHAPTER ONE
A NEW AND MORE POTENT SPITFIRE 7
CHAPTER TWO
ENTER THE GRIFFON ENGINED SPITFIRE 28
CHAPTER THREE
RAMRODS, RODEOS, ROA STEADS, RHUBARBS AND CIRCUSES 52
CHAPTER FOUR
THE LEADING ACES 55
CHAPTER FIVE
SPITFIRE VERSUS THE V1 FLYING BOMB 66
CHAPTER SIX
FOUR MAJOR
IMPROVEMENTS 70
CHAPTER SEVEN
AUSTRALIAN SPITFIRE ACES
1942-45 BY STEWART WILSON 78
APPENDICES 87
COMPARATIVE TRIALS 87
COLOR PLATES COMMENTARY 89

Few will dispute the contention that the Spitfire was one of the most successful military aircraft ever built. In truth, no other aircraft design was ever developed so successfully, so continuously, so aggressively or so thoroughly as that of the Spitfire. As soon as the Spitfire Mk I entered service in the Royal Air Force the Super marine company began a program of incremental changes aimed at overcoming the new fighters shortcomings. Also, for the longer term, the company launched a program of more radical changes to improve its performance and fighting capability. The principal driving force behind this evolution was the work by Rolls-Royce engineers to increase the power developed by the Merlin engine. Each increase in power brought with it an increase in weight, however, usually accompanied by the need for a heavier propeller with more blades. And the problems did not end there. The hard-won lessons from combat imposed demands for improvements such as Armour to protect the pilot, IFF equipment to identify the aircraft on radar, more effective (and heavier) radio equipment and a more powerful (and heavier) armament. To enable it to cope with these large increases in weight, the airframe had to be strengthened progressively (adding yet more weight) to enable it to maintain the previous load factors.
Of course, the Spitfire would have amounted to nothing without the skills of the pilots who flew it in action. My purpose in writing this book is to show how the Spitfire evolved during the latter part of the war to allow it to take on the new threats from the enemy as they appeared, and how its capabilities were exploited by those who achieved ace status.

This book is strongly recommended!!!